Morning Digest: M.P. Deputy CM’s ‘Forces bowing down to Modi’ remarks spark row; Pakistan calls for ‘composite dialogue’ with India, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on May 17, 2025

Even as a controversy has erupted over Madhya Pradesh Minister Vijay Shah’s inflammatory remarks on Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, State Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda courted a row on Friday (May 16, 2025) after he made ‘insulting’ statements on the armed forces, saying that the personnel “bowed down at the feet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi” for his leadership during Operation Sindoor.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has called for a “composite dialogue” with India to address the contentious issues between the two sides. India made it clear that it will have a dialogue with Pakistan only on the return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the issue of terrorism.

The Centre, through the means of a Presidential Reference, has questioned the Supreme Court’s decision in the Tamil Nadu Governor case to “impose” a three-month timeline for the President to decide on State legislations reserved for consideration under Article 201 by State Governors. However, the Supreme Court’s April 8, 2025 judgment made it clear that it was merely adopting guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) through two back-to-back Office Memorandums (OMs) issued in 2016 fixing a three-month timeline for the President.

Neeraj Chopra finally breached the elusive 90m frontier with a 90.23m throw but the trailblazing Indian had to settle for a second place behind Germany’s Julian Weber in a dramatic men’s javelin contest at the Doha leg of the prestigious Diamond League Meeting series here on Friday.

Police in Ladakh have intensified search for a 36-year-old woman from Nagpur who went missing from one of the last villages in Kargil along the Line of Control (LoC) on May 14. Though her whereabouts were not known yet, police officials said that the woman had tried to cross over to Pakistan near Amritsar border in Punjab in March this year. She was stopped by the Border Security Force (BSF) then, the officials said.

Turkish company Celebi Airport Services India Pvt Ltd on Friday (May 16, 2025) moved the Delhi High Court against the decision of aviation watchdog BCAS revoking its security clearance in the “interest of national security”.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday (May 16, 2025) conducted searches on 15 locations linked to banned Khalistani terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in different parts of Punjab, in connection with the grenade attack on a police station in Gurdaspur last December.