Astronaut Sunita Williams to participate in Kerala Literature Festival 2026
New Delhi (PTI): Former NASA astronaut Sunita Williams is set to participate at the ninth edition of Kerala Literature Festival (KLF), starting January 22, announced organisers on Tuesday.
Williams, 60, who has spent over 300 days in space, is expected to reflect on her journeys beyond earth and speak about science, exploration, leadership, resilience, and the enduring power of human curiosity.
“The Kerala Literature Festival has always believed in expanding the idea of the fest to include science, discovery, leadership, and the human spirit. Sunita Williams represents the courage to explore the unknown and the discipline required to stretch human boundaries.
"She has also been a well-wisher of DC Books and KLF, which makes her presence at the festival especially meaningful. Her participation will inspire audiences across generations," said Ravi DeeCee, Managing Director of DC Books and chief facilitator at KLF.
On her third mission to the International Space Station in June last year along with Butch Wilmore, which lasted for 286 days, Williams created history by setting a record of most time spent spacewalking by a woman.
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She was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998 and she underwent training at the Johnson Space Center. She also worked in Moscow with the Russian Space Agency on the Russian contribution to the International Space Station.
KLF 2026 will host over 500 speakers from across the world and will feature Germany as the guest nation for this year’s edition.
The festival’s speaker line-up include Nobel Laureates Abdulrazak Gurnah, Olga Tokarczuk and Abhijit Banerjee, Booker Prize-winning writer-activist Banu Mushtaq, Olympian Ben Johnson, former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, artist Cheyenne Olivier, economist Arvind Subramanian as well as noted writers Gabriela Ybarra, Peggy Mohan, Shobhaa De and Amish Tripathi.
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BJP won't cross 50-mark in Bengal polls, says TMC in response to Shah's 'two-thirds majority' claim
Kolkata (PTI): The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of peddling falsehoods and making baseless claims about securing a two-thirds majority in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Senior TMC leader and state education minister Bratya Basu told reporters that Shah's remarks were based on hollow assertions and claimed that the BJP would not even cross the 50-seat mark in the polls.
"Shah will keep coming and going like a tourist. Such visits will serve no purpose," Basu said on the sidelines of a programme.
"The BJP will not even cross the 50-mark in the assembly polls and suffer a humiliating defeat," Basu claimed.
Addressing a press conference here, Shah claimed that the BJP would form the next government in the state with a "two-thirds majority in 2026".
"We will not only identify infiltrators, but we'll also drive them out. Bengal will have a new BJP government after April 15, 2026, as people have made up their minds," he said.
Shah also took a dig at the Trinamool Congress government on the issue of women's safety.
"It has been officially stated that women should not step out of their homes after 7 pm. What era are we living in? Are we living in the Mughal period?," he said.
"Mamata ji, this is a free India. Ensuring that women can step out safely whenever they choose is a constitutional right. Your government has failed to provide this basic security," he added.
Criticising Shah over his comments on women's safety in the state, senior TMC leader and minister Sashi Panja urged the Union home minister to visit Bengal during the festive season, like Durga Puja and Christmas, when thousands of women move about freely and participate in festivities.
"In case a stray incident happens, our administration takes prompt action to bring the culprits to book. Instead, the rapists of Bilkis Bano are garlanded by your party activists. Your party shields Kuldeep Sengar and Brij Bhusan, who were accused of committing atrocities. Amitji should not lecture on women's security," she said.
Panja accused Shah and his party at the Centre of coming in the way of the passage of the Aparajita Bill, which would have ensured exemplary punishment to rapists after conviction.
On Shah's claims about the industrial decline of Bengal, Panja said since 2011, investment of Rs 13.8 lakh-crore came to the state.
"Bengal occupies the second berth in the MSME sector as per the figures available with the Centre, and he is peddling falsehood about the industrial growth of Bengal," she said.
TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar also dismissed Shah's assertion that the BJP does not engage in temple-based polarising politics.
"Everyone knows the BJP campaigned on temple-masjid politics in both the 2019 and 2024 elections. This brand of politics will again be rejected by the people of Bengal," Majumdar said.
