Centre set to extend Prez Rule in Manipur for another 6 months
The House is yet to take up the notice, which will be listed next week after time for discussing the same is allocated by the business advisory committee of the upper house.
The Rajya Sabha secretariat said, "
Amit Shah
, minister of home affairs and minister of cooperation has given a notice of the following resolution which has been admitted: 'That this House approves the continuance in force of the Proclamation dated the 13 February, 2025, in respect of Manipur, issued under Article 356 of the Constitution by the President, for a further period of six months, with effect from 13 August, 2025'."
While BJP has been making efforts to form a new govt, the Meitei and Naga MLAs have been conducting a month-long campaign to push for a govt in the violence-hit state. President's Rule had been imposed in Manipur on February 13, 2025 after N Biren Singh resigned as CM.
The state has been witnessing violence with at least 260 people killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities since May 2023. PTI
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Indian Express
17 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Vandita Mishra writes: As the Monsoon session of Parliament enters its second week
Why did Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar suddenly resign at the end of the first working day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament? The question is riveting. But unfortunately, l'affaire Dhankhar allows us a very limited range of wondering. As Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman, and as governor of West Bengal before that, Dhankhar spoke the lines scripted by the Narendra Modi government, almost as if they had been written out for him. He took on the elected chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, every day, firming up a template for the disabling politics practised by other BJP-appointed governors in Opposition-ruled states. He loudly confronted the Judiciary and the Opposition at the Centre, and weaponised the Rajya Sabha rule book to stifle debate, not encourage it. There seemed to be little or no daylight between the positions of Dhankhar and the Modi government. Up till now. So, now that a crack is showing, wide enough for Dhankhar to have made his unceremonious exit, or for him to have been eased out abruptly — the health reasons he cited for his resignation are not being taken seriously — there is an opening. Perhaps, hidden in plain sight, Dhankhar had overplayed the hand he had been dealt by the Modi government, and a government that maintains a tight control over MPs/ministers as well as constitutional authorities, could not let that be. All the fevered speculation in the last week about why the former V-P quit boils down to this. The story of the V-P's exit could have been more interesting. It could still be, arguably. It could have been that, to a third-term government with a messianic self-image that loses no opportunity to assert its absolute power absolutely, that gives no quarters to the dissenter and lays all opponents low, Dhankhar has done something that has not been done so far. He has spoken truth — or even better, the Constitution — to power, from within. It could have been that, having subdued the Opposition and its own MPs and Ministers, the government now came up against a pushback from the less bendable constitutional authority. That's a tantalising possibility. But there is a problem here, and it is this: Nothing in Dhankhar's very public record till now supports that particular theory. A level of publicness and transparency — missing from this episode so far — would also have been intrinsic to it. What we are left with, then, is an imagined drama of mincing moves on the chessboard of power and politics that ostensibly led to the V-P's exit. It is set against the broader canvas of a newly reconvened Parliament. 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In Gujarat, on Saturday, Gandhi reportedly said the EC was like a 'cheating cricket umpire' and that Congress defeats in the 2017 and 2022 assembly polls in the state had to do with manipulated voter lists. For a leader speaking to party workers — Gandhi was addressing newly appointed Congress district and city unit presidents — there is room for some overblown rhetoric. But this sounded too much like Gandhi blaming the EC in a way that not only lets Congress off the hook, but which could also undermine the case he is making on the conduct of the SIR in Bihar against it. In Gujarat, Congress has failed to stanch the flow of Congressmen crossing over to the BJP camp, to an extent that voters distrust the Congress ability to hold its own in the state quite literally. As in many other states, it has failed to break BJP dominance through new ideas, or even through a new set of leaders. Its messaging has been inconsistent, lacking follow-up on the ground. 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Indian Express
17 minutes ago
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From Obama's ‘treason' to missing gold reserves, the wildest conspiracy theories consuming Trump's Washington
OK, so US President Donald Trump's name is in the Jeffrey Epstein files. But who put it there? Could it possibly have been Barack Obama from his prison cell? Or a tranquilized Hillary Clinton? Oh wait, maybe it was etched onto the documents by Joe Biden's magical autopen. Or is that mixing up different scandals? It's so hard to keep up with the latest wild notions circulating in the capital and beyond. Washington is awash in conspiracy theories these days, a cascade of suspicion and intrigue promoted or denied in the Oval Office, ricocheting around Capitol Hill and cable news and propelled at warp speed across social media. No commander in chief in his lifetime has been as consumed by conspiracy theories as Trump, and now they seem to be consuming him. They have been the rocket fuel for his political career since the days when he spread the lie that Obama was secretly born overseas and therefore not eligible to be president. 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She also claimed that Hillary Clinton was 'on a daily regimen of heavy tranquilizers' during the 2016 campaign. Relying on this, Trump accused Obama of 'treason,' suggesting he should be locked up and going so far as to post a fake video showing his predecessor being handcuffed in the Oval Office and put behind bars. The idea of a president posting such an image of another president would once have been seen as a shocking breach of etiquette and corruption of the justice system, but in the Trump era it has become simply business as usual. For all that, the conspiracy theorist in chief has not been able to shake the Epstein case, which reflects the rise of the QAnon movement that believes America is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles. Most of the files, the ones that his attorney general told him include his name, remain unreleased, bringing together an unlikely alliance of MAGA conservatives and liberal Democrats. 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Economic Times
21 minutes ago
- Economic Times
J&K statehood must be restored for Constitutional respect, says Farooq Abdullah
Veteran politician and president of National Conference, Farooq Abdullah, has said if the Constitution of the country has to be respected, statehood for Jammu and Kashmir should be restored and that the recent Pahalgam terror attack could have been prevented had the local government been in charge of the security."It's not a question of being hopeful," Abdullah said in reply to a query about the growing demand for the restoration of statehood in the Union Territory."If the Constitution of India is to be respected, states are never converted into UTs. A UT is converted into a state. The tragedy is that they converted a state into a UT. And what did they achieve?" he told PTI here recalled that "promises" were made when Article 370 was abrogated six years ago on August 5, 2019, that "terrorism would disappear"."Has militancy disappeared? Or has it increased?" he said, adding, "The Centre should answer this in the parliament". Abdullah said that the people were "expecting" that statehood for Jammu and Kashmir would be announced soon. "Already, all the opposition parties are fighting for us also in the have seen recently, (Congress President Mallikarjun) Kharge and Rahul Gandhi's letter to the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) asking that the statehood must be restored." Abdullah recalled that the central government has made promises "to us in Parliament and also committed themselves in the Supreme Court". The veteran politician, who has been the chief minister of the erstwhile state three times and also a Union Minister, questioned the Centre's motive behind "downgrading" the state."And what did they achieve? When they did this, they said that the militancy would die because 370 is responsible for militancy. For the last six years, they have been ruling for all 5 years before the election came. "And even today, they are in control of the security and all the rest. Has militancy disappeared? Or has it increased?" he asked. Reflecting on the current situation, Abdullah lamented the lack of control the elected government has over security and administrative matters and went on to say that the recent Pahalgam terror attack could have been prevented had a local government been in charge of the to admission by the Lieutenant Governor admitting security failure for Pahalgam, Abdullah said, "I am glad the Lt Governor has accepted his failure. He should have had the courage to resign." Abdullah pointed out the glaring silence from Jammu and Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha as four seats remain vacant, terming it a "tragedy"."Why was Jammu and Kashmir denied election to the Rajya Sabha?" he said. "Not only that, two seats are vacant in the Assembly. What is the Election Commission doing?" The National Conference chief dismissed talk of internal discord in the party. "This party is a democratic party. It is not like the BJP, which has become an autocratic party. Here people have the right to speak what they want," he said while answering a question about the difference of opinion between the party and Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Pakistan's role, Abdullah's stance was firm. "Pakistan is not going to give up. Therefore, what is the way forward? War is never a solution to any problem," he advocated for a peaceful solution that would be "honourable for India, honourable for Pakistan, and honourable for the people of Jammu and Kashmir". To a question about separatist leader Bilal Lone announcing joining the mainstream, he said, "I am very glad, very happy that they have realised that J-K is a part of India", and expressed the hope that the leader could now contribute to the welfare of the people after "years spent in the wilderness".
