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Polls in the world’s largest democracy India will open on April 19, the country’s election commissioner announced on Saturday, setting the stage for a nationwide election expected to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi clinch a rare third consecutive term. An estimated 960 million people in a country of 1.4 billion are eligible to vote in the widely anticipated polls that will take a month to complete. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to secure another five years in power, ruling an India that has become increasingly polarized along religious lines. Polling will unfold over seven phases around the country...

Kash Patel an Indian-American whose parents trace their roots to Gujarat and migrated to the US from East Africa during Idi Amin’s rule in Uganda Washington: Kash Patel is a senior advisor to former US President Donald J Trump, the most likely nominee for the Republican ticket for presidential elections this year. Patel served in senior positions in the National Security Council and other government agencies and eventually became the chief of staff to the Department of Defence during the Trump presidency. He also travelled with Trump to India in 2020. An Indian-American whose parents trace their roots to Gujarat...

[Uncompromising condemnation of the Hamas attack at the beginning of the war - Narendra Modi] Since 1948, India has not supported Israel's wars even once. In the past, it supported its enemies, and even sent Arab countries aid. A few hours since the images of the massacre taking place in the south of Israel began to flow on the morning of October 7, a series of condemnations from world leaders began to accumulate. One condemnation was particularly historic: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the world's largest democracy and one of its most popular leaders, tweeted his uncompromising...

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they arrived in Ahmedabad this afternoon for a 36-hour visit to India.

BENGALURU — After claiming to have landed near the south pole of the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) released what they claim is the first photo taken by their lunar lander. Unfortunately, several critics have called the authenticity of the photo into question as it features Bollywood dancers, an astronaut on a tiger, and a man riding a rocket narrowly escaping an explosion as he backflips onto the lunar surface. "Hmmmm, If I didn't know better, I'd say this photo was elaborately staged by a Bollywood film crew," said NASA engineer Ron McNeebles. "I'm not a zoologist, but...

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) challenged Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) to a fight on the House floor, according to reports. The situation turned aggressive after Swalwell blasted McCarthy over Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) censure vote. On June 21, the day Republicans voted to censure Schiff, Swalwell was standing in the well of the House near the speaker’s podium and heckled McCarthy. “This is pathetic,” Swalwell yelled at McCarthy, who was presiding over the House at the time. “You’re weak. You’re a weak man.” McCarthy was furious, with one member telling The Daily Beast, “He had a vein popping out of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Biden wore a ceremonial feathered headdress today as he welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state visit. "Are we ready to pass around the peace pipe?" asked President Biden. "I'm just kidding — I can't smoke peyote before lunch! It gives me the tummy rumbles! Not a joke!" In preparation for Mr. Modi's visit, President Biden reportedly spent several hours mastering a traditional rain dance. "Are you ready to make it rain, chief?" Biden asked Mr. Modi as he began the dance. "Took me two weeks to get all these tomahawk chop moves...

President Biden caused an awkward spectacle Thursday morning, putting his hand on his heart for the Indian national anthem as he welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House. The 80-year-old commander in chief rolled out the red carpet for Modi, who has served as India’s prime minister since 2014, as part of a state visit to bolster the Washington-New Delhi alliance amid mounting tensions with Russia and China. The two, joined by about 7,000 guests, were treated to music from the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps and a multi-gun salute as they stood shoulder...

In a controversial move, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has announced her decision to skip Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the US Congress during his ongoing state visit to the United States. Omar, who has been accused of hinduphobia by various Hindu groups in the US, cited concerns over the Indian government's treatment of religious minorities and alleged support for Hindu nationalist groups.

A seventh flight carrying almost three tons of relief material - sleeping mats, electrical generators, solar lamps, tarpaulins, blankets, emergency and critical care medicines - landed in earthquake-hit Turkey from India this week. The Indian government has extended a hand of friendship to crisis-hit Turkey and Syria in the form of massive humanitarian aid, with transport aircraft carrying relief material as part of Operation Dost, "friend" in both Hindi and Turkish. With the death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes now in the tens of thousands after the disaster on 6 February, a global rescue effort is underway to aid the...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that "now is not an era of war," marking the first public criticism of Putin's invasion of Ukraine after months of neutrality, as India balances its reliance on Russia for military equipment and about one-fifth of its oil imports. KEY FACTS In their first meeting since the start of the war, Modi told Putin, “I know that today’s era is not of war,” adding that the biggest issues in the world today, especially in developing countries, are “food security, fuel security, fertilizers,” according to a translation of...

Shared U.S.-Indian concerns over China's aggressive expansionism led Modi to join the "Quad" partnership alongside the U.S., Australia, and Japan. Benefiting from military export relaxations introduced by the Trump administration, India is also increasing its purchase of U.S. arms and related equipment. Yet even as this cooperation might seem like proof positive of a budding U.S.-Indian alliance, other factors undermine that consideration. For a start, India fails the reciprocity test when it comes to supporting U.S. security concerns. The Pentagon has not responded to my query as to whether the U.S. military attachés in New Delhi are to be afforded...

[Caption] It’s a tightrope walk for the grouping at a time when US-China trade war has reached a peak. After having a bitter experience with Putin, Biden may need to maintain more restraint, simply to avoid another catastrophe in the Indo-Pacific The May 24 face-to-face meeting of the Quad leaders is considered very crucial against the backdrop of the ongoing Ukraine war. All the four heads of the Governments -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US president Joe Biden, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese -- came together on a platform to display strength and...

A top advisor of US Secretary Antony Blinken acknowledged that the India-Russia relationship is decades old and added, "Washington fully understands New Delhi's long-standing ties to Moscow." While speaking to the news agency ANI on Thursday, Derek Chollet, Blinken's top advisor said that India and Russia have been sharing a "good bond" when the United States was not available to be a partner. However, he stressed that the India-US partnership has also enough potential to thrive tremendously. "We understand that India has had a long-standing defence relationship with Russia over many years and part of that was because the United...

Gyanchand Parakh is the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Pali, Rajasthan. During a recent discussion on the finance bill in the state assembly, Parakh compared Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi to Lord Shiva. Modi, Parakh declared, is an incarnation of Lord Shiva. "It came to me in a vision. I saw him as Lord Shiva," Gyanchand Parakh tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar. You described Prime Minister Modi as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. Why? I suddenly realised it. It came to me as a vision. Seeing his work, I said this. The surgical strikes... he has wiped out terrorism in...

President Joe Biden has asked India’s Narendra Modi not to accelerate the buying of Russian oil as the U.S. and other nations try to cut off Moscow’s energy income following the invasion of UkrainePresident Joe Biden asked India's Narendra Modi on Monday not to accelerate the buying of Russian oil as the U.S. and other nations try to cut off Moscow's energy income following the invasion of Ukraine. The Indian prime minister made no public commitment to refrain from Russian oil, a source of tension with the U.S. Meeting by video call, Biden told Modi that the U.S. could help...

The fabled power of anti-incumbency was expected to pose a challenge to Narendra Modi's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the world's largest local election - 150 million voters spread over more than 400 seats - in India's northern Uttar Pradesh or UP state. After all, no party had managed to retain its majority in the state's legislative assembly since 1985. The average tenure of a chief minister during a five-year-term in this politically volatile state has been two years and 19 days. No incumbent chief minister has ruled UP for two successive terms since 1947. Mr Modi's party and...

Though the invading Russian Army seems to be capturing Ukraine, the real war is between the US-led West and Russia, not between Ukraine and Russia. Also as Russia has vetoed a UNSC resolution that demanded that Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops, the only possible way out now is an urgent dialogue between Russia and the West With shock and awe, the world is witnessing the worst ever war crisis in Europe since the end of the Second World War as Russian President Vladimir Putin is hell-bent on punishing Ukraine for refusing to dance to...

Just when you thought you’d heard all of the damning facts about Covid-19, vaccines, The Great Reset, and the Plandemic in general, Dr. Robert Malone goes on Joe Rogan’s show and drops an absolute bombshell of a statement. While discussing the tremendous turnaround seen in India’s huge Uttar Pradesh province, Dr. Malone revealed some of what we already knew and something that we hadn’t heard before. The latter was an absolute bombshell. “Uttar Pradesh, as you know, has crushed Covid,” Dr. Malone said. “Ya, can you explain what they did to do that because it’s quite fascinating,” Rogan urged. Dr....

India opened up free vaccinations to all adults in an attempt to bolster its inoculation drive on Monday (Jun 21), as Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off a muted International Yoga Day hailing the practice's "protective" properties against COVID-19. The country's vaccination drive has significantly slowed in recent months due to a shortage of jabs and hesitancy, even as it battled a vicious surge in cases in April and May that overwhelmed the healthcare system in many places. SNIP The government had expanded the vaccine rollout to include all adults aged below 45 on May 1, but states and private...