Amit Shah dares Rahul Gandhi to laud Savarkar, Bal Thackeray
Hingoli (PTI): Union minister Amit Shah on Friday dared Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to speak “nicely” about Veer Savarkar and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.
“Uddhav ji, if you have the courage, get Rahul Baba to speak two good words about Veer Savarkar and Balasaheb,” Shah said, addressing a rally at Hingoli in Maharashtra ahead of the November 20 state assembly elections.
“Rahul Baba's Congress party has passed a resolution in Kashmir to bring back Article 370. Rahul Baba, listen carefully, not only you but even your fourth generation cannot bring back Article 370,” Shah said.
Shah said that in the Haryana assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi had said with confidence that his party had won.
“So much arrogance in a democracy. Look at the results, Congress was wiped out in Haryana and BJP formed the government,” he said.
The senior BJP leader said Sonia Gandhi tried to launch her son 20 times. Her “Rahul plane” is going to crash for the 21st time in Maharashtra elections, he added.
Maharashtra polls will decide whether the state follows the path of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Veer Savarkar or the path of Aurangzeb, Shah said.
The BJP-led Mahayuti has chosen the path of Shivaji Maharaj and Veer Savarkar, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi people are the Aurangzeb fan club, he said.
“For 70 years, Congress obstructed the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya, but Modi ji built it,” he said.
“In Karnataka, the Wakf Board has declared villages, temples, farmers' lands and people's houses as wakf properties. We have brought a bill to amend the Waqf Act, but Sharad Pawar and Company is opposing this bill.
“You can oppose it as much as you want, but the Modi government will change the Waqf Act with full force,” Shah said.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
