'The tide started to turn against the BJD when V K Pandian toured the districts gathering people's grievances last year.'
Authorities said social media posts will be monitored to ensure that no attempt is made to vitiate the atmosphere.
The fundamental construct of India's neighbourhood policy still needs to be what Vajpayee postulated, Manmohan Singh embraced, and Modi energised. It's just that we need to junk domestic politics and excessive religiosity, while acquiring much humility and a renewed respectfulness towards our neighbours, recommends Shekhar Gupta.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
A probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the Coimbatore explosion case would be recommended to the Centre, the Tamil Nadu government said in Chennai on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for electing a strong and stable government in an uncertain world beset by geopolitical tensions as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday released its manifesto, prioritising development and welfare while shunning populist measures and contentious issues like the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Officials said security personnel, including those from paramilitary forces, have been deployed to keep a strict vigil. Security at inter-state and inter-district borders has also been tightened, they said.
The electoral battle in Varanasi, according to locals and political experts, is not about whether the PM will win for a third successive occasion, but if he will increase his share of the votes polled and his win margin.
...close to the 2024 general election. The BJP calling the Congress 'seasonal Hindu' is as laughable as the saffron party sparing itself the title of 'seasonal extreme Hindu.'
How else should one describe its election campaigns of the past years?
It was typically obsessive religion and personality cult with economic development for fig leaf, asserts Shyam G Menon.
'Khalistan would have been in existence today, but for the army.'
The tricolour flying atop the Indian High Commission was grabbed at by the protesters chanting pro-Khalistani slogans on Sunday, leading to an arrest related to the violent disorder.
'Modi is trying avenues to convince people why they should vote for the BJP.'
Mobs killed a cleric in a late night attack on a mosque, torched an eatery and vandalised shops as communal violence that began in Haryana's Nuh spilled over into Gurugram, taking the death toll to five, the police said on Tuesday.
Ahmednagar police stopped the activists of 'Ranaragini Bhoomata Brigade' protesting against the alleged gender bias by the temple authorities, led by Trupti Desai, at Supa, about 70 km from the temple premises, foiling their bid to offer worship at the sacred platform.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi performed the traditional ritual of Pahind by sweeping the path with a golden broom, paving way for the Yatra to begin.
Over the years, Khalistani extremists were further "emboldened" and started "operating with impunity" from Canada.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday termed the cancellation of over 25,000 school jobs as 'gross injustice' and alleged that it was a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party to stop these job losers from being deployed in poll duty.
He accused the BJP of creating friction between communities and 'igniting' fire and ramped up his attack on the PM.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Eid prayers passed off peacefully and there was no report of any untoward incident, the police said.
Six decades and more later, we are now captives of our identities. Every poll is based on elaborate calculations of electability of candidates on the basis of their castes and other narrow definers. That, along with voter promiscuity, is what defines our political culture, which remains stubbornly resistant to any change, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
The Union home ministry, from its North Block office atop the Raisina Hill in New Delhi, kept a 'constant and engaging' vigil across the country with central paramilitary forces, intelligence agencies and state police forces in toe.
Heavy police security was deployed in Mumbai in the wake of Thackeray's call for "silencing" loudspeakers atop mosques.
The Lok Sabha contest in Thiruvananthapuram is shaping up to be a significant battle involving key candidates like Shashi Tharoor, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Panniyan Ravindran. This three-cornered fight highlights the political dynamics in Kerala's capital city, with each candidate bringing their own vision and promises for the region's development, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
The real risk is that the core assumption -- that the votes for a candidate sponsored by an alliance will at least equal the sum total of its parts -- proves to be facile, observes T N Ninan.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
Dubey was arrested outside the Mahakal temple at Ujjan in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday morning.
Ahead of the India-China summit, Mahabalipuram, the ancient coastal town near Chennai, has been virtually turned into a fortress with unprecedented security arrangements while the beautification and other preparations touched a feverish pitch on Wednesday.
A group of pro-Khalistan protesters on Sunday made an attempt to set on fire India's consulate in San Francisco, with senior Indian diplomats informing their American counterparts that they anticipate more such protests by anti-national elements in the coming weeks.
He recalled that the state was home to Vaishali, said to be the oldest republic in the world.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday offered prayers at a Matua temple in Bangladesh's Orakandi, the birthplace of Hindu mystic figure and Matua community's spiritual guru Harichand Thakur.
The National Judicial Commission Bill, 2022, was introduced after the majority of voice votes were in its favour.
'If we do not enter the temple, then history won't be made and all wrong rituals will get continue to be followed.' 'If they resort to violence against women and abuse them, how can they be Ayyappa Swamy's bhakts?'
India's dream to be in the forefront of international politics has come true. India has placed itself firmly as a major player in the shaping of a new world order, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
While some reports suggested that the laser show of Sribhumi Sporting Club, helmed by state minister Sujit Bose, was suspended after some pilots complained of obstruction in viewing due to it, organisers of the puja situated close to the Dumdum airport claimed that the measure was taken as the crowd was not moving forward, creating COVID and security hazards.
Amid tight security, the 137th edition of Lord Jagannath's rathyatra began in Ahmedabad on Sunday morning from the ancient Jagannath Temple in Jamalpur area.
The present happenings in Manipur are the wages of continued neglect, and not so benign at that, of a vital region and its people. Had we lavished on the North East even a fraction of the care and resources we do on Kashmir, things would not have come to this pass, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
As the number of COVID-19 cases is witnessing a spike in India, religious places across the country remain closed to encourage social distancing, a key component in preventing the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Some jewellery shops in the famous Shringaar Haat area turned into places for community television spots as passers-by and even some security personnel and mediapersons joined shopkeepers to watch the live telecast of 'bhoomi poojan' by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the temple and his speech. Many recalled that these scenes were similar to ones quite common in late 1980s when 'Ramayana' serial was telecast on Doordarshan and people used to gather at few houses and shops having TV sets.
The film faces opposition from fringe Rajput groups, who allege that it distorts history and show Queen Padmavati in "poor light".
The village in Maharashtra has continuously sent soldiers to the Army since World War I. Every other person you meet is a soldier or a retired soldier or is aspiring to be a soldier.
