Rahul's elevation as Congress President likely in October

News Network

September 5, 2017

New Delhi, Sept 5: Rahul Gandhi is likely to be elevated as the Congress President next month after the culmination of the organisational elections currently under way across the country.

Though there is no opposition from within the party to the much-anticipated change of guard at the helm, Rahul is expected to take the election route to the post instead of being appointed by the Congress Working Committee.

“Rahul will take over as Congress President after the culmination of the election process next month,” a Congress leader said.

The elevation comes ahead of the year end Gujarat assembly elections, where Rahul has challenged the supremacy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah in their home state.

Rahu's leadership skills will also be put to test in Himachal Pradesh where Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has raised a banner of revolt against the state unit chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and declared that he will not contest the November assembly elections.

However, Rahul's team is expected to be a mix of the old guard and new faces as senior leaders such as Ashok Gehlot, Sushilkumar Shinde, Kamal Nath have been given key responsibilities in the organisation.

It has almost 10 months now since the Congress Working Committee urged Rahul, who was appointed as vice president in 2013, to take over the reins of the party.

The November 7 meeting last year was attended by top leaders including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former Defence Minister A K Antony among others. Congress President had skipped the CWC meeting on account of ill-health.

Organisational elections in the Congress have begun last month and according to the schedule approved by the CWC are expected to conclude by October 15.

Sonia Gandhi, who has been keeping indifferent health off late, has already withdrawn from day to day running of the organisational work and delegated most of the responsibilities to Rahul.

Sonia Gandhi has created a record by being the Congress President for nearly two decades since she assumed the post in 1998 after the ouster of Sitaram Kesari. Her term had ended in December 2015, but the CWC had been delaying internal elections which prompted the Election Commission to set a deadline of December this year to complete the process.

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Film on Gaza girl ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ receives Oscar nomination

News Network

January 23,2026

The Voice of Hind Rajab, inspired by the tragic final moments of a young Palestinian girl killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best International Feature Film category.

Directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, the film recounts the true story of five-year-old Hind Rajab, who lost her life in January 2024 while fleeing Israeli bombardment with her family.

The film features the real audio of Hind’s desperate call to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, where she pleaded for help moments before the vehicle she was in was struck by 355 bullets.

The haunting narrative begins with a brief call made from the besieged Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza, where gunfire and armored vehicles drowned out every sound.

After witnessing the brutal killing of her family, she made a trembling call, her voice reduced to a whisper as she spoke of the massacre and her unbearable loneliness as the sole survivor.

Premiering at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2025, The Voice of Hind Rajab garnered widespread acclaim, receiving a record-setting 23-minute standing ovation and the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, the festival’s second-highest honor.

In her acceptance speech, Ben Hania dedicated the film to humanitarian workers and first responders in Gaza, emphasizing that Hind's voice symbolizes countless civilians affected by war.

She aims to give voice to victims often reduced to mere statistics, highlighting the broader suffering of civilians in war zones.

The film’s Oscar nomination underscores its powerful storytelling and ethical approach to depicting real-life tragedy, making it a crucial piece of contemporary cinema.

It serves not only as a narration of individual tragedy but also as an artistic and documentary response to the silence and censorship that often overshadow West Asian struggles and wars.

Using an innovative method she calls docufiction, Ben Hania bridges unvarnished reality and narrative structure, creating a work that is both artistically valuable and socially impactful.

Born in 1977 in Sidi Bouzid—later the epicenter of the Arab revolution—her background profoundly influenced her worldview and artistic approach.

She is a graduate of the Higher School of Audiovisual Arts of Tunis, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, and La Fémis in Paris, where her studies equipped her with the technical and theoretical tools needed to address complex subjects.

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