Dipankar Ghose

“Why do we come into politics? We come into politics for the country,” TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi said, adding that the time had come to decide “if the country is bigger, your side is bigger or you yourself are bigger”.

Trinamool sources said that while there had been signs of tension, Trivedi's announcement caught them by surprise. A senior Trinamool leader said, “There was a feeling that Trivedi was soft on the PM, not forceful enough in Parliament."

“In 70 years, the highest the unemployment rate has been is in the Narendra Modi government, and the gap between the richest and the poorest is the highest now,” he said.

Trivedi said that he was forced to make a decision, and had to follow his “conscience” after looking at “the kind of violence taking place in his state” of West Bengal and that he would continue to work for “Bengal and the country.”

Even as the opposition attacked the government on its treatment of PSUs, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said some of them had become a burden on the consolidated fund of India and need to be “redone” to bring new life into them.

RJD MP Manoj Jha speaks to The Indian Express on J&K representation in Rajya Sabha

Modi broke down several times during his 13-minute speech, as he recalled his close association with Azad. “At a personal level, I would request him to not consider that he is not in the House. My door is always open for all of you... I will always expect, and value, your views,” Modi said.

While Congress’s Azad shared his experiences as a college student in Kashmir and hoped for the end of militancy, PDP MPs Nazir Ahmad Laway and Mir Mohammad Fayaz asked for restoration of statehood — with the latter praising the Centre’s Ujjwala scheme.

Farmers protest: Our doors always open to resolve issue, says govt in Upper House; ruckus mars Lok Sabha.

Several members from the Opposition and Treasury benches participated in the debate on the three contentious farm laws, which are being opposed by farmers on the borders of Delhi, in the Upper House as part of the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address. Taking a look at the speeches on Wednesday: Ghulam Nabi Azad […]

Centred on ‘jaan’ and ‘jahaan’, says Prime minister.

As it campaigns in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the BJP will focus on the measures in the Budget for the farmers.

Former Vice President Hamid Ansari says that for many decades after Independence, a “pluralist view of nationalism and Indianness” characterized India’s thinking, but recently has been supplanted by one that “threatens to rule out dissent”.

BJP sources admitted that the slogans at the event were “inappropriate” and that they had given TMC a political tool. But while there is discomfort within, BJP has publicly questioned why Banerjee has a problem with Jai Shri Ram slogans.

The AAP leader also said that the langar the government had set up was packed up by the police on the night of January 26, and that there was a clear distinction between “lumpen elements” at the Red Fort and farmers raising legitimate demands.

TMC leaders said they were confident that the 2021 Assembly polls would throw up victories for non-BJP parties in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala, and that the “real big election” would be in 2024 for the “idea of India”.

Addressing cadets of the NCC and NSS as well as artistes who will take part in the Republic Day parade, Prime Minister Modi also called on youngsters to lead the effort for a self-reliant India.

The symbolism of contesting from Nandigram would be a reminder of who she is, TMC leaders said.

Senior TMC leaders said they were aware that the BJP is attempting to turn the narrative to their favour by using it to win over the non-Bengalis.

Speaking at the 75th jubilee of the National Physical Laboratory under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Prime Minister said that every Indian was indebted to India’s “scientists and technicians.”

How India managed the Covid-19 pandemic should be a subject of “documentation and research”, the Prime Minister said at the virtual foundation stone laying for the permanent campus of IIM Sambalpur.

Modi said, “I want to ask you, other IIM’s and other business management schools to study how the country worked during the Corona pandemic with technology and teamwork. How steps were taken for the protection of 130 crore people."

“Without them how difficult it is to run industries. People folded their hands and said, ‘Come Back Come Back’. What Corona did was that for those who did not accept the importance of our migrant labourers, it compelled them to do so,” the Prime Minister said.

As per the government order passed in July after the Express report on the struggles of the community, cognizance of which was also taken by the NHRC and the Chief Justice of the Bihar High Court, two months worth of ration was distributed immediately