Butchers of Sopore and Birmingham

Nine years of calm before icy storm

Kashmir turns crimson with blood of Pandits

AN UN-ISLAMIC KIDNAPPING AND CHAOS IN THE VALLEY

The illusion of azaadi and Kashmir’s historic deception

How Pak's terror policy evolved in Kashmir

Birth of social media jihadists, death of Article-370

Operation Sindoor: When Indian missiles rained on Pak terror parade

<div class='ite_mg_banner ads__container'><div class='it_mg_bnrBox'><div class='ite_bnr_cont'><div class='ite_cont_dtl'> <h4>Subscribe to India Today Print + Digital. Your First Month Is On Us. <span class='bold_text'> ₹299/month</span> thereafter. Cancel anytime.</h4><a href='https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsubscriptions.intoday.in%2Findiatoday%3Futm_source%3Dtop-web-banner ' class='ite_subscribe_btn origin_conscent_url' target='_blank'>SUBSCRIBE</a></div></div></div></div>

US Election coverage

India

World

NewsMo

Fact Check

Programmes

Match Schedule

Teams

Player Stats

Match Report

LIVE SCORES

<div class="itg-mosimage"><amp-img src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fcongress1_082412104223.gif" alt="" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img><p>Two decades ago, the world was a simple place. Siblings Richard and Karen Carpenter ruled the pop charts and the Congress ruled India unhindered. The average Congress<i>wallah</i>may have absolutely nothing to do with the Carpenters, but on July 28 he could well have been singing one of their biggest hits:<i>Yesterday Once More.</i><br></p><p>For the party, it was nostalgia time with a vengeance. There strode Mrs Gandhi, marching briskly, if jerkily, down the streets of Delhi, warning her rivals, wailing about rising prices. It wasn't Indira Gandhi of course but her daughter-in-law, Sonia.<br><br>The rally against galloping prices may have been small (the crowd was estimated at 50,000) but it marked Sonia's debut in agitational politics. Actually, it was not one BJP government Sonia was targeting but two: the one at the Centre and the state administration in Delhi.<br><br>Sonia is working on the assumption that the road to Delhi lies through Delhi. It is an idea which may be grammatically challenged but is politically challenging. Assembly elections in Delhi (and Rajasthan) are coming up in November. The Congress smells its chance, given gross mismanagement by the BJP regimes.<br><br>In Delhi for one, Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma has proved unequal to the task of tackling water and power scarcities and crime. The very middle-class constituency that was the BJP's vote bank now points fingers at Verma. Sonia hopes to whip this simmering anger into a vicious backlash at the assembly elections. If the BJP is vanquished in Delhi, the Congress reckons a psychological impulse will be created which will threaten even the Central Government.<br></p><div class="itg-mosimage"><amp-img src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fcongress2_082412104223.gif" alt="" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img>Cutting out the frills: Sonia Gandhi's frontal combat approach was evident in Delhi. She plans to focus on BJP-ruled states.</div></p><p>No wonder Sonia scoffed during the rally, "These people cannot run the capital. How can they be trusted with the whole country?" A particularly ecstatic Jag Pravesh Chandra, leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, likened it to a "revolt" against an unresponsive government. He had reason to be pleased. Should the Congress come to power in Delhi this winter, Chandra, along with Sonia-loyalist Sheila Dikshit, will be a contender for chief minister.<br><br>With the Delhi Assembly tantalisingly within grasp, Sonia is plotting a countdown for Atal Bihari Vajpayee's ministry as well. On July 28, the Congress president finally shrugged off the reputation of being a drawing-room politico. By her actions, she told inner-party rivals like Sharad Pawar that she was not afraid of mass movements.<br><br>There was a lesson for other non-BJP groups too primarily, Laloo and Mulayam Yadav's Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and the CPI(M) which have been urging her to overthrow Vajpayee's fragile coalition.</p><p>By leading the protest march, Sonia was in effect conveying her impatience with a political agenda limited to backroom manoeuvring. As the BJP Government ties itself up in new knots every day, Sonia is all for giving it a long rope confident that the long-term beneficiary can only be the Congress.<br><br>Whatever the correctness of her perceptions, Sonia is certainly a more focused and trenchant political being today. The shy woman who depended on intermediaries like Satish Sharma to win over Mulayam is history. Sonia is negotiating directly today. </p><p>Even the acerbic Jyoti Basu, who once dismissed her as a "housewife", had a 15-minute telephonic chat with her just before he left for London. Sonia first softened him by requesting him to attend a seminar at the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation before coming to the point: would the Marxists back P.M. Sayeed in the Lok Sabha deputy speaker's election?<br><br>It was perhaps the return of such vintage politics which had Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi exclaiming after the rally: "We have now begun to perform like a real opposition party." Next on the Sonia manifesto is a rally in Mumbai on August 9, the 56th anniversary of the Quit India Movement's launch. Then comes the August 20 public meeting in Delhi, coinciding with Rajiv Gandhi's birthday. The family is back in business.<br></p><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Aug 10, 1998</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div></div>

nation

Nation

<div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fcongress1_082412104223.gif" loading="lazy" /></div><p>Two decades ago, the world was a simple place. Siblings Richard and Karen Carpenter ruled the pop charts and the Congress ruled India unhindered. The average Congress<i>wallah</i>may have absolutely nothing to do with the Carpenters, but on July 28 he could well have been singing one of their biggest hits:<i>Yesterday Once More.</i><br></p><p>For the party, it was nostalgia time with a vengeance. There strode Mrs Gandhi, marching briskly, if jerkily, down the streets of Delhi, warning her rivals, wailing about rising prices. It wasn't Indira Gandhi of course but her daughter-in-law, Sonia.<br><br>The rally against galloping prices may have been small (the crowd was estimated at 50,000) but it marked Sonia's debut in agitational politics. Actually, it was not one BJP government Sonia was targeting but two: the one at the Centre and the state administration in Delhi.<br><br>Sonia is working on the assumption that the road to Delhi lies through Delhi. It is an idea which may be grammatically challenged but is politically challenging. Assembly elections in Delhi (and Rajasthan) are coming up in November. The Congress smells its chance, given gross mismanagement by the BJP regimes.<br><br>In Delhi for one, Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma has proved unequal to the task of tackling water and power scarcities and crime. The very middle-class constituency that was the BJP's vote bank now points fingers at Verma. Sonia hopes to whip this simmering anger into a vicious backlash at the assembly elections. If the BJP is vanquished in Delhi, the Congress reckons a psychological impulse will be created which will threaten even the Central Government.<br></p><div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fcongress2_082412104223.gif" loading="lazy" /></div>Cutting out the frills: Sonia Gandhi's frontal combat approach was evident in Delhi. She plans to focus on BJP-ruled states.</div></p><p>No wonder Sonia scoffed during the rally, "These people cannot run the capital. How can they be trusted with the whole country?" A particularly ecstatic Jag Pravesh Chandra, leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, likened it to a "revolt" against an unresponsive government. He had reason to be pleased. Should the Congress come to power in Delhi this winter, Chandra, along with Sonia-loyalist Sheila Dikshit, will be a contender for chief minister.<br><br>With the Delhi Assembly tantalisingly within grasp, Sonia is plotting a countdown for Atal Bihari Vajpayee's ministry as well. On July 28, the Congress president finally shrugged off the reputation of being a drawing-room politico. By her actions, she told inner-party rivals like Sharad Pawar that she was not afraid of mass movements.<br><br>There was a lesson for other non-BJP groups too primarily, Laloo and Mulayam Yadav's Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and the CPI(M) which have been urging her to overthrow Vajpayee's fragile coalition.</p><p>By leading the protest march, Sonia was in effect conveying her impatience with a political agenda limited to backroom manoeuvring. As the BJP Government ties itself up in new knots every day, Sonia is all for giving it a long rope confident that the long-term beneficiary can only be the Congress.<br><br>Whatever the correctness of her perceptions, Sonia is certainly a more focused and trenchant political being today. The shy woman who depended on intermediaries like Satish Sharma to win over Mulayam is history. Sonia is negotiating directly today. </p><p>Even the acerbic Jyoti Basu, who once dismissed her as a "housewife", had a 15-minute telephonic chat with her just before he left for London. Sonia first softened him by requesting him to attend a seminar at the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation before coming to the point: would the Marxists back P.M. Sayeed in the Lok Sabha deputy speaker's election?<br><br>It was perhaps the return of such vintage politics which had Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi exclaiming after the rally: "We have now begun to perform like a real opposition party." Next on the Sonia manifesto is a rally in Mumbai on August 9, the 56th anniversary of the Quit India Movement's launch. Then comes the August 20 public meeting in Delhi, coinciding with Rajiv Gandhi's birthday. The family is back in business.<br></p><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Aug 10, 1998</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div></div>

The Gandhi matriarch plunges into mass politics, takes to the streets and prepares for state polls.

India Today

The Gandhi matriarch plunges into mass politics takes to the streets and prepares for state polls.

Sonia's dandy march - India Today

Sonia Gandhi plunges into mass politics, takes to the streets and prepares for Delhi polls

Sonia's dandy march

Two new exhibitions in Delhi celebrate the extraordinary range of work by the late Satish Gujral

Built of change | Satish Gujral's works on show

A brand new gallery at Mumbai’s CSMVS offers world history from an inclusive and Indian perspective

Networking, Harappan style | New gallery at Mumbai’s CSMVS

A multimedia exhibition in Mumbai explores how we navigate time and space—and our place within it

Time machine

Time machine | Doug Aitken’s 'Under the Sun' exhibition

What’s hot and happening in the world of art this month

GALERIE ROMAIN ROLLAND

The Listicle

Sameer Nair of Applause Entertainment is looking forward to a packed bouquet of shows and films in 2026

Sameer

Betting big on storytelling | Applause Entertainment's Sameer Nair

Play Time!

Donald Trump

T20 World Cup

Border 2

Tariffs

Iran

PM Modi

Greenland

Jana Nayagan

WPL 2026

Budget 2026

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally in poll-bound Kerala on Thursday saw a warm and light-hearted moment when he paused his speech to acknowledge a young child in the crowd holding up his picture, drawing loud applause. Modi asked the boy to hand over the photograph, write his home address on the back, and promised to write to him personally, directing SPG personnel to handle the picture carefully as a token of the child’s affection. 

PM Modi's Kerala  rally.

You’ll get tired beta: PM’s warm moment with child holding his pic at Kerala rally

 Amidst inclement weather and heavy snowfall, a team of Udhampur police rescued 12 individuals, including women and children, who were stranded at Chochru Galla in the upper ridges of the Basantgarh area.

Udhampur Police Rescue 12 People Stranded In Heavy Snow

Udhampur police rescue 12 people stranded in heavy snowfall in J&K's Basantgarh

Ajith Kumar's fans took the celebrations too seriously as they burst crackers inside a theatre hall during Mankatha screening. The film re-released in South India on January 23.

Ajith Mankatha celebrations

Watch: Ajith's fans burst crackers for Mankantha intro scene inside auditorium

In an exclusive interview with India Today TV Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai at Davos, Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama spoke in fluent Hindi and slammed Donald Trump for his remarks and recalled his student days in India. 

Download App

Subscribe to India Today Print + Digital. Your First Month Is On Us. ₹299/month thereafter. Cancel anytime.

Sonia Gandhi plunges into mass politics, takes to the streets and prepares for Delhi polls

The Gandhi matriarch plunges into mass politics, takes to the streets and prepares for state polls.

PUBLICATIONS

TELEVISION

EVENTS

RADIO

GAMING

USEFUL LINKS

PRINTING

WELFARE

DISTRIBUTION

SYNDICATIONS

WEBSITES

EDUCATION