Archana Masih frequently contributes military features to Rediff.com. You can read some of her features in the related links alongside. You can e-mail the author at archana_masih@rediffmail.com
'This was the first ever visit by a President in a re-election year so it sent a strong signal of the priority of the relationship and the desire to continue to strengthen it.'
We are becoming more cruel and less civilised
Nitin Singh, tourist guide, spent 75 minutes with Donald and Melania Trump at the Taj Mahal. 'They were very down to earth and listening to me intently as I told them the story of the Taj and the Mughals.'
'I am sure every effort will be made to showcase Rashtrapati Bhavan to President Trump.'
'I was told that Agra has never been cleaned, spruced and scrubbed like it has been for Trump!' A tourist who visited the Taj Mahal over the the weekend gives an account of how the city is gearing up to welcome the Trump Parivar.
'If there were no Ahmedabad programme -- no flashy town hall event in a huge cricket stadium with thousands cheering him on -- then Trump may well have decided not to go to India.'
What goes behind the scenes for an American President's visit?
For two-and-half weeks, as Kanhaiya Kumar's Jan Gan Man Yatra opposing the CAA-NPR-NRC makes its way through Bihar, it has come under sustained violent attack. Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers that the yatris, who include teenagers wanting to save the Constitution and the Nation, are unfazed by the threats and loathing.
'It is an uncomfortable situation for a woman.' 'She has been on her own, separated from family.' 'That is the point of isolating her -- breaking her to a point where she bends to their will.'
'All political parties have exploited the police. The current government at the Centre is blatant and unapologetic about it.'
'AAP's next target will be Punjab.'
'Potent nationalism doesn't just distract from the economic task at hand; it actively undermines it.'
Despite all of the PM's many strengths, it is increasingly clear that he does not necessarily have a coherent and clear worldview on matters of macro policy.
'Both my father and brother are very strong. Their spirit is unbroken,' says Dr Farooq Abdullah's daughter and Omar's sister, Safiya Abdullah Khan.
'Irrespective of their politics, people feel happy.' 'One of the best compliments I have received is that I have made it from Kashmir to Karnataka.'
'The government's job is to enable people to live together, not tear them apart.' 'It is supposed to create spaces to work, live and survive -- this country is struggling and this government is saying you have no right of being.' 'It wants to declare human beings illegal. It is the most bizarre nonsense in the world.'
There have been some benefits to the corporate sector, agreed they also need support, but the government should realise that the economy is not suffering from lowering investment -- people are ready to invest but where is the demand?
'The awareness of how big my father's sacrifice came to me when we went for the Republic Day parade and my mother received the Ashok Chakra,' Rukmini Vasanth, whose father Colonel Vasanth Venugopal was killed in action fighting terrorists, tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
'War is won by team work. War is won by sacrifices,' says Subedar Sanjay Kumar, Param Vir Chakra.
Major Sheena Nayyar describes what it means for an Indian soldier to be part of the Republic Day parade.
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