Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appeared before the Akal Takht Secretariat after being summoned for alleged remarks on Sikh traditions. He submitted his clarification and expressed respect for the Akal Takht's authority.
As he is laid to rest, Indian cricket bids farewell to one of its greatest administrators -- a visionary who understood that breaking monopolies and building stadiums were about the same thing: Giving millions of cricket-loving Indians the infrastructure worthy of their passion.
Once the OS layer is opened to the State, it doesn't close, notes Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
"The Congress did not behave properly with my grandfather. I campaigned for the BJP during the Madan Lal Khurrana days in Delhi. My grandfather wanted me to join the BJP. He had introduced me to late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani," he said.
A new book reveals former Congress MP Amarinder Singh's mission to arrange a meeting between Rajiv Gandhi and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in the 1980s, along with other anecdotes.
Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday said that late Zail Singh, while he was the President, had expressed gratitude to him for saving the lives of members of the Sikh community in Mumbai.
'What does Indira Gandhi want from me? At this age, what will I do to her?'
It took Udham Singh 21 years to avenge the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh. And 34 years for his remains to return to India after execution in a British prison.
President Droupadi Murmu and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto arrived at Kartavya Path for the 76th Republic Day parade in a traditional horse-drawn buggy, a practice that made a comeback after a 40-year gap last year. The gold-plated, horse-drawn buggy is a black carriage with the national emblem embossed on it in gold. It was discontinued after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 but was revived by President Pranab Mukherjee in 2014. The buggy's history dates back to the British era, with India winning ownership through a coin toss after independence.
Shyam Benegal passed into the ages on December 23, leaving behind a rich legacy. We look back at some interesting moments from his life.
How could a President, seen as a political time-server, have manoeuvred things to a stage where he could strike fear into the heart of a prime minister who, only two-and-a-half years before, had been elected with the largest majority in history?
No single individual, institution, or action is to blame for this. The BJP is responding in kind -- definitely not without checking with its government. And they wait for Mr Trump, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Gianiji had crafted his moves with the meticulous planning of a chess grandmaster. He did not know whether a checkmate was feasible, as his time was running out, but he wanted Rajiv Gandhi to smell the fear of loss. A fascinating excerpt from K C Singh's The Indian President: An Insider's Account of the Zail Singh Years.
They try to hide behind the smokescreen that these are works of fiction inspired by real events. So, you can pick and choose from facts and fictionalise to push the right triggers with your audience or appease the powers that be, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The presidents were escorted by the President's Bodyguard -- "Rashtrapati Ke Angrakshak".
'...only if we sort it out with Pakistan.'
Barring 2004 and 2009 when Navjot Singh Sidhu won the Amritsar seat as a BJP MP and 1998 when Daya Singh Sodhi from BJP was elected as the MP, it has essentially a Congress bastion.
When elected on July 18 -- which is almost a certainty, given the NDA's numbers in the electoral college -- Droupadi Murmu will be the first President born after Independence.
I telephoned Chief Minister Darbara Singh and asked him why this carefully thought-out plan had suddenly been aborted. The Chief Minister sounded very agitated and all he said was that this was not his decision, but the orders had come directly from Home Minister Zail Singh. A fascinating excerpt from retired IAS officer Ravi Sawhney's book, Living A Life.
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
What should be made out of the Madras high court order involving non-Hindus' entry into Hindu temples, when many non-Hindus are among the hundreds of thousands that have been worshipping at these temples for generations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'She showed courage at every turn in her political career.'
Unlike Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Giani Zail Singh, one hopes Pranab Mukherjee will do a better job when asked to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution', says T V R Shenoy.
'The politics that is now being played in Punjab doesn't contribute towards peace and tranquillity.'
In the present case, the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir is yet to be constituted after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in 2019.
Four years after he left Bihar to move to Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Ram Nath Kovind returned to Patna to address the inaugural event at the centenary celebration of the Bihar legislative assembly building.
Unless Punjab has a chief minister who is able to look beyond community/vote bank politics, carry all sections of society, stop appeasing while addressing genuine concerns and break the stranglehold of the SGPC over Sikh affairs, my beloved home state is bound to die and conversions will be rampant, warns Sanjeev Nayaar.
'The Centre and state need to take a unified approach and take concerted action before this matter assumes menacing proportions because unemployment, the drug trade and the levels of frustration among the youth make them vulnerable to any maverick who promises something better.'
'I told them I am a Muslim, you are Sikh, you are Hindu, but we have one country to save.'
Two women candidates; Lok Sabha Speakers; Chief Justices; A Chief Election Commissioner; drafters of the Constitution; the RBI's first Indian governor; a farm leader who unsuccessfully contested four times; an iconic Bharata Natyam dancer...
Most political leaders in Punjab have come out in the open to oppose him, unlike the early 1980s when political leaders were scared of speaking against Bhindranwale, observes Sudhir Bisht.
'Imagine for a soldier -- first you conquer territory after fighting a fierce battle, suffer casualties and then you are ordered to come back to your side of the International Border in India.'
It was never the quality of the CV that defined an incumbent's performance or legacy.
Special Chabbis is one of the finest films of the year so far, writes Sukanya Verma.
Modi will utilise the Presidential poll to show that he is the only leader who matters in India, argue Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari. So the question being asked in political circles is: 'Who will be the next Kovind?'
When it comes to spying, our netas are habitual offenders. Vicky Nanjappa digs up past records of prying politicians that date back to the 80s.
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
'Maulana Mohammad Abdul Aziz is the head of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.'
The case comes after a 26-year-old woman, on whom Dr Gurdeep Kaur performed a surgery at her private clinic, died.
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