India

Rahul Gandhi's absence at India's biggest official celebration of its 80th Independence Day, where PM Narendra Modi speaks on his concept of Sapt Dhara — seven streams of reform — renews old battle lines in the nation's politics.

“Eighty years is a long journey. You are no longer the fragile nation I cradled in 1947—you are a giant, with the strength to lead the world and the wisdom to solve global crises. But greatness is not measured only in skyscrapers or GDP. It is measured in the smile of every child who can read, in the safety of every woman walking freely, in the dignity of every old man who does not go hungry.”

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, whose proposed presence at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, for the convocation was reportedly opposed by its graduating students, rebuked Bar Council of India (BCI) for issuing an unprecedented restraint order that could harm the students’ career.

Education is not a concession granted by those in power; it is the soil from which every citizen’s freedom grows. When a nation’s youth rise together to reclaim the truth, they become the architects of a long-awaited dawn

This attack on Punjab leader Sukhbir Singh Badal comes less than two years after he narrowly escaped an attempt on his life at the Golden Temple entrance in December 2024.