Pallab Bhattacharya

The template for India's next general elections due early next year appears to have been set. It is going to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party versus the entire opposition. To keep the BJP at bay, the Congress is ready to play second fiddle to a regional party. These are the two biggest messages emanating from the swiftness with which the main opposition, Congress party headed by Rahul

Can the collapse of the three-day-old Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka mark a turnaround in Rahul Gandhi-led Congress party ahead of fresh national elections early next year?

By announcing the conditional unilateral cessation of pro-active operations by security forces against militants in Jammu and Kashmir during Ramadan, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a decision that is fraught with as much risk as a potential turnaround for the better. This is the first such peace initiative by the Modi government since coming to power four years ago.

When Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj undertook a two-day visit to Myanmar on May 10-11, it had important implications for Bangladesh.

On May 8 when the President of India's main opposition party Congress said that he was ready to become the prime minister if his party finished on top in fresh general elections due next year, he sent a message to multiple constituencies and once again set the political circles abuzz. This was not the first time Rahul came out with such an assertion.

With the general elections in Bangladesh slated for later this year, Bangladesh and India are in talks to fast-track implementation of the development projects under the second and third lines of credit totalling seven billion dollars.

In a previous article, I had raised the question: can Asian giants India and China navigate through their competing aspirations to become regional and global powers and find a new template for working together? A tentative answer to this is available after the recent “informal” summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jingping on the bank of the Yangzte river in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27 and 28.

One of the most enduring images from the first-ever meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping less than four years ago was that of the two leaders sitting together on a swing on the riverfront of Sabaramati river in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat. That was Modi's way of welcoming Xi who had begun his maiden tour of India with a visit to Modi's home state. On April 27 and 28 this year, the two leaders would again come together—this time at a sprawling villa by the Yangtze river in the picturesque Chinese city of Wuhan.

India's former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, who has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, yesterday quit Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Indian government yesterday approved an ordinance, which allows confiscating properties and assets of economic offenders like

Public anger is mounting by the day over two recent horrific cases of rape in India: that of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in the Jammu and Kashmir state and that of a teenager in Uttar Pradesh. Street protests and candle-light rallies were held in several Indian cities and towns with the participation of people from all walks of life and age groups—they came out with placards demanding justice for the victims through bringing the perpetrators of the

Amid reports of a cash crunch in at least six states of India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday said there is sufficient currency in

As Nepal Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli wrapped up his foreign visit to India (April 6-8) two months after assuming power in February, the two countries have put behind them a nearly three-year phase in bilateral ties marred by mutual recrimination, suspicion and distrust. In a media briefing after talks between Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, Indian Foreign Secretary explained it as a

The caste cauldron in India was on the boil once again on April 2. Thousands of activists of Dalit outfits took to the streets and clashed with police in several states leaving nine persons dead and scores wounded. The immediate trigger for the protests was the Supreme Court's ruling on March 20 allegedly diluting some of the provisions of a law that is designed to protect lower-caste people from atrocities by the upper-caste members of society.

IF there has been one segment of India's foreign policy on which there has always been a multi-party consensus all along, it is the ties with Africa.

One of the most important reasons behind Indian democracy's remarkable strength is the impeccable and impartial conduct of the Election Commission (EC).

There was more than one reason why the recent plenary session of India's main opposition party Congress stood out as an important political event.

The Indian government yesterday withdrew the 20 percent export duty on sugar in a bid to boost sales abroad and lift domestic prices amid surplus production in the world's second largest producer of the sweetener.

Indian banking regulator has banned the use of letters of undertaking (LoUs), an instrument which was used by

One of the first things that Biplab Kumar Deb did even before taking oath as the new chief minister of Tripura was make a phone call to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and seek her cooperation for the development of the landlocked northeastern state.