Happening Now
Rahul Gandhi says Amit Shah’s speech was defensive and unanswered
Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi sharply criticised Home Minister Amit Shah’s address in the Lok Sabha on the electoral reforms debate on Wednesday, asserting that Shah failed to engage with crucial points raised by the opposition and delivered what he described as a “defensive” response. Gandhi told reporters...
Supreme Court seeks clarity on Assam roll exemption
A directive from the Supreme Court has placed the Election Commission under pressure to justify the exemption granted to Assam from furnishing documentary proof during the ongoing electoral roll revision, a requirement applied to several other states under the Special Intensive Revision process. The order was issued on Tuesday...
Supreme Court concerned at threats to booth-level officers
The Supreme Court has formally sought a response from the Election Commission of India on a petition demanding protection for booth-level officers deployed in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, raising serious alarm over reports of intimidation and obstruction in West Bengal and other states. A bench comprising...
Supreme Court questions poll panel’s power to probe citizenship
The Supreme Court challenged whether the Election Commission of India is constitutionally permitted to carry out an inquiry into a person’s citizenship status during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, suggesting that the power to adjudicate citizenship might lie outside its remit. The observations came from a bench...
Family of Bankim Chandra lauds Vande Mataram debate
A 10-hour parliamentary debate in the lower house concluded as MPs broached the 150-year legacy of the national song Vande Mataram today, with voices from across party lines debating its history and symbolism. Among those welcoming the spotlight on the song was Sajal Chattopadhyay — great-grandson of Bankim Chandra...
Mamata backs debate, critiques BJP’s cultural politics
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her party had “no problem” with the decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate a parliamentary discussion on Vande Mataram, signalling conditional support even as she criticised what she described as the neglect of Bengal’s cultural icons by the ruling party....
Congress suspends Sidhu’s wife after Rs 500 crore CM claim
A membership order issued by the Punjab unit of the Congress formally expelled Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu from the party’s primary rolls with immediate effect. The move follows her assertion that one must offer a “suitcase of Rs 500 crore” to attain the post of Chief Minister — a...
Priyanka questions Modi’s authority amid sharpening political debate
Remarks by Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi in the Lok Sabha stirred pointed political pushback after she argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi no longer projected the authority he once did and that his declining self-assurance had weakened national governance. Her intervention came during a discussion marking 150 years of...
Cong demands Rajnath apology over Nehru-Babri claim
The opposition party has challenged a statement by the defence minister, calling it a deliberate distortion of history. Indian National Congress has demanded a public apology from Rajnath Singh after he asserted that Jawaharlal Nehru planned to rebuild the Babri Masjid using government funds — a claim that Congress...
Chowdhury questions Banerjee’s silence on Babri row
Sharp criticism has intensified over Mamata Banerjee’s refusal to comment on the Babri Masjid dispute after senior Congress figure Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused the West Bengal chief minister of avoiding a politically sensitive matter. Chowdhury, who leads his party in the Lok Sabha, argued that her silence on the...
Tewari bill challenges whip-led voting in Parliament
The Lok Sabha now sees a renewed push to loosen the grip of party whips, as senior MP Manish Tewari introduced a private member’s bill aiming to amend the country’s anti-defection framework and grant lawmakers greater freedom in casting votes. The bill would allow MPs and MLAs to vote...
Congress high command meeting in Delhi fails to settle Karnataka leadership dispute
Leaders of the Indian National Congress convened at 10 Janpath on Saturday to address mounting tensions in Karnataka but emerged without a definitive resolution. The gathering at the residence of Sonia Gandhi — attended by Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and K. C. Venugopal — did not settle the ongoing...
Telangana plans to rename US consulate road as Donald Trump Avenue
The government of Telangana state government has proposed to rename the road housing the United States Consulate General in Hyderabad as “Donald Trump Avenue,” in honour of the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Officials say a formal communication will be sent to the...
Opposition criticism grows over banquet exclusion
Opposition parties intensified objections to the absence of their leaders at the presidential state banquet hosted for Vladimir Putin on Friday night, sharpening a wider political dispute over protocol, representation and constitutional propriety. The criticism gathered momentum after Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi argued that the event had been...
Omar Abdullah warns INDIA bloc risks collapse without strong leadership
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has sounded a sharp warning about the state of the opposition INDIA bloc, saying it is “on life support” and risks being wheeled into the “ICU” if internal divisions and strategic missteps continue. Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New...
Congress MP questions motive behind vegetarian banquet
A sharp political exchange unfolded after Congress MP Karti Chidambaram criticised the government’s decision to serve an entirely vegetarian state banquet for Russian President Vladimir Putin at Rashtrapati Bhavan, describing the menu as an effort to promote what he called puritanical vegetarianism under the guise of cultural tradition. Chidambaram’s...
Parliament set for charged debate on Vande Mataram
Parliament is bracing for an intense debate on the 150th year of the national song Vande Mataram, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to open the discussion in the Lok Sabha and Congress deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi expected to respond from the Opposition benches. The session has drawn considerable...
Kerala Congress provokes diplomatic stir with PawPaw remark on Putin
The state unit of Indian National Congress in Kerala has triggered sharp criticism by referring to Vladimir Putin as the “new PawPaw” of Narendra Modi’s supporters in a social-media post just days into the Russian president’s state visit to India. The offending message — posted on X by the...
