Pranab Mukherjee was the most unlikely candidate for President. Although he’d emerged unscathed from a turbulent tenure as Finance Minister in the 2G scam-hit UPA, Pranab was expected to play his role as Congress’ go-to troubleshooter ahead of Modi’s advent in the 2014 general election.
Bidding an emotional farewell to parliamentarians, outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee noted that he was leaving Rashtrapati Bhavan “with a tinge of sadness and a rainbow of memories.”
Amid an outrage in Parliament, India today said it will go "out of way" to ensure justice to Kulbhushan Jadhav and warned Pakistan that his execution will have consequences on bilateral ties. The death sentence awarded to Jadhav by a Pakistani military court after declaring him a "spy" resonated in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, where all parties came together to condemn the development and pressed the government to take every step to help him. The government as well as the opposition saw the sentence as an attempt to defame India and to deflect the attention of the international community from Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made a statement in both the Houses, asserting that India will go "out of way" to ensure justice to Jadhav who is an "innocent kidnapped Indian".
Speaking in Lok Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had never linked last November’s Kanpur train accident to the ISI. Singh’s response came after the Congress’ Digvijaya Singh demanded a clarification on the matter. Video: RSTV Music: Big Bang Fuzz
A British police officer was stabbed and his attacker shot dead near the British Parliament complex, in what Scotland Yard are describing as a "terrorist incident". In a related incident, a woman was killed when a speeding grey Hyundai i40 mowed down several pedestrians on Westminster Bridge nearby before ramming into the iron railings on the side of the Palace of Westminster - which houses the House of Commons and Lords as well as the iconic Big Ben. Several injuries were reported as a result of this crash, with bodies seen lying on the bridge and one over-board in the river Thames. "We are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise," the Metropolitan Police said on Twitter. The incident unfolded as a man tried to gain entry into the Parliament via the main entrance and stabbed a police officer. Plainclothes armed officers shouted warnings at him before shooting a number of rounds. He was later seen being covered by blankets, presumed dead. British Prime Minister Theresa May, who had just completed her weekly Prime Minister's Questions, was seen being ushered into a car as gunfire rang out at Parliament during the incident.
Members in the Lok Sabha today expressed grave concern over hate crimes against Indians in the US, with opposition parties questioning PM Narendra Modi's "silence" on the matter and the government saying it was being "viewed seriously". In the recent weeks, at least two Indians have been killed in suspected cases of hate crime in the US. Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of "failure" in raising the issue with the US, saying the recent spate of racial attacks was deeply disturbing and Modi and his government had "failed", as neither have they condemned the incidents, nor taken up the issue with the US at a high level. Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress) said the government does not seem to be interested in protecting the interests of Indians in the US. Both Kharge and Roy said hate crimes have seen a rise since Donald Trump took over as the US President. Members thumped desks when the Home Minister Rajnath Singh lauded Saifullah's father Mohammad Sartaj for his refusal to accept his son's body saying "if he could not be loyal to the country, how can he be ours". "The government is proud of him and I am sure Parliament too is," he said.
