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BJP chief J P Nadda's remark that his party may go to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on its own is quite encumbered and notably coincides with the opposition initiative to field Nitish Kumar as INDIA candidate from any of the constituencies in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Red tapes and White caps were common sight in ministries and government departments, a colonial hangover that persisted long after independence. The white caps worn by ministers and babus, particularly by peons in the corridors of power gradually disappeared from 1970s onwards. But Red taped files remained in government offices until recently, stacked mostly in corridors giving a musty smell in all over government buildings. The files started disappearing, though not fully, after digitisation gathered momentum in the last few years as part of the swachhata campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tracing of government files itself used to be an art mastered by the peons, who alone could retrieve them and is usually done only by greasing their palms by interested private parties.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is a double whammy for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the so-called ‘Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam’ in Kerala.

New Delhi: India men reduced Pakistan to smithereens as they crushed Green shirts 64-14 while Women drubbed Nepal 61-17 to storm into the finals of the Kabaddi tournament of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on Friday.

New Delhi: Karan Singh (Haryana) stunned defending champion Manish Sureshkumar (TN) to setup a title clash with Siddharth Vishwakarma while in women's section holder Vaidhee Chaudhari of Gujarat will defend her title against Telangana's Rashmikaa S Bhamidipaty in the 28th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi.

New Delhi: Unleashing their furious firepower India dethroned defending champion Japan 5-1 to regain the Asian Games hockey gold, after a gap of nine years, and secure Paris Olympic berth at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium in Hangzhou, China on Friday.

The continuing raids by the central agencies in the last five days against the opposition leaders, journalists and the human rights activists in the country is a signal that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar are getting panicky after the announcement of the state caste census findings in Bihar by the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the demand by the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi that this caste census should be taken on a national scale.

As India moves closer to the Lok Sabha election 2024, the number of raids on, arrests of, and seizures from the leaders of political parties in opposition has increased. Central agencies such as CBI, ED, NIA, and the Department of Income Tax have become super active along with others, such as Delhi Police, under the Union Government. The offences registered are typically under draconian laws, such as PMLA and UAPA, which do not give the accused persons even the status of an accused under CrPC enabling the government to put them behind bar even without evidence against them denying fair trial and justice. Such a ruthless suppression of the opposition is being veiled under legal procedure, obviously for the gaining legitimacy in eyes of the people.

Ruthless attacks on his political opponents, unleashing the central agencies against social and cultural activists, and the latest to add to the long list of oppressed, the journalists, is mostly Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking revenge on his past. Till he was installed as the chief minister of Gujarat, he was a non-entity in the political circles and even his own partymen did not treat him as equal and with empathy.

So, the 'South' is not the same as the 'North' is, and that is as old as independent India. But, this was the first time a Prime Minister of India took the trouble to remind the 'South' that it stood at a permanent disadvantage vis a vis the 'North'. Any other person or even luminary and he/she would have heard “the gall of it” or some such gall usage. But then, this was Prime Minister Narendra Modi and there’s no saying what’s gonna happen. The Prime Minister was holding forth to voters at a rally in Telangana which is where politicians have been making tall statements in recent weeks, from Rahul Gandhi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even Sonia Gandhi.