Kuldip Nayar

However justified Delhi's Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto may be in calling on fellow Catholic Christians to pray for a change of government at the Centre, he is guilty of committing a grave mistake: mixing religion with politics.

Tactically, the Congress has won the day even though the party has been rejected outright by the people of Karnataka which went to

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is not just a place of learning. It was in the forefront of a movement for the demand of Pakistan and still leans towards what is considered beneficial to the millat. A photo of Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the wall of Kenney Hall, the most prestigious place in AMU campus, is no surprise. It was there even before partition and it continues to be there all these years.

India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru proudly supported Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-Lai. He had emerged after defeating the First Front Army commander, Chiang Kai-shek. The Chinese premier had supported India's movement for independence when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said that India's independence was not dependent on the victory of the Allies in the Second World War, which was a foregone conclusion when America declared support to Britain and such other democratic forces.

It's sheer arrogance. True, Chief Justice Dipak Misra denied permission to Allahabad High Court judge Narayan Shukla to prosecute a Lucknow-based Prasad Education Trust, which runs a medical college. But this is not such a violation of law which should invite impeachment of the Chief Justice of India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now all in all in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has installed his close lieutenant Amit Shah as the party president. However, people's memory is short. The founder was Atal Bihari Vajpayee who subsequently occupied the office of Prime Minister to lead the NDA government, a coalition of several parties.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has said that the Kashmiri Pandits should visit their place of origin, meaning thereby the Valley.

When former Congress President Sonia Gandhi said that they would not allow the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to return to power, she hinted at joint action on the part of the Opposition. It also means that she does not want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to run for a second term. On its own, the Congress does not have the numbers to pose any threat to the BJP-run government or Modi.

Rahul Gandhi is the new star on the Congress firmament.

The British government has rejected a petition by the Sikh community in London to make public all papers concerning Operation Blue Star. Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister, was close to the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and reportedly helped her to plan the Indian military action at the Golden Temple in Amritsar between June 1 and 8, 1984, to oust militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the Harmandir Sahib Complex.

There is a grain of truth in Kashmir leader Farooq Abdullah's statement that Muhammad Ali Jinnah was not responsible for partition.

I have always wondered where we went wrong. After adopting a constitution which was secular in letter and spirit, we have strayed into the territory where every pebble is an impediment to the journey towards pluralism.

Asma Jahangir, who passed away last week, was a popular human rights lawyer and social activist.

Two more policemen died in the valley. This is not the first time that there is casualty in Kashmir. But the disconcerting aspect is that

It's understandable that this year's budget should have an eye on rural India which constitutes some 70 percent of voters.

When the constitution has banned awards why should they be there. They violate the spirit of the constitution and the general understanding.

Whether it was a prover-bial storm in a teacup or something else, the fact remains that the judiciary has been exposed. The impartiality with which it is known has been shaken.

When I was in Sialkot City, now a part of Pakistan, I used to visit cinema halls in the cantonment regularly. What I resented then was that I had to stand up for the British national anthem, “God Save the King…

There may be a grain of truth in the statement by US President Donald Trump that his country has “foolishly” given USD 33 billion in aid to Pakistan in the last 15 years.

Nothing seems to work between India and Pakistan. The meeting of Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian prisoner in a Pakistani jail, with his wife and mother could have been an opportunity to foster better understanding between the two countries.