Bhupender Yadav's entry to the Modi government as a Cabinet minister is seen as his just reward after serving as a party office-bearer for the longest term among all current occupants.
The attacks, which disrupted normal life, marked return of political violence on large-scale after a gap of over a year in Kannur.
The country may become militarily impressive, pile on GDP and the durbar of the ruling party may fill with the wealthy indebted to the rulers for their riches. But the spontaneous camaraderie of a free people will diminish and with it, our shared ownership of the country, warns Shyam G Menon.
The Congress hit out at the BJP, demanding the immediate arrest of those who have defamed India at the international level instead of enacting a "drama of action".
The AIADMK is convinced that the BJP will remain an electoral burden for a long time to come, beginning the Lok Sabha polls next year, reveals N Sathiya Moorthy.
It is clearly a sign of the changing times that Rajnath Singh is now working in tandem with both Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley, says Poornima Joshi
Congress leader Dijvijay Singh on Monday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to the defence of Arvind Kejriwal in the controversy surrounding the transfer of money to his non-government organisation was proof enough of the alliance between Team Anna and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-BJP.
What makes Dhankar so outspoken? Could it because as governor he will be in the driver's seat if the Trinamool Congress performs below par in the elections next year? Shikha Shalini reports.
If it doesn't do that, what Uddhav Thackeray postpones addressing today will be there on the table to confront, for whoever anchors the Sena in the years ahead, observes Shyam G Menon.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modiji must personally intervene in the matter to make it clear to his officials and the rank-and-file that communal abuse should now stop'
The CBI after registering the FIRs carried out searches on Thursday morning at 14 locations in Jammu, Srinagar, Delhi, Mumbai, Noida in Uttar Pradesh, Trivandrum in Kerala and Darbhanga in Bihar, they said.
Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan on Tuesday landed in trouble for his harsh remarks against the Constitution, triggering a huge political row in the state with the opposition demanding for his sacking, but the Left leader later expressed regret and claimed news reports in this connection were 'distorted'.
'While the ordinary Muslim must speak up against Islamic fundamentalism, ordinary Hindus too have to speak up against the excesses and fundamentalism that exists in their religion.'
The Shiv Sena on Thursday hit out at the Congress for describing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat as 'Hitler' for his controversial 'Hindu nation' remarks saying it is the same party which appeased Muslims to derive political mileage while ignoring Hindus.
Altogether 160 MLAs voted in favour of the confidence motion while no vote was cast against the same.
Stoking yet another controversy, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala on Friday described social reformer and Dalit icon Sree Narayana Guru, who belonged to the backward Ezhava caste, as the greatest "Hindu sanyasi" the state has ever seen.
If Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai bought it in 2015, did he get prior approval from the Union home ministry, and did he include it in his annual wealth returns, sections of the media want to know. N Sathiya Moorthy on the curious case of the 'Rafale' watch.
'He gets scared when he faces someone who says I will not back off, he backs off,' Rahul said about Modi.
Rahul Gandhi said he stood by his remarks on Twitter terming Pragya Thakur a "terrorist" and was ready to face any action.
Raman writes in his book, 'In a potentially controversial move, Vinod Pandey (Cabinet Secretary in the 1989 V P Singh government) wanted R&AW to organise clandestine arms training for RSS cadres in Jammu'
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday courted another controversy by saying he did not rule out the involvement of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Mumbai serial blasts, evoking sharp criticism and condemnation from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
A controversy has erupted over a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist and accused in a murder case placing a turban on the head of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to Thiruvananthapuram last week. The incident, which has also raised security issues, happened when Singh visited the SreePadmanabhaswamyTemple last Saturday.
Congress legislators spent the whole night inside the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Council, escalating demand for the dismissal of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa over his statement regarding the national flag.
'This individual's constant endeavour at self-glorification, even at the cost of both the government and the party, has the potential to subvert whatever genuine efforts that Channi has been making since he became CM.'
BJP CMs promote a lawless culture, one where groups backed by the State are encouraged to attack fellow citizens, where being trigger-happy is the official police policy, notes Jyoti Punwani.
The educated, respectable and established Muslims voices, that were on the modernising side on the Shah Bano issue, are fighting on the opposite side now, mostly because they worry about Narendra Modi, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Advani and Rajnath Singh will simultaneously conduct the yatra.
'He was a nobody then.' 'And whatever little his contribution was there, it was restricted to Gujarat.'
Against the backdrop of Kerala House beef controversy, an article in Organiser has said those insisting on eating cow meat wanted the "freedom to insult Hindus".
"This bunch of illiterate people cannot probably differentiate between 'shall' and 'consider'," the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said.
'Savarkar was the closest the RSS had to a freedom movement icon, however flawed.' 'Indira Gandhi wasn't going to gift him to them.' 'And a non-career politician like Dr Singh understands it.' 'It is just that his party never listened to him,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Modi, Shah and Nadda have created a strategy to boost the BJP and the government's image.
Devanik Saha wonders if saffronisation of India is on the rise
'There are dark sheep all over. But can we have any other form of governance other than democracy?'... 'There cannot be two sets of rules -- one for the common man and one for the privileged political person.' Digvijaya Singh in a candid interaction with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
There is disquiet and discomfort in the citizenry that can be touched and felt. No one is talking, but then, the Indian voter has not talked much -- with the conviction that all that goes up has to come down, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The new Lokpal Bill was on Thursday at the centre of a fresh controversy before its introduction in the Lok Sabha, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen members protesting exclusion of minorities from the anti-graft bench of the proposed ombudsman.
The Karnataka high court on February 8 will hear the petitions filed by five girls studying in a Government Pre-University College in Udupi, questioning hijab restriction in college.
'We would try our best that the temple structure becomes visible in the next two years.'
Stepping up its attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra for keeping silent in the controversy involving Lalit Modi and other scandals and threatened to launch a nationwide agitation if the tainted ministers and leaders are not sacked.
'The biggest problem that faces the Opposition in Gujarat is just a day or two before voting is scheduled, Modiji goes on a spree of emotional appeals.' 'That process has been set in motion much earlier this time in Gujarat.'
