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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s success in concluding high valued defence deals during his visit to France on July 13 and 14 has led to the escalation of fighting between the United States and France over the sale of high tech defence equipment to the burgeoning Indian market.

To understand the BJP’s rapid political moves across India, think back to 1996. That year sagging under the weight of a raft of corruption, scandals and internal defections, the incumbent Congress went to polls weakened. This allowed the BJP to vault into pole position, becoming for the first time the single-largest party in the Lok Sabha. With unprecedented success, Atal Behari Vajpayee took oath as Prime Minister but quickly found that navigating the quicksand of coalition politics was far trickier than the heat and dust of the campaign trail. For 13 days, the party hunted for allies to push it pass the majority mark but to no avail, eventually forcing Vajpayee to resign.

What a coincidence! On July 13, while Justice Amrita Singh of Calcutta High Court was telling the lawyer of the State Election Commission, Kishore Dutta, that the lust for pecuniary gain and a job for five years was at the back of huge amount of electoral violence in the state, on the same day, a 14-second video clip circulating on social media shows a person resembling BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari exhorting his men: “The streets will show the way. Such a situation will have to be created that (Article) 355 will become a must. There is no other way out for Bengal. One has to get a lot of things done. How one has to get them done, I know.”

The government has announced plans to monetise the huge domestic gold holdings from time to time, each subsequent version seeking to correct the drawbacks with the previous plans. But the hard fact is that none of these achieved even a fraction of the desired results.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma speaks in a different tongue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's. On the one hand, Modi goes out of his way to woo Muslims with targeted welfare schemes; on the other, the Assam Chief Minister makes it a daily habit to insult Muslims wherever and whenever he gets an opportunity. In the latest instance, Sarma accused the “Miya Muslim community” for being responsible for the rise in vegetable prices in the state, drawing criticism from Logical Indians across the spectrum.

Much is being talked about making 100 cities throughout the country as smart cities. Focus of smartness is on digitalization, beautification, high rise buildings, big flyovers, wide spaces for cars to run on the roads, luxury parks etc. Little is being said about issues that relate to the needs of the common man. With the urban population in India at 35.39% in 2021, there is need to develop the cities to fulfill the socio-economic requirements and quality of life of all sections of society.

KOLKATA: Several thousand people from West Bengal had fled to neighbouring Bangladesh areas and Assam during the prolonged spell of violence that marred the recent Panchayat elections in the state. While the exodus went unreported in the Bengal mass media outlets, Assam Chief Minister Mr Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed the news in a brief mention he made in the state Assembly.

New Delhi: Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu will lead a five-member Indian team (3 men, 2 women) at the World Weightlifting Championships to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from be held from September 4 to 17.

New Delhi: Ace shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary took top podium positions while long Jumper Shaili Singh finished second as India's medal tally went up to nine (Five gold, one silver, three bronze) at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday.

New Delhi: Former world no 1 PV Sindhu and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen chalked out facile wins over their rivals to cruise to the quarter-finals of the US Open Badminton at US Open Badminton at Council Bluffs, Iowa.