Sonia Gandhi's memoir, Belonging, says a 1986 court order unlocking the Babri Masjid gates in Ayodhya revived a long-quiet dispute. She also writes that Rajiv Gandhi's Ram Rajya idea, meant to counter the BJP and RSS, fell flat.
Journalist Neerja Chowdhury's account says the government was worried about Hindu anger over the Shah Bano judgment, and that Arun Nehru pushed for the locks to be opened.
The move did not help at the polls. In 1989 Congress won 197 seats, the most of any party, but lost its majority, down from 404 seats in 1984.
Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat has ruled out a bid for the state's top post, calling talk of it baseless. In a social media post on Wednesday, he said his aim is a Congress government in 2027 that unseats the BJP.
He said the party has many capable people for the role, and that after rising from booth worker to Union minister and chief minister, he has no wish for any specific post. He also accused two people he called the 'Bunty-Babli' duo of diverting hundreds of crores meant for school mid-day meals and food for pregnant women.
Sonia Gandhi stepped back into public life in January 1998 with a speech at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, where her husband Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. The address kicked off the Congress party's campaign for the 1999 polls.
She said she had stayed out of politics since his death, but now felt it was time to come forward with her concerns about where India stands. She warned against parties that stoke religious, caste and regional divisions, and called Congress the only truly national party able to deliver steady rule.
Congress begins a statewide Haryana campaign today, with public meetings until November 24. Called Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao Chaupal Abhiyan, it targets what the party sees as problems in how elections are run.
State chief Rao Narender Singh and Sanjay Dutt will tour the state with Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala.
The party alleges the 2024 Haryana Assembly vote was tilted toward the BJP through manipulation and flawed voter rolls. It has also questioned the Election Commission's accountability under Gyanesh Kumar.
BJP workers in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, burned effigies and shouted slogans at a peaceful protest against Sonia Gandhi's recently released memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.
The protest was led by MP Anil Firojiya and Ravi Solanki, head of the Ujjain Development Authority. Firojiya said the book reportedly covers Gandhi's distress over the Babri Masjid demolition but ignores the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
He also accused the Congress of divisive politics since 1947 and said he expects voters to keep it out of power in upcoming polls.
BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari has challenged Sonia Gandhi over the Bofors arms scandal, saying her new memoir has brought it back into focus. He claims Congress has stayed silent and wants to know how Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Ottavio Quattrocchi were linked.
He also said the book dwells on the Babri Masjid issue while skipping Bofors questions.
A 1986 contract for 155 mm howitzers, worth about $1.4 billion, later drew bribery claims. The Supreme Court closed the case in August 2026 without a criminal conviction.
Former Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan used a BJP rally in Sambalpur to attack Congress over its stance on democracy and the Election Commission. He said the party backs these institutions only when it wins.
Pradhan also said Congress and the Gandhi family were growing more intolerant as voters kept backing PM Modi. The BJP will continue such rallies across the country, he added.
Panchayati raj minister Rabinarayani Naik described questioning the Election Commission after defeats as a feudal mindset.
Telangana BJP chief Ramchander Rao has accused Rahul Gandhi and the Congress of time and again failing to show regard for soldiers and paramilitary forces. Gandhi had just renewed his call for PM Modi to take part in a public debate.
Rao said the Congress never condemned the killing of CRPF personnel in Bastar, and that Gandhi has stayed quiet on Naxal violence and terror attacks.
He urged Gandhi to join a debate in Parliament rather than flee abroad. The exchange follows Modi's warning that the Naxal menace persists.
Rahul Gandhi has written to IDBI Bank employees, backing their opposition to the government's plan to sell the bank.
He said public banks are tools for nation-building, asked why a profitable lender is being sold, and warned that SC, ST and OBC reservations would pass into private hands with the bank.
Some experts see Congress's economic politics taking a leftward tilt under him, while party leaders argue the BJP's rightward swing is what makes it look that way. One expert notes the party has yet to set out a clear economic policy.
Rahul Gandhi may visit Manipur by late November, though the dates are not final. He will meet people forced from their homes by the clashes and talk with state Congress leaders about the 2027 polls.
Violence between Meitei and Kuki groups has continued since May 2023, killing nearly 370 people and displacing around 66,000. His last trip, in July 2024, included relief camps in three districts.
Manipur is set to vote in 2027 alongside Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand.
Congress workers protested at several petrol pumps in Bengaluru on Monday, alleging fuel has more ethanol than the 20 per cent limit. They want the Centre to halt the blending programme.
Led by S Manohar, they demonstrated at Nehru Circle and in Malleswaram. The party cites Karnataka government samples showing 21 to 30 per cent ethanol.
Food minister Rizwan Arshad has asked oil companies to explain the content of 63 samples, while BJP MP Yaduveer Wadiyar dismisses the claims as a way to deflect from price rises.
Opposition parties have intensified criticism of the Centre over dangerous air in Delhi after Diwali. Congress MP Jairam Ramesh cited a FICCI-EY study putting India's 2023 pollution-linked deaths at about two million.
Congress leader Ajay Maken, citing CPCB data, said 25 of Delhi's 39 monitoring stations logged no PM2.5 readings in the early hours of November 9. Across the nine stations that did report, average PM2.5 was 576 micrograms per cubic metre, up 2.5 percent on the same hour last Diwali.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath is again pushing his "80-20" line, saying the BJP will win a third straight term in the 2027 state Assembly election.
In an interview at Panchayat AajTak Ayodhya, he said the BJP and its allies would take 80 per cent of votes and seats, leaving 20 per cent to the Opposition. He gave no specific seat count.
A News18 UP Mega Survey of 30,925 respondents found 66.6% expect a BJP-NDA government, versus 26.5% for the SP-Congress alliance. A separate Janta Ki Awaz poll projects a close race, with the SP-led alliance slightly ahead at 195-204 seats.
The BJP has hit back at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for comparing Diwali to Eid, and has challenged him and Rahul Gandhi to describe Eid the same way.
Kharge made the remark while extending festive greetings over the weekend. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari accused Congress of vote bank politics, while Gaurav Bhatia asked on X why Diwali cannot simply be called by its own name.
Tuhin Sinha claimed Congress wants every Hindu festival marked as an Eid, which he said would mean celebrating Eid 10 to 12 times a year.
Congress has hit back at PM Modi over his Diwali address to CRPF personnel at a camp in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. He told the forces that armed Naxalites had been wiped out from the forests, but 'dimagi Naxals' now controlled several organisations and had infiltrated political parties.
Jairam Ramesh posted on X that Modi had used a solemn, non-political occasion to attack his rivals. He also cited Modi's past shifts, such as calling caste census backers urban Naxals in 2024 and repealing the farm laws in 2021.
The BJP's Karnataka unit has complained to Bengaluru police that NSUI, Congress's student wing, ordered edged weapons online to be sent to the home of Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, the opposition leader in the Legislative Council.
Eight to ten members allegedly placed the orders through Blinkit, then gathered outside his home, which the party says caused fear. It also wants the delivery app investigated and its licence cancelled.
The party holds Congress's state chief, the chief minister and the home minister responsible and wants an FIR filed and the weapons taken into custody.
Rahul Gandhi hosted a Diwali get-together for Congress general secretaries, in-charges and senior leaders on Friday, as the party pushes the government over alleged vote theft.
He went table to table, greeting more than 100 leaders ahead of Diwali.
Amit Shah has taken up Rahul Gandhi's call to debate the SIR voter roll revision, but says the discussion belongs in Parliament. The government will convene a special session if Congress formally asks for one.
Shah told Gandhi to write to PM Modi if he really wants a debate. He noted that Congress lost the 2014, 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls, all without an SIR exercise.
Shah also questioned Congress's demand that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign, likening the party to a losing kabaddi team blaming the referee.
Unknown attackers allegedly hurled stones at a bus carrying Congress leaders in Kamareddy district late Wednesday. One window was damaged, but nobody was hurt.
The passengers were heading back to Hyderabad from the Desh Bachao March in Delhi when the driver stopped the bus and they alerted police.
Al Hajri, who was on board, alleged the attackers wanted to kill them and asked police to check CCTV footage. A case has been registered, and the DSP says officials are still checking whether stones were actually thrown.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav accused Congress of luring tribal voters with promises it never keeps.
At a Bhopal meeting with tribal representatives, he likened the party to a man who promised a snake-mongoose fight, then sold tooth powder instead. He said Congress does not make tribal leaders President or central ministers, and does little for tribal regions.
The meeting was about Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, a three-day event from November 14 to 16 honouring Birsa Munda. Events will be held in Jabalpur on November 14, Dhar on November 15 and Khandwa on November 16.
BJP national vice-president Ram Madhav has dismissed the anti-SIR campaign as an effort by Congress and the INDIA bloc to weaken democratic institutions and downplay Narendra Modi's election win.
In Hyderabad, he rejected the claim that 10 lakh people attended the Delhi rally at Ramlila Maidan, saying the ground holds only 50,000. He added that the SIR is not new and has been held several times since 1952.
He also said the Centre has not released data on foreigners living illegally, which he said is held by the home ministry.
Rahul Gandhi launched Congress's Punjab poll campaign in Sangrur, calling Sidhu Moosewala's murder a sign of gangsterism turning into a mindset.
He attacked both the AAP government and the BJP-led Centre over gangs, drugs, unemployment and falling youth trust in institutions. He also said a Congress government would be run from Punjab, not Delhi.
Three 10-day cycle yatras through Majha, Malwa and Doaba start November 12, focusing on law and order and the killings of anti-drug activists. Rahul Gandhi may also meet families hit by drug abuse on another visit, though dates are still open.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has accused Rahul Gandhi of disrupting Parliament and making boycotts a habit for the Congress. He made the charge at a rally in Karnal, Haryana, after leading a BJP march there on Thursday.
Shah again offered a special Parliament session to debate the revision of electoral rolls known as SIR, and accused the INDIA bloc of shielding infiltrators. He also asked Gandhi to disclose his foreign visits, since he is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
BJP leaders have stepped up criticism of Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of fuelling disorder by casting doubt on how India holds its elections. At a Bhopal press conference, Madhya Pradesh BJP chief Hemant Khandelwal and national spokesperson Prem Shukla linked his rise to Congress's falling MLA numbers.
Shukla said Congress had 1,182 MLAs in 2008, when Gandhi became general secretary, but only 654 by 2024, when he became Leader of Opposition. He also said Gandhi has not shown proof of even one real instance of voters being wrongly removed.
Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal has accused Congress and its INDIA bloc allies of fuelling corruption, communal division and discord. He said the opposition questions election bodies and voting machines whenever it loses.
He backed the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, saying only genuine Indian citizens should be on them.
On the Northeast, he pointed to railway doubling and electrification, better road and air links and a Rs 7 lakh crore investment pipeline, saying the region is now a priority for the Centre.
Congress has responded to Home Minister Amit Shah, who said the INDIA bloc's November 1 rally was meant to protect infiltrators. Party media chief Pawan Khera said Shah should quit the Home Ministry if he cannot handle it.
Khera questioned Shah's handling of internal security, citing violence in Manipur, the Pahalgam attack, a 2025 blast near the Red Fort and 300 kg of RDX recovered near Delhi.
Shah made the remarks at a Karnal rally, where he also said the BJP would detect, delete and deport infiltrators from electoral rolls.
Rahul Gandhi has chosen Sangrur to open the Congress's campaign for Punjab's 2027 assembly election. He will address an Insaaf Rally there on Wednesday as the party takes on AAP in the Malwa belt.
Malwa's 69 seats are widely seen as key to power in Punjab. AAP won 66 of them in 2022, while Congress took Gidderbaha and Abohar and the SAD took Dakha.
Sangrur has also been in the news over drug-related issues, including the alleged suicide of a man from Toor Banjara village in Dirba who had publicly questioned a minister over drugs in his village.
Rahul Gandhi launched Congress's campaign for the Punjab polls, due in early 2027, at a Sangrur rally on November 4. He attacked the ruling AAP over drugs, asking which part of the state it has cleared of them.
Gandhi said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann would smell of liquor by 11 am when he sat in Lok Sabha. He called drinking a personal matter, but said a chief minister fighting drugs can't be intoxicated every evening.
He also said Amit Shah and Arvind Kejriwal are really steering Punjab, with Mann a figurehead, and urged voters to back Congress.
Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday alleged that Chief Eelection Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is "running the Election Commission under the direct instructions" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
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