Syed Firdaus Ashraf covers national politics, and sometimes movies too -- a truly wide arc! You can e-mail the author at firdausa@rediff.co.in
'Salman Khan should be booked under the National Security Act as he is destroying Indian culture.'
'While they claim to cherish Bapu's ideals, they cherish Godse as fervently.'
'It was immoral to cut the trees at Aarey, says Delhi law student Rishav Ranjan.
Why Aaditya Thackeray's decision to plunge into electoral politics is significant.
'What is critical today in India is confidence of depositors.' 'If you have these kinds of problems spreading like this, the confidence level of a lot of people in the system gets shaken.'
'What is at stake is not one mosque or temple, it is the question of the principle of secularism which is part of the basic structure of the Constitution as declared even by the Supreme Court of India.'
'He is posting that someone who took the metro (during a medical emergency) got saved.' 'Let him try doing the same. He cannot peddle nonsense just because he is a star.'
'Government must take into consideration the human cost of the NRC exercise'
'The Modi government is doing a good job but corrupt officers are siphoning off funds,' says journalist Pawan Kumar Jaiswal against whom an FIR has been filed for his video expose of school children being fed salt and rotis as their mid-day meal.
'After the NRC it is proved that whatever the BJP was saying about illegal Bangladeshi migrant was a lie and Indian Muslims have their documents to prove their citizenship.'
'Why should I as a common man not know where my parents are in Kashmir, how they are doing. It is my right,' student Mohammed Aleem Syed, who moved the Supreme Court to be allowed to visit Kashmir, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Why Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manjinder S Sirsa is furious with the director and actor of Sacred Games 2.
If you're young and depressed, and don't know where your life is heading, Naseeruddin Shah seems to have the answer.
'We have a situation where the BJP, with less than 2 per cent vote share, has 10 MLAs.'
'Nehru's hegemonic politics has been responsible for many ills, which undoubtedly includes Kashmir'
'The government, through the media, is saying that everything is normal in Kashmir, but I just want them to give this in writing and let a judicial commission see it.
Hamid Nihal Ansari, a software engineer from Mumbai, returned to India in December 2018 after spending six years in a Pakistani jail for illegally entering the neighbouring country from Afghanistan, reportedly to meet a girl he had befriended online. He was arrested in 2012 and lodged at Peshawar jail after Pakistan had slapped espionage charges against him. The decision to release him was on account of relentless pressure from New Delhi and Sushma Swaraj, who was the external affairs minister and was personally monitoring the case. Speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, Ansari recalls the time he spent with her and says that if it wasn't for her efforts, he would still be rotting away in a Pakistani cell.
The Janata Dal-United, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, opposed the government's move on Article 370 through a fresh Presidential Order ending special status to Jammu and Kashmir. On Monday, opposing the Narendra Modi-led government's decision, they walked out of the Rajya Sabha where the bill to split the state into two Union Territories was passed. Similarly, on Tuesday, the JD-U walked out of Lok Sabha while the bill was being discussed. In Patna, JD-U national spokesperson K C Tyagi said: "We completely differ with the Central government's move on Jammu and Kashmir. There was a need for wider consultations on it, but no consultation was done even within the NDA. We own the legacy of socialist leaders Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narayan, who had opposed attempts to tamper with Article 370 during Congress (government in the past)." Speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com on the same, the JD-U leader said that 'walking out of Parliament won't affect their ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party'.
'All the benefits of democracy will flow to Kashmir now. This has not happened in the last 70 years.'
"This move will strengthen the unity of the country, which is the requirement of the hour," says Charu Wali Khanna.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances