Page 2 - Indira Gandhi

Travesty of traditions: Congress slams Speaker Birla's 'Emergency' remark

Congress leader K C Venugopal has written a letter to Om Birla condemning his remarks on the 1975 Emergency following Birla's re-election as Lok Sabha Speaker

On its 49th anniversary, revisiting Emergency and its aftermath in India

The Congress and BJP have been engaged in a war of words over the Emergency period with the BJP claiming it as 'dark days' while the Congress accusing the Centre of diverting attention from issues

BJP leaders launch sharp attack on Congress on 1975 Emergency anniversary

The BJP on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Congress on the 49th anniversary of the Emergency, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah saying it is the biggest example of the opposition party's long history of killing democracy and harming it repeatedly. BJP president J P Nadda said on 'X' that those who claim to be the guardians of Indian democracy today had spared no efforts to suppress the voices raised in the defence of constitutional values. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the Emergency, imposed by the then-prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975 before she lifted it in 1977 and called for elections, is a black chapter in Indian democracy which cannot be forgotten. Dictatorship and misuse of power were on brazen display during the period, Singh said on 'X', adding that it raises a big question mark on the commitment to democracy of several political parties. The BJP's trenchant criticism of the Congress came amid a coordinated campaign by opposition parties to paint the ...

On calling Indira Gandhi 'mother' of India, Union min Gopi now takes U-turn

While retracting his earlier statement, Suresh Gopi continued to praise Indira Gandhi, labelling the former Prime Minister as the "real architect" of India post-independence

Former PM Indira Gandhi 'mother of India': Union Minister Suresh Gopi

Union Minister Suresh Gopi on Wednesday described former PM Indira Gandhi as the "mother of India" and late Congress Chief Minister K Karunakaran as a "courageous administrator". The BJP leader also called Karnuakaran and Marxist veteran E K Nayanar as his "political gurus". Gopi was speaking to reporters after visiting the memorial of Karunakaran, "Murali Mandiram" located in Punkunnam here. Interestingly, Suresh Gopi had won Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency by dashing the hopes of Karunakaran's son and Congress leader K Muraleedharan who finished third in a triangular contest in the April 26 polls. Urging mediapersons not to add any political connotation to his visit to Karunakaran memorial, the BJP leader said he came here to pay his respects to his "guru". He said like Nayanar and his wife Sarada Teacher, he had close relations with Karunakaran and his wife Kalyanikutty Amma also. He had visited Nayanar's home in Kannur and renewed his relationship with his family members on .

India demands action over Indira Gandhi assassination float in Canada

The float, part of a demonstration in Brampton marking the 40th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, depicted an effigy of Indira Gandhi being fired upon by her bodyguards

50th anniversary of JP's 'Sampoorna Kranti' call, tributes paid in Patna

It has been 50 years since socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan gave the call for 'Sampoorna Kranti' on June 5, 1974 at the historic Gandhi Maidan here. Addressing a massive gathering on that day, he had thundered, "...it is a Total Revolution we want, nothing less". While five decades have passed on since that historic moment and much has changed in the capital city of Bihar, the legend of 'JP', as he was popularly known, lives on in political speeches, statues, and in names of bridges, boulevards, public buildings, institutions and some streets in the state. Under the firebrand 'JP', the agitation in Bihar took the shape of a 'Total Revolution' and the initial demand for resignation of the then Ghafoor ministry in the state ultimately turned into a larger demand for dismissal of the Indira Gandhi government. The 'Bihar Movement' during the turbulent 70s eventually led to the Emergency. On Wednesday, the Patna district administration paid floral tributes to the socialist leader a

Jailed Khalistani separatist, Indira Gandhi assassin's son lead in Punjab

Amritpal Singh is leading from Punjab's Khadoor Sahib while Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of one of the assassins of the late PM Indira Gandhi, is ahead in the electoral contest in Faridkot LS seat

Lok Sabha elections 2024: A look at India's longest-serving Prime Ministers

If Prime Minister Modi leads the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to another victory, he will join an elite group of Prime Ministers who have served India for over a decade

Sensex to GDP: How India looked when a party won 400 seats the last time

If the BJP secures over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha, it will be the second party to do so after Congress, which won 414 seats in 1984 after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi abolished inheritance tax to save family wealth, says PM Modi

Says Congress wanted to bring back estate duty; latter calls claims 'lies'

Before Katchatheevu, there was Bengal's Berubari: How a CM took on PM Nehru

The Berubari case went on to affect the Katchatheevu matter decades later, with opponents of the island's transfer to Sri Lanka citing it as a reason to reclaim the territory

Katchatheevu: Jaishankar says Nehru, Indira were 'indifferent' about issue

External Affairs Minister says over 6,000 Indian fishermen have been detained by Sri Lanka in past 20 years

Modi reignites Katchatheevu controversy, Cong say 'distortion of history'

In 1974, PM Indira Gandhi ceded the uninhabited island between India and Sri Lanka to the latter, aiming to resolve maritime border issues and foster bilateral relations

Caste census against 'Indira-Rajiv legacy': Congress leader Anand Sharma

Anand Sharma invoked Congress' historical position on the issue under the regime of former PMs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and advised the party to refrain from indulging in identity politics

Thousands of wetlands under severe threat, their protection vital: Jairam

Congress leader and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said thousands of wetlands across the country are under severe threat daily and asserted that their protection is vital as they are of great ecological significance. In a post on X, Ramesh said the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was signed in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the Caspian Sea in February 1971. The then prime minister Indira Gandhi had sent India's greatest ornithologist, Salim Ali, as India's delegate. "How this happened has been described in my book, 'Indira Gandhi: A Life in Nature'. It was Salim Ali who, more than anybody else, awakened the nation's conscience to the protection of wetlands," Ramesh said. There are now 80 Ramsar sites across the country, with the maximum of 16 in Tamil Nadu and 10 in Uttar Pradesh, he pointed out. Chilika in Odisha was the first wetland to be designated as a Ramsar site on October 1, 1981, he noted. Ramesh said the pause of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Tuesday

Resetting the Republic

Legatees of political forces Indira Gandhi locked up during Emergency are now redefining some of India's foundational principles. They can be challenged, just as she was in the 1970s

Budget 2024: Who was first woman to present Budget? Know interesting facts

Interim Budget 2024: Who holds the record for reading the most number of budgets in India and other interesting Budget facts

Indira Gandhi and the case of overly ripped Goan papaya breakfast

The papayas from Mumbai were too squishy, the chef raced through the streets of Goa in a police jeep to look for fruit ripened just right only to have security personnel puncture many a hole through them a new book recalls in detail the struggle to procure and plate perfect papayas for Indira Gandhi during a CHOGM meeting in 1983. The then prime minister's demand for the humble papaya for breakfast during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting retreat sent the entire Taj Hotel into a tizzy, chef Satish Arora recounts in his book "Sweets and Bitters: Tales from a Chef's Life". It was a "uniquely Indian, very local" battle that he and his team at Taj Goa were fighting, Arora writes. It was November 1983 and the late Gandhi was hosting high-profile leaders from more than 40 countries for a 48-hour retreat that was aiming to put Goa on the world tourism map. There was a flurry of activity -- roads were widened, jetties and bridges built, street lights revamped and the airport .

40 years of Maruti 800: Jairam Ramesh recalls contribution of Indira, Rajiv

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday recalled the launch of people's car Maruti 800 40 years ago, and said Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi played a quiet but hugely effective role in the background. Former environment minister Ramesh also said that while celebrating Maruti-Suzuki and its multiple impacts, let us also pause and worry a bit from the inequality and climate change point of view that more than 50 per cent of car sales are now of SUVs. In a post on X, Ramesh said, "Today 40 years ago, the consumer revolution overtook India and its engineering industry got transformed. The Maruti 800, the people's car was launched and the nation recalls Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, who played a quiet but hugely effective role in the background." It is also important to recall O Suzuki and V Krishnamurthy who made the landmark Suzuki-Maruti joint venture possible, he noted. Krishnamurthy had earlier built BHEL and was to later turn around SAIL, Ramesh pointed out. "One of th