Author: India BBC News Correspondent

Sonam Wangchuk — whose story inspired the character of “Rancho” in 3 Idiots and who has become one of India’s most recognisable climate and education activists — was asked directly this week whether he would join the Cockroach Janta Party’s “Peaceful Revolution” march. His answer was characteristically thoughtful and, ultimately, not a yes. The Question The invitation came from CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, who has been building a public profile for the party’s next major mobilisation effort. Wangchuk’s presence would bring a level of mainstream credibility and media attention that the CJP, for all its viral moments, hasn’t yet fully…

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Create IPL History with Back-to-Back Titles Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) became the top club of clubs in the Indian Premier League when they defended their crown in the IPL 2026 Final. RCB beat Gujarat Titans (GT) in a dramatic yet authoritative display of cricket to retain the championship and become one of the few teams in the history of IPL to win back-to-back titles. The success was the result of months of steady performances, tactical brilliance and tremendous individual contributions from some of the top names in the league. The final showed why RCB were the favourites…

Vaibhav Suryavanshi is 14 years old. The offer on the table, according to multiple cricket sources, included ₹30 crore and a flat from Nita Ambani personally. He said no — or at least, his family said not yet. The story is extraordinary even by the standards of IPL recruitment, which has seen its share of extraordinary stories. What the Offer Reportedly Included Sources close to the negotiations described an offer designed to make refusal essentially irrational by conventional measures. The financial package, the prestige of playing for Mumbai Indians, the personal involvement of Nita Ambani as guarantor of support for…

Anyone who spent last Tuesday afternoon in Delhi-NCR got the answer to this question without needing a weather update. After weeks of temperatures that made stepping outside feel like a genuine health risk, the rain arrived — not gently, but in the kind of thunderstorm that seemed to want to make up for lost time. Did it bring relief? Yes. Was it the relief people had been waiting for? Partially. What the Thunderstorm Actually Did The maximum temperature across the region dropped by six to nine degrees Celsius within hours of the rain beginning. Areas that had been recording 44-45°C…

The footage circulating on social media shows explosions at what is described as a US military facility in Kuwait. The question being asked across news desks and government offices simultaneously: did Iran actually do this? The answer, as of the latest information available, is complicated — and the complication is deliberate on multiple sides. What the Footage Shows Multiple videos from different angles show large explosions at a location that several military analysts have identified as consistent with the Al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, which hosts US and coalition forces. The scale of the explosions — the visible fireball, the…

Central India is burning. The northwest is barely cooler. And the question — what is actually causing heatwave conditions of this severity and persistence — doesn’t have a single answer, which is part of why it’s so difficult to address. The Immediate Meteorological Causes The India Meteorological Department’s explanation for the current wave centres on a combination of factors that have aligned in an unusually reinforcing way. A persistent high-pressure system has been sitting over northwest India and Pakistan for the past several weeks. High pressure means descending air — and descending air warms as it compresses. It also means…

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said “I will speak tomorrow” on Wednesday — and then, on Thursday, he did speak, at length. The power tussle that had been simmering within the state Congress unit for months appeared to reach something close to resolution, though the word “appeared” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. What the Silence Was About For those following Karnataka politics closely, Siddaramaiah’s Wednesday statement was less cryptic than it seemed to outside observers. The CM had been in extended discussions with the Congress high command in Delhi over the question of deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar’s…

Vijay — actor, now politician — spent 20 minutes with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. The meeting at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg was unscheduled by official accounts, which is itself a statement: when Tamil Nadu’s most prominent new political figure gets a 20-minute window with the PM, both sides are communicating something to their respective audiences. What Was Discussed Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam sources shared a detailed account of the requests Vijay put before the PM. The list was specific rather than rhetorical — a sign that the team had prepared for this meeting and intended it to have practical…

Marco Rubio said something that the Indian government found useful and the Indian opposition found infuriating — which is, by now, a fairly predictable dynamic when senior American officials weigh in on India’s political situation. The US Secretary of State’s remarks, made in the context of a Senate hearing, described the US-India relationship in terms that implied a level of personal alignment between the two governments that went beyond the standard diplomatic formulation. Congress latched onto the specific framing and asked, pointedly: Prime Minister, what exactly did you promise? What Rubio Actually Said In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations…

The internet-driven rise of the fictional yet massively viral “Cockroach Janata Party” has reached another dramatic turn, after reports emerged that police personnel were deployed outside the parental home of the party’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke. What started as a satirical online political trend has now transformed into one of the most talked-about social media phenomena in India, drawing huge crowds, endless memes, and nationwide curiosity. The recent evolution of police presence outside Dipke’s residence has added another layer of intrigue to the viral movement. Local reports say police officials were deployed to the founder’s family home mainly to help to…