Jawaharlal Nehru became Prime Minister of India on August 15, 1947 presiding over a stellar Cabinet - the likes of which have rarely been seen in the world. Over the next five years, modern India came into being.
Over 560 princely states were integrated peacefully into the Indian Union, the Constitution of India was debated and adopted, zamindari was abolished, reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were put in place, a number of multipurpose irrigation-cum-power projects were launched, the infrastructure for science and technology capability was established (including in nuclear energy), and India emerged as a force in global affairs. Electoral rolls bearing 170 million registered voters were prepared to ensure universal adult franchise and free India’s first General Elections were held between October 1951 and February 1952.
The 1947-52 record of achievements of India with Nehru as PM and in which stalwarts like Sardar Patel, Dr. Ambedkar, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, C. Rajagopalachari, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad played such a pivotal role is now sought to be erased by Mr. Modi who has a pathological fixation on Nehru. He may have passed a self-proclaimed and dubiously invented milestone today but he is a millstone around India’s neck, presiding as he is over the Murder of Democracy in India. The very same establishments of democracy - an independent Election Commission and a sacrosanct voter list - are now threatened. Scientific temper has been erased through the destruction of our educational institutions - as exposed most recently by the NEET-CBSE scandals. Reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes have been weakened through privatisation and nefarious instruments like ‘Not Found Suitable.’
And while Nehru won in 1952, 1957, and 1962 with a hugely decisive majority, Mr. Modi did NOT secure even a simple majority by a considerable margin in 2024 and had to hurriedly convene a NDA meeting bypassing the BJP Parliamentary Party to anoint himself as PM. 2024 was most certainly not a mandate for Him.
He doesn’t have the luxury of normal democratic conditions like institutional fairness, media plurality, financial parity, and the rule of law that is applied equally.
I write ✍️
Still, @RahulGandhi has chosen to fight with what might seem the most inadequate of weapons: moral clarity, ideological consistency, and human empathy.
@Ram_Guha Ramchandra Guha, after terrible decision to support Modi in 2014, now, searches for another messiah. He risks repeating the error: demanding perfection from an opposition leader who is overcoming unfair limits, with hands tied, facing constant hardships and battling the elements. Guha fails to recognise these chains and fetters.
It takes tremendous courage to be democratic in the absence of democratic space. To stand up for an idea knowing fully well that there is huge personal cost to be paid for it.
Rahul Gandhi knows that he will be attacked and vilified. He knows his supporters will be attacked and vilified. But he still fights on. His approach can best be described in the words of Kabir, who understood about the nature of moral commitment in a hostile world:
कबीरा खड़ा बाज़ार में, मांगे सबकी खैर।
ना काहू से दोस्ती, ना काहू से बैर।।
कबीरा खड़ा बाज़ार में, लिए लुकाठी हाथ।
जो घर फूँके आपना, चले हमारे साथ।।
Dictatorial systems do not allow democratic functioning to proceed on level terms. If someone is standing firm within such a system, refusing to be broken or bought or diverted, there has to be a reason rooted in the quality of their leadership.
@INCIndia@kharge@RahulGandhi@thewire_in
https://t.co/wdsHrhJhWe
Rahul Gandhi's persistent attack on Modi has created space for mocking him. The level of criticism, memes & outright mockery of Modi now is unprecedented. In his first term, people were scared of even saying Modi. It was always Modiji. Not any longer. RG made it possible
I am so heartbroken.
Israel has just shot my 30-year-old aunt in the chest while she was sitting with her three young children in a school shelter in Jabalia Camp. She is in critical condition; the bullet pierced her chest and exited through her back, devastating her lungs and spleen.
At the moment she was hit, she was holding her one-year-old son. He fell from her lap as she collapsed and was found bleeding from one of his ears.
I just spoke with my uncle, who told me that Israel has been using subsonic bullets lately. He said his sister is the second mother in the camp to be shot in the chest today.
Please pray for her and our family. Her husband was abducted by Israel in November 2024, and we still have no word on his condition.
🚨 LANGUAGE ALERT
Springsteen called Trump a snowflake.
In Persian, snowflake is nazok-narenji — literally "thin-orange." We take strong exception to this characterization.
WE CONDEMN THIS USE OF NAZOK-NARENJI.
This man:
- picks a fight with the Pope For opposing war. Then posts himself as Christ, gets caught, says "I thought I was a doctor". In robes and a halo (Apparently the robes were a lab coat and the halo was a headlamp).
- threatens to send a nation back to the Stone Age. Finally, a destination he's qualified to govern.
- locks a door that was already locked, with 15 warships standing guard. By day two, Iran-linked ships are ignoring them like the Navy is just a scarecrow.
- says on camera he likes hanging out with losers because they listen to his success stories (accidentally revealing his cabinet selection process).
That's not thin-skinned. That's the thickest orange on the planet.
Just narenji.
हमारे बच्चों को हम भूखा सुलाते हैं. सीने से लगाकर लोरी सुनाते हैं, ताकि उन्हें भूख की याद ना आए.
- 10 हजार की मामूली सैलरी में काम करने वाले इस कर्मचारी को सुनें
ये है असल भारत. ये है चौथी सबसे बड़ी इकॉनमी.
"من هذه الصورة لم يبقَ إلا أنا وابني حسين الذي بجانبي
أما زوجتي الغالية زينب وولداي هادي وأحمد فقد قتلتهم إسرائيل البارحة بكل ما في هذا الكون من عتوّ وتكبّر وتجبّر.
لقد كسر رحيلهم قلبي، ولكنه كسرٌ سيَجبره الله بالرضا والتسليم والتوكل.. هوّن ما نزل بي أنه بعين الله، ولو لم يكن بعين الله لما تحملت روحي هذا الفراق.
من أخي الغالي الحاج جلال وصهري الحبيب أبو رضا بالأمس،
إلى حبيبتي زينب وولداي هادي وأحمد اليوم
يا رب خذ حتى ترضى..
لو قُتلنا جميعا.. هذا الطريق سنكمله."
د. علي حريري
بيروت لبنان
9 ابريل 2026
The UK Foreign Secretary says she is “deeply troubled" by Israel's latest massacre in Lebanon.
So “troubled” that the government still supplies Israel with weapons and intelligence.
Israel is committing war crimes in Lebanon - and this government is shamefully complicit.
I don’t think people around the world realize how bad the attack on Lebanon was today. It’s BAD. Like 9/11 BAD. Hospitals are overflowing and do not have enough blood. We still don’t know what the death toll is.
This is TERRORISM. Pure and Simple.
April 8. Never forget.
In case you missed this, the Union government (not Tushar Mehta) has taken the stand that judgements decriminalising adultery and homosexuality relying on “constitutional morality” “transformative constitutionalism”, “living Constitution” are per incurium
https://t.co/fklh5yLvBp
Justo hoy, Netanyahu lanza su ataque más duro contra el Líbano desde que empezó la ofensiva.
Su desprecio por la vida y el derecho internacional es intolerable.
Toca hablar claro:
- Líbano debe formar parte del alto al fuego.
- La comunidad internacional debe condenar esta nueva violación del derecho internacional.
- La Unión Europea debe suspender su Acuerdo de Asociación con Israel.
- Y no debe haber impunidad ante estos actos criminales.
The last 24 hours have shown what many have said for a long time.
Britain's role as an accomplice to Trump's America must end.
We must urgently decouple from a rogue US & seek security with allies closer to home. That starts with suspension of the US bombers on British soil.
I cannot emphasize this enough.
A new dynamic will be at play when the US and Iran meet in Islamabad to negotiate a final deal based on Iran's 10-point plan:
Trump's failed war has eliminated the potency of American military threats in US-Iran diplomacy.
The US can still issue threats, but everyone will know that they no longer carry much weight.
Essentially, war with Iran was tried and failed.
As a result, negotiations will have to be based on genuine compromises from both sides, rather than coercion from either side.
Peace is welcome. Always. Whoever may broker it.
The sadness is over how diminished India has been because of the wrong policies and priorities of a vain and nasty establishment. Will anyone be held accountable even now, or using epithets for Pakistan will suffice as diplomacy?
Pow pow ne waar rukwa di. Also, this is not an era of war.
India's wasted 12 years where the whole foreign policy energy and effort has been devoted towards marginalising and isolating Pakistan, and pretending as if it doesn't exist. And this is where it has ended up.