'Embedded with the divisive regime, they administer heavy doses of the opium of religion and nationalism day in and day out,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
The government has received flak for allegedly shielding the corrupt ministers and slow pace of investigation in irrigation scam.
Modi-Shah BJP has resurrected dangers and the enemy from the past and built a scary jingoism. It's a great diversionary tactic but history shows it never ends well, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday demanded immediate arrest of separatist leaders who had waved Pakistani flags during a rally in Srinagar, saying it was not satisfied with the "mere registration" of a police case against them.
In a stinging letter, the three wrote, 'We cannot be mouthpiece of such a government which has unleashed oppression on student community'.
'The existence of Section 295A on the Indian statute books sits uneasily with India's ambitions to be seen as a progressive democracy,' says Kanika Datta.
The Patel quota leader Friday walked out of Lajpore jail in Surat after nine months of confinement, vowing to continue the stir.
PM Modi said the Centre was not consulted by the Jammu and Kashmir government.
Mevani, after his meeting with the Gandhi scion, said he would ask his community members to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the Gujarat polls.
'Haven't you heard of the magical EVM machines? They can negate all our votes.' 'There is no hope. Modi is India's Putin.'
'We have made no effort in recent years to build a national opinion on Kashmir amongst political parties.' 'At least we should speak as one country.' 'It has been a failure of our foreign policy that we have not been able to convince world opinion that something needs to be done about Pakistan.'
Dana Majhi's walk home is a shrivelling indictment of our humanity and of our priorities.
'It must be rendering Modi, Amit Shah and Adityanath speechless that the Indian diplomat who lifted the Azhar trophy at the UN in New York is also a Muslim. 'Yes, this is the wonder that was India,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The category of crime and criminals called Maoist or Naxal or #UrbanNaxals is an illegitimate creation of right-wing propaganda media frenzy.' 'It is a fiction repugnant to the Constitution and the law of the land,' argue Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
According to the latest status report filed by the Delhi Police, Kanhaiya 'actively' participated in the 'unlawful' assembly in which 'anti-national' slogans were raised.
Efforts to arrest self-styled 'godman' Rampal, who is holed up in his ashram in Barwala, Haryana will continue, police said on Wednesday morning after suspending the operation overnight following clashes between his supporters and security personnel that left over 200 people injured.
Shehla doesn't and has never shied away from talking the tough talk and walking the tough walk, says Gurmehar Kaur.
'In a democracy, how can you be scared of Amit Shah?'
'There were 10-15 JNU guys who came in fake lawyer dress and instigated the violence. They want to give us a bad name.' 'When someone holds my brother lawyer's neck must I wait for permission from the media and the police to beat the attacker?' 'These JNU guys are raising anti-India slogans and I am saying Hindustan Zindabad and you say I have created problems.' Lawyer Yashpal Singh tries to explain the violence outside a Delhi court.
The SC transferred the bail plea of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar to the Delhi HC and asked it to expeditiously deal with the matter.
Though the prime minister did not make any direct mention of these issues, he noted that nationalism has been the party's identity, sources said.
Patel quota leader Hardik Patel on Tuesday returned to Gujarat after spending six months away from his home state and launched a second round of agitation by appealing to Patels to unitedly fight against prevailing "autocracy" in the state, an oblique reference to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
'The first thing they ask me and people like me is, are you a Pakistani spy? They don't call you an American or a Chinese spy; they only call you a Pakistani spy.' 'At first, a few inmates tried to attack me saying they would make me sing the national anthem, but another group rescued me from the assault. When I got out of jail, so many of them cried and asked me, "When will we see you again?"'
'There is need to invent another enemy.' 'If you can add Maoists to Muslims, the tukde-tukde thread will tie in nicely.' 'You might even have a 'nation in grave danger' story by the summer of 2019,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
'If anyone crimps on the media, it automatically begins to impact the freedom of the citizen.'
When an accused gets attacked on the way to court, and again within the court premises, with no intervention by a judicial officer, which space is safe, asks Jyoti Punwani.
In all the time he has spent in bank and ATM queues, these are the 10 arguments that were being thrown at him constantly by those supporting the demonetisation, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Gujjar protesters blocked the Delhi-Mumbai rail route and a key national highway for the fifth day on Monday after negotiations with the government over their demand of five per cent quota were stalled due to disagreement over the meeting venue.
The Jammu and Kashmir government will not free any more political prisoners or militants, it stated on Tuesday
MUST READ: The speech Nayantara Sahgal was not allowed to give.
Before the Supreme Court struck down Sec 66A of the IT Act, it was used with devastating effect against anyone posting critical comments online.
Self-styled 'godman' Rampal was on Wednesday arrested from his ashram, ending an over two-week tense standoff between his supporters and the police after close to 15,000 of his followers were evacuated from the sprawling premises.
A poster boy of Congress in Mizoram, four-time Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla is a stalwart in the state politics and has been in and out of power for the past three decades.
The JNU student leader said, "There is an atmosphere of fear in the country and anybody who speaks against the government is threatened."
Rather than make it a BJP or anti-BJP battle, it is more important to have a dialogue with the protesting students and understand their psyche, feels Devanik Saha.
Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra speaks to Nikita Puri about Left idealism, a driving force in Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi.
'The BJP is no longer the BJP. It has become the Bharatiya Janata Poaching Party.' 'They talk of black money and here they are ready to pay Rs 100 crore to MLAs.'
'The UPA was never soft on Pakistan, terrorists and even China, but Sonia Gandhi's Congress rightly earned a "soft" image on issues of hard national interest, leaving the field open for Modi to take it and wrap it around with his implicit Hindutva,' says Shekhar Gupta.
How far did the existing air of permissiveness may have contributed to those like the Indian Mujahideen targeting Tamil Nadu for setting up base, is a question that the state's law and order machinery would have to ask itself, and stall them on the track and for good, says N Sathiya Moorthy
Any city that imposes a ban on food of any kind to appease the sensibility of a particular religion has lost any right to be called cosmopolitan and progressive, feels Tanmaya Nanada
