Author: News Analysis India

In a candid and “non-political” conversation with actor Akshay Kumar on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he often reads the kind of content people – including Twinkle Khanna – usually post about him on social media. The actor, while talking to the PM about his daily routine, his love for mangoes and his sleep schedule in the sprawling lawns of his residence, also discussed Modi’s presence on social media and showed him some of the memes based on him. During this particular segment, Modi made a witty remark while revealing that he follows Twitter handle of Kumar and…

Mohamed Hasan has barely left his home in Colombo since a string of deadly blasts hit Sri Lanka on Sunday, afraid he could be attacked because he is Muslim.He has a job at a printing press, but the 41-year-old’s family have begged him to stay home. “They are worried that if I go out, will I be able to come back alive?” he told AFP outside the Jumma mosque in Dematagoda, where he had ventured briefly to pray.More than 350 people were killed in the carnage unleashed by the Easter attacks against churches and hotels, which have been claimed by the Islamic State group.The deaths have…

With an annual income of over Rs. 12 crore, cricketer-turned-politican Gautam Gambhir is among the richest of all the candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha election in Delhi. Mr Gambhir, who was nominated by the BJP in East Delhi against AAP’s Atishi Marlena, has shown an income of over Rs. 12.4 crore in the income tax returns filed for 2017-18. In Delhi North West, BJP’s singer-turned politician Hans Raj Hans has an annual income of Rs.9.28 lakh, as per the IT returns filed in 2017-18. His Congress counterpart, Rajesh Lilothia had an annual income of Rs. 26.34 lakh, as per the IT returns filed in 2017-18.…

The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court Wednesday rejected a plea to bar 2008 Malegaon blasts accused and BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Thakur from contesting the Lok Sabha elections, citing that it is for the electoral officers to take a call on the matter. “In the ongoing elections, the court does not have any legal powers to prohibit anyone from contesting the polls. It is the job of electoral officers to decide. This court cannot stop the accused number 1 from contesting the polls. This application is negated,” the court was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “At this juncture, the NIA cannot state…

Expressing regret has not earned Rahul Gandhi any reprieve after he admitted yesterday to misquoting the Supreme Court on its order on the Rafale fighter jet deal. The Congress chief has been asked to explain by next Tuesday why he should not be held in contempt for suggesting that the court had endorsed his sharpest political attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi this election season. However, he won’t have to appear in person to file his response. On Monday, Mr Gandhi had said in an affidavit that he had falsely quoted the top court as “rhetorical flourish in the heat of political…

India has shared with China “all evidences” of the terrorist activities of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and its chief Masood Azhar during foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale’s visit to Beijing amid reports that China may finally make moves to lift technical hold on the issue in the UN Security Council. Gokhale is on a two-day visit to Beijing where he met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and told him that Beijing needed to be “sensitive” to New Delhi’s concerns including listing of ..

The power of “voter ID” is much more than the “IED” (Improvised Explosive Device) of terrorists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday after casting his vote in Gujarat. Mr. Modi appealed to people to come out in large numbers to vote in all the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha polls. He arrived at a polling booth in Nishan High School, located in Ranip area of Ahmedabad city, in an open jeep in the morning. BJP president Amit Shah, who is contesting from the Gandhinagar constituency, which covers Ahmedabad city, welcomed him outside the school and accompanied him to…

The BJP on Sunday announced its seven more candidates for the Lok Sabha election, nominating Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri from Amritsar and renominating its four sitting MPs from Delhi. The party has nominated Shankar Lalwani as its candidate from Indore in place of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Mr Lalwani is chairman of Indore Development Authority. The party has fielded its four sitting MPs from Delhi — Harsh Vardhan from Chandni Chowk, Manoj Tiwari from Northeast Delhi, Pravesh Verma from West Delhi and Ramesh Bidhuri from South Delhi. Mr Puri, whom the party has been grooming as one of…

Congress in-charge for east UP, Priyanka Gandhi, attacked the BJP government for “not just betraying Amethi but the entire nation”. “PM Modi has not visited a single village in Varanasi. Let them beg for votes, Amethi and Raebareli will never bow down in front of anyone,” she said. Countering PM Modi’s ‘diwali nuclear button’ comment, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said Pakistan has not kept their nuclear weapons for Eid. “Every other day they (Pakistan) talk about nuclear button. But that doesn’t mean they have reserved it for Eid,” she said. Addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s…

Malegaon blast accused and Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency’s BJP candidate Pragya Singh Thakur on Friday said former Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare died in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as she had cursed him for treating her “very badly” while she was in custody in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. “Hemant Karkare falsely implicated me. He died of his karma. I told him, he will be destroyed. I told him his entire dynasty will be erased. Maine kaha tera [Karkare] sarvanash hoga,” she said. The IPS Association tweeted in response to her comment, “Ashok Chakra awardee late Sri Hemant Karkare, IPS made the…