IPA Webdesk
Modi-Shah-Gandhi meeting yields dissent over key appointments
A nearly 90-minute closed-door session in New Delhi on Wednesday between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi to finalise appointments to the Central Information Commission concluded with a formal note of dissent from Gandhi. The meeting, convened...
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...
US presses ahead as India offers ‘strongest proposals yet’
Washington has indicated that discussions with New Delhi on a bilateral trade framework are advancing, with remarks from Jamieson Greer, the US Trade Representative, describing India’s agricultural proposals as “the best we’ve ever received as a country.” This fresh tone comes as US officials seek to secure expanded access...
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....
Delhi High Court bars demolitions at Ajmer Sharif Dargah
The Delhi High Court has prohibited the Centre from demolishing or dismantling any structures in or around the Ajmer Sharif Dargah until those affected are granted a proper hearing. A bench led by Delhi High Court judge Sachin Datta was hearing a petition from Syed Meharaj Miya, a hereditary...
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...
Babri-style mosque ceremony stokes Bengal tensions
A large-scale foundation-stone ceremony for a mosque styled on the demolished Babri Masjid was held in Murshidabad district on Saturday, causing a 12-kilometre stretch of National Highway 12 between Rejinagar and Beldanga to be shut down for three hours. Thousands of people carried bricks and stone chips to the...
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...
Bill seeks to drop ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from Preamble
A Private Member’s Bill introduced in the upper house of Parliament aims to excise the words “secular” and “socialist” from the Preamble of the Constitution. The motion was presented by a senior member of the ruling party, who contends that the two terms were inserted in an “undemocratic” manner...
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...
