Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday issued a stern warning to countries challenging India’s sovereignty. His remark comes amid recent tensions along the borders with China along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and northeast’s Arunchal Pradesh. In an interaction with NDTV, Rajnath Singh said, “We have to be ready for war at all times… even in peacetime. We have to be ready.” The defence minister exuded confidence in the ability of the Indian defence forces and highlighted that India is in a position to give a befitting reply if attacked by anyone. During the interaction, Rajnath Singh hailed the Narendra Modi government for its policies to strengthen India’s armed forces. He highlighted the importance of make-in-India initiatives to bring “self-reliance” to the military and ensure its modernisation.
Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said in his political career of 15 years, he never needed to attack his critics and opponents. On the prospect of a strong fight in his constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, as BJP has fielded Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar from the seat, the three-term MP from Thiruvananthapuram said the CPM candidate should not be taken lightly and so it will be a three-cornered contest from Thiruvananthapuram. The Congress has not yet announced the candidate list for the coming election but Shashi Tharoor’s name is expected because of his record winning streak.
Global Matters
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Entertainment Focus
The first trailer for Prime Video’s upcoming romantic comedy The Idea of You is out. It stars Anne Hathaway (41) with Nicolas Galitzine (29). Anne plays an art manager who falls for Nicolas’ gentle rockstar. They meet at Coachella and it is love at first sight. He follows her to her workplace, clearly smitten but she is apprehensive about their age difference. But the fire in their hearts is already lit. The film is directed by Michael Showalter and also stars Ella Rubin, Annie Mumolo, Reid Scott, Perry Mattfeld, Jordan Aaron Hall, Mathilda Gianopoulos, Raymond Cham Jr., Jaiden Anthony, Viktor White, Dakota Adan.
Sports Goings
The stage was set for India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and England’s Jonny Bairstow. It was their 100th Test match after all. And both of them got a fair opportunity to leave an immediate impact. They can still produce a match-winning performance in the second innings – Ashwin, in fact, didn’t even need to wait that long. He polished off England’s tail – But Day 1 of India vs England fifth Test belonged to, without an iota of doubt, Kuldeep Yadav. It may seem unbelievable that there was a reasonable double over Kuldeep’s place in India’s XI for this Test purely because of the conditions in Dharamsala. India captain Rohit Sharma “seriously considered” playing three seamers because of the damp and cold weather conditions.