India news: Gandhi's nephew forced to pull protest photos

Skip next section Gandhi's nephew asked to remove artwork depicting youth protests

October 22, 2026

Gandhi's nephew asked to remove artwork depicting youth protests

Raihan Vadra, the nephew of Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, was asked to remove a number of photos from an exhibition he was running at a government-run cultural center in New Delhi.

The center, Bikaner House, requested the removal of several pieces of artwork on the grounds that they were "objectionable."

"The photos were of the youth protests in Delhi," Vadra said in a post on social media. "Apparently the content is objectionable."

The Bikaner House Management Society said "certain photographs" from the exhibition were not in line with the center's policies, without elaborating.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP governs Rajasthan state, which is in charge of Bikaner House.

The protest movement has proven to be a major challenge to Modi's power. A recent renewal of the protests, with Rahul Gandhi at its forefront, has seen protesters calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner ‌Gyanesh ​Kumar over a controversial revision of voter lists.

https://p.dw.com/p/5OYJ2

Skip next section Amit Shah criticizes opposition over 'vote theft' protests

October 22, 2026

Amit Shah criticizes opposition over 'vote theft' protests

Union Home Minister Amit Shah criticized Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday over allegations of electoral irregularities, saying protests and demonstrations would not help them win elections, the Hindustan Times reported.

Speaking at an event in Delhi, Shah accused the opposition of using allegations of "vote theft" to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) electoral victories.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has claimed that India's election authority had enabled "vote theft," or manipulation of electoral rolls to favor Modi's BJP in the 2024 general elections.

Currently, the opposition along with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and other student organizations are demanding the resignation of the country's controversy-hit Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, after more than 130 million names were removed from draft electoral rolls nationwide.

Meanwhile, separately, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused Gandhi of links with foreign-based organizations that he alleged were amplifying protests in India, the Times of India newspaper reported.

Bhatia alleged that the organizations were part of a wider effort to create unrest and undermine constitutional institutions, and demanded that Gandhi disclose details of his meetings with them, the report said.

https://p.dw.com/p/5OXqs

Skip next section One Indian killed, three injured in attacks on Saudi airport, oilfield

October 22, 2026

One Indian killed, three injured in attacks on Saudi airport, oilfield

One Indian national was killed and two others injured in an attack on Dammam airport in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, while another Indian national was injured in an attack on the Shaybah oil field, the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The Wednesday evening attack in the Saudi Arabian city of Dammam killed two people and eight others in total, the country's aviation authority said on Thursday.

In a separate attack on Wednesday, two people were killed by debris from an intercepted drone launched by the Iran-backed Houthis targeting the Shaybah oil field operated by state energy giant Aramco, Saudi media reported.

The US embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday about possible further attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia.

"We strongly condemn the continued attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, including the attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oil field in the Eastern Province on October 21," the Indian foreign ministry statement said.

"These attacks have unfortunately resulted in civilian deaths and injuries," India's foreign ministry said.

Can Yemen's government turn the tide against the Houthis?

https://p.dw.com/p/5OXj8

Skip next section Modi meets Polish PM Donald Tusk, discusses bilateral ties

October 22, 2026

Modi meets Polish PM Donald Tusk, discusses bilateral ties

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk held talks in New Delhi on Thursday to review bilateral ties and explore cooperation in trade, defense and technology, media reports said.

"Our growing economic strength has created new opportunities for the India-Poland partnership. And the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement has made these opportunities even broader," Modi said while addressing the joint press meet with Tusk.

Tusk said the friendship between New Delhi and Warsaw is not based merely on diplomatic relations, but on the "shared heritage of humanity and empathy."

The two leaders oversaw the exchange of several memorandums of understanding.

Tusk is on a two-day trip to India ending on Friday. He is accompanied by Polish Minister of Finance and Economy, Andrzej Domanski, and a business delegation.

On Wednesday, Tusk met Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar where the two discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation, according to reports.

Can Poland hold NATO’s line against Russia without the US?

https://p.dw.com/p/5OXVd

Skip next section Tiger Shroff shooters allegedly surveyed homes of other Bollywood stars

October 22, 2026

Tiger Shroff shooters allegedly surveyed homes of other Bollywood stars

Authorities investigating last week's shooting at actor Tiger Shroff's car said the alleged shooters had conducted reconnaissance at the homes of Bollywood stars Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor before targeting Shroff, who they believed had less security, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

This comes even as three more people were arrested in connection with the shooting, Mumbai Police said.

The total number of people arrested related to the case has now risen to 10.

Three motorcycle-borne assailants had opened fire at Shroff's car in the western city of Mumbai on October 18. The actor escaped unhurt, while his driver and a bystander were injured.

Three key accused, including the alleged shooters, were caught by the police while trying to escape to Nepal.

Police suspect the attack was carried out at the behest of Anil Pandit, an alleged operative of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

The Bishnoi gang, accused of involvement in the 2023 killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Bishnoi, a jailed Indian gangster, has been accused by US prosecutors of directing murders, extortion and international drug trafficking from inside a prison in Gujarat.

https://p.dw.com/p/5OXM7

Skip next section Google, Mozilla, Apple block certificates by Indian company over security flaw

October 22, 2026

Google, Mozilla, Apple block certificates by Indian company over security flaw

Bengaluru-based digital identity and cybersecurity company eMudhra has revoked eight intermediate certificates after their private keys were found to be weak, prompting Google, Mozilla, Apple and Microsoft to block the affected certificates.

"Eight intermediate (issuing) CAs in our Global TLS business were revoked because their published keys were weak," the company said, adding that it was investigating the issue.

A certificate authority (CA) is an organization that browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Safari rely on to verify website identities and establish secure connections.

The flaw could have allowed attackers to impersonate legitimate websites using fraudulent certificates and potentially intercept or manipulate supposedly secure online communications. However, no evidence of such misuse has been publicly confirmed.

The flaw originated in a key-generation process in April 2025 that produced weak private keys, the company said.

Media reports citing security researcher Scott Helme said one of the keys was the number four, rather than a cryptographically secure, randomly generated number, while others were also easily guessable.

India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said it had taken serious note of the incident.

"A special team has been constituted to investigate the matter," the ministry said in a statement on X.

https://p.dw.com/p/5OX3X

Skip next section CJP leaders freed after undertaking not to call for protests at Jantar Mantar

October 22, 2026

CJP leaders freed after undertaking not to call for protests at Jantar Mantar

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were released from Tihar Jail on Wednesday after a Special Executive Magistrate declined a police request to extend their judicial custody by three more days, reports said.

The two leaders at the forefront of the protests calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar following voter-list irregularities, furnished personal bonds and sureties of Rs 50,000 (€470; $530) each.

Their written undertakings promised to maintain peace and not call for protests at Jantar Mantar "till such a time that it is denotified in accordance with law."

The iconic protest site was denotified by Delhi Police earlier in October, months after CJP-led protests culminated in the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Das and Ranka were booked for "trespassing" after entering the Jantar Mantar protest site and raising the Indian flag.

The latest CJP protests have called for Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the deletion of voters' names.

https://p.dw.com/p/5OWnz

Skip next section Welcome to our coverage!

October 22, 2026

Welcome to our coverage!

Hello! This is Shakeel from DW's New Delhi bureau bringing you the latest updates from across India.

First things first: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka are out of judicial custody — after agreeing not to call for protests at Jantar Mantar.

Meanwhile, talking about cybersecurity scares, Indian certificate authority eMudhra confirmed a flaw that prompted Google, Mozilla, Apple and Microsoft to block its vulnerable certificates and some Indian government websites to go offline.