On Tuesday, Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be careful when dealing with the issue of granting reservation status to the Maratha community under the Socially and Economically Backward Classes category. He stressed the need to protect the rights of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) while also addressing the needs of the Maratha community. Thackeray emphasized that a fair and balanced approach is crucial to ensure that all affected communities are treated equally and that their concerns are properly addressed. In May 2021, the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled against separate…
Author: Priyanjali Sachdeva
On Tuesday, the Lok Sabha discussed the draft Budget 2024-25 and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded to the debate. The Union Finance Minister concluded by saying that all opposition parties should be ashamed for their misleading claims about the Budget. She also addressed insinuations made against her Ministry by claiming that it was ‘biased’ toward Bihar and Andhra Pradesh which were totally false. She clarified that the Budget had not neglected any state and that all states received due consideration. Nirmala Sitharaman made it clear that the absence of a state’s name in the Budget speech doesn’t mean it…
In the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, what began as a debate over the demand for a caste census, strongly advocated by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, quickly turned personal. BJP MP Anurag Thakur intensified the discussion by remarking that the calls for a caste survey are coming from individuals whose own caste remains unknown. This comment added a provocative edge to an already heated debate. Even though Thakur didn’t mention anyone by name, Gandhi and the crew interpreted Thakur’s non-specificity as an assault directed towards him. Immediately interrupting the latter’s discourse, Rahul made it visibly apparent that no amount…
On July 29, Rahul Gandhi, the Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, slammed the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, saying its Budget 2024 announcements were made in a climate of widespread fear. He accused the government of betraying the middle class both directly and indirectly with these decisions. This isn’t the first time the opposition has criticized the 2024 Union Budget. Recently, opposition members accused the budget of being a strategy to protect political seats and appease allies and cronies. They even claimed that some of the schemes were lifted directly from the Congress party’s manifesto. Gandhi asserted that the BJP…
In a surprising turn of events, on Sunday, just one day before the Monsoon Session of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly was set to begin, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav appointed 81-year-old Brahmin leader Mata Prasad Pandey as the new Leader of the Opposition (LoP). This position became available after Akhilesh resigned from the Assembly to keep his Kannauj Lok Sabha seat, which he secured in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Mata Prasad Pandey, representing the Itwa Assembly constituency in Siddharthnagar district, has had a distinguished political career. He became an MLA for the first time in the 1980 Assembly…
On Friday, the Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra described the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu as a genocidal responsible person who practices barbarism in Gaza. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress general secretary, criticized Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza during her comment on Wednesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress. He was welcomed by Speaker of House Mike Johnson and other Republicans who had arranged for his address. Both sides gave a standing ovation to Netanyahu. In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the Congress minister came down heavily on Israel. She said that…
On Friday, as they paid tribute to martyrs on Kargil Vijay Diwas, Opposition parties aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims about the Agnipath scheme. The opposition demanded a review of the scheme, which Modi had described as a crucial reform initiated by the Army. Modi also accused the opposition of politicizing the recruitment process, which is designed to keep the average age in the armed forces lower. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and other party leaders have accused the prime minister of engaging in “petty politics” regarding the Agnipath scheme. The opposition party labeled the prime minister’s claim that the…
On Wednesday, Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi criticized the BJP government, calling the Union Budget a “Kursi Bachao” (protecting seat) budget. In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi criticized the budget as one designed to protect seats, accusing the government of making hollow promises to allies at the expense of other states and favoring corporate cronies over ordinary Indians. He also added that the new budget was copied from the Congress manifesto and previous budgets. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Modi government of stealing Congress’ youth programme under a different name. He also noted that…
In his speech to start the BJP’s campaign for the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, Amit Shah, Union Home Minister, referred to Sharad Pawar as the “godfather of corruption” and referred to Uddhav Thackeray as the leader of the “Aurangzeb fan club.” Amit Shah also criticized Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, saying that the Congress party’s defeat in the upcoming Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jharkhand Assembly elections would break Gandhi’s conceit. Shah emphasized that the recent Lok Sabha elections affirmed PM Modi’s approval from the Indian people. He also noted that the BJP would intensify its…
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath acknowledged that the BJP’s overconfidence hurt their performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh. Addressing the BJP State Working Committee meeting at the Bhimrao Ambedkar Auditorium of Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath highlighted the BJP’s consistent pressure on the Opposition under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. He pointed out their significant victories in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, as well as the 2017 and 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections. Although the BJP secured a similar vote percentage in 2024, Adityanath acknowledged…
