Following the decision of the West Bengal government to exclude a large number of different Muslim communities from the state’s Other Backward Classes (OBC) list, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is being heavily criticized.
Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday once again targeted the Election Commission of India (ECI) over alleged “vote chori” (vote theft) and electoral irregularities.
Controversy has been caused by a scathing article by senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor labeling dynastic politics as a serious threat to the Indian democracy, with a specific reference to the Nehru-Gandhi family, which has solidified political leadership as a birthright, and demands political reforms to make India more meritocratic.
Stepping up her attack on the special intensive revision (SIR) of voter list in the State, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday led a protest march in Kolkata and asserted that she would ensure the fall of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre if a single eligible voter was omitted from the electoral rolls.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has sparked a fresh controversy with his remarks suggesting that only a small section of the population — primarily from upper castes — dominates key institutions in India, including the armed forces, reports said.
At a first glance, a war of words seems to be raging between Trinamool Congress and BJP leaderships in West Bengal in the run up to the 2026 Assembly elections in the state. But a second glance, longer and more searching at the two poll bound political outfits reveals the TMC leadership to be more focussed while the state saffron unit is yet to fix its priorities.
Predominance of caste system has been stated to be the bane of Bihar, but it’s forthcoming election is witnessing regional allies of BJP and Congress getting a lion’s share of seats lest the caste equation go awry. Keenly aware of the deciding role of caste in voting behaviour, the leadership of both the national level parties have left the constituencies reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates to the regional allies.
Responding to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s remarks that the National Education Policy 2020 and the PM SHRI initiative had been brought in by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to “brainwash children according to their own ideology”, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday (October 30, 2025) referred to this as a “glaring display of ignorance and political opportunism”.
The Opposition Mahagathbandhan on Tuesday released its manifesto for the Bihar Assembly polls, promising a government job to one member of every family, restoration of the old pension scheme, 200 units of free power to each household, lift ban on toddy and a monthly allowance of Rs.2,500 under Mai Bahin Yojna for women. The NDA alliance termed the manifesto a “bundle of lies”.
Never losing an opportunity of describing itself as “a party with a difference”, BJP leadership in Bihar has travelled the same path as the political outfits it seeks to distance itself from after it fielded Maithili Thakur at Alinagar seat. Thus it has set aside the claims of veterans by opting for Thakur, a singer, whose voice is one of the most recognisable in the digital age.
