This was a difficult election to win, but the Modi card, the caste divide and the division in the Opposition vote bank helped overcome many challenges.
"One was 'AP' and the other was 'Fam'. 'AP' stands for Ahmed Patel and 'Fam' stands for family. Have you heard of Ahmed Patel? Which family is he close to?" Modi asked the crowd at a rally in Dehradun.
'At one stage, one interviewer asked me to name 3-4 world leaders who had made the biggest impact on the world.' "Our PM, Modiji, of course. I named him first. Then Trump... Later, my father said I should have remembered Gandhi. But what to do, Sir? Mistakes happen.' 'Besides, had not Trump called Modiji the father of our nation?'
Modi garners nearly 37% vote nationally, courtesy West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka and Telangana.
'All the government needs to do is to identify clear political and strategic objectives and to give the military planners a free hand,' asserts Ajai Shukla.
Arvind Kejriwal is poised to return to power with a simple majority. Even if the BJP wins 20 to 25 seats, it will be seen as a victory, says R Rajagopalan.
Insiders say the BJP is now concerned the LJP putting up a good fight against the JD-U would mean benefitting the MGB in those seats. Moreover, Chirag and Tejaswi are known to be friends, and the former is battling for his political survival.
'For Muslims, India is now a Hindu Rashtra, no matter what kind of Constitution is still in place,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
Both parties claimed they wanted to extend Diwali greetings to the governor and denied that any political discussion took place during the meeting.
The revived factionalism in the AIADMK, if not curbed now, has the potential to split the party vertically, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
"India despite problems, has had religious harmony there for 2,000 years," he said.
'Modi's finest political legacy ought to be a border settlement with Beijing,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Public spirited individuals and organisations should commemorate May 10 as Kashmir Solidarity Day by taking out candlelight marches and gathering at war memorials all over the country.'
'The occasion is not just to remember Lieutenant Fayaz, but also all those who have lost their lives in Kashmir defending the Republic,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Noise pollution is a health issue, it is not a religious issue.'
Akhtaruzzaman Elias's The Raincoat describes the effect of the 1971 war on a college and on one of its teachers in particular.
India to go ahead with S-400 missile deal with Russia, but declines project to develop a fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
Chief Minister Stalin seems to have drawn a line between his personal beliefs and those of others in the family, beginning with wife Durga Stalin, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill would possibly be the first piece of legislation that is perniciously discriminatory on the basis of religion/faith, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'I learned of her and my husband's involvement through her late night phone calls and her public display of affection in my presence'
'I will not say that the AIMIM is a 'B' team of the BJP. But due to the AIMIM, the BJP benefits for sure'
All the essential services, schools and colleges have been excluded from the bandh.
Amit Mistry was a wicked actor, someone who could chance a broken arm, who could take deep dives, who could ram his head into walls, all without bothering about the outcome. And, as with that closing bit, the knowledge of where he might have arrived at eludes us now, observes Sreehari Nair.
An unidentified person threw ink at Union Health Minister J P Nadda at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, amid protest by students over "poor facilities" at the institute.
'We decided that we would fire our rockets and dive into the valley and get away, making it difficult for the missiles to be fired.'
Much against the wishes of Dravid and Chappell, Ganguly was drafted into the side with regular openers Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer warming the benches.
Pakistan strongly condemns and rejects the announcements made by the Indian Government regarding Jammu and Kashmir, the statement said. "As the party to this international dispute, Pakistan will exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps," it said.
Images from football matches played across Europe.
For the first time in its three decade-old history, the country's elite counter-terror force National Security Guard has begun training its commandos in undertaking precision hostage rescue missions in jungles keeping in view emerging Naxalite tactics aimed at capturing high-value targets.
"I don't understand her rush to become the chief minister. Does she not understand the situation in Tamil Nadu?" The battle between O Panneerselvam and Sasikala continues
Party will decide when the time was right to pass on the baton to Rahul Gandhi, says senior Congress leader Ambika Soni.
Do Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut, and Sharad Pawar want the deaths of the Bhima Koregaon accused to be associated with their regime? asks Jyoti Punwani.
A baby boy was among the 58 passengers who survived the gruesome aircrash in Peruvian jungles.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the land of tourism like Kerala has turned into "nursery of terrorism", as he accused the Congress-led government of ignoring the state's development agenda.
'The bloodthirsty rhetoric of chicken-hawk TV anchors are the worst contributors to Kashmiri alienation.' 'If this implacable hatred is the authentic voice of India, Kashmiris argue, who can hope for peace?' asks Mihir S Sharma.
The Opposition parties also demanded stopping the use of pellet guns on protesters, even as one member demanded withdrawal of AFPSA from the Kashmir Valley and withdrawal of the dominating presence of army from civilian areas.
'This is a horrible tragedy and is a huge loss for all the lives he touched.'
On January 1 in 2018, violence erupted at an event to mark 100 years of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, leaving one dead and several injured, including 10 policemen.
Around 40,000 Delhi Police personnel, 190 coys (companies) of Central Armed Police Forces and 19,000 Home Guards have been deployed for smooth conduct of election in the national capital, officials said.
Or a brief stop on the way to better times, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
'Maybe the BJP believes, in the post-poll scenario, it will have the might to foist, anybody endorsed by the RSS, upon Bihar,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
