'The sole objective is to harass me, silence me.'
'There is dissatisfaction and disaffection for the BJP, but there is no anti-incumbency against the government in UP.'
'...to come back to power because it was not doing well.'
The Constitution is a terrific document, but it is also one that has suppressed the Hindu majoritarian sentiment. We are living through times when this suppression is being popularly rejected, notes Aakar Patel.
'After meeting the prime minister and Amit Shah, Yogi has come out with his position secure till the assembly election.'
'The BJP would like to capitalise on Yogi's tough image on criminals, law and order situation, and hands-on CM.' 'Modi will be an additional advantage, but it is primarily a contest between Yogi and Akhilesh.'
'As long as a Hindu rashtra is not formalised, one can live in hope,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Given the controversy over Uttar Pradesh's population control moves, Hemant Shivsaran/Rediff.com digs deep to find out how many children BJP MLAs in UP have.
The BJP's message is that the past must be reinvented as creatively as imagination allows, states Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
If he doesn't win next year, it will set back the party's prospects in 2024. If he wins, it will be seen as his win as much as the BJP high command's, points out Shekhar Gupta.
True, Azam Khan is being targeted rather disproportionately and also because of his Muslim identity. That must be protested and resisted. But to say that he is a big messiah, and his profit-making educational enterprise is an issue concerning all Muslims of India, is absolutely unjustified, assert Mohammad Sajjad and Md Mohammad Zeeshan Ahmad.
'Mohan Bhagwat is very upfront with his views and arguments.' 'Mohan Bhagwat is competent to deal with Modi's personality cult.'
'It is not the chief minister who would have rung up and told the local police station to botch up the case.' 'No chief minister or chief secretary or DGP would like a case like this happening in their state.'
'But still they have filed FIRs against me under section 505 of the IPC.' 'These were draconian laws that were misused by the British East India Company against the soldiers who participated in the mutiny (of 1857).'
As their parties are locked in a fierce battle for Bengal, Tathagata and Saugata Roy, siblings who belong to the BJP and the TMC respectively, answer the same questions put to them about the assembly election.
'But thereafter the same trend is again getting popular and that is what is disturbing and alarming.' 'If this practice goes unchecked, then the entire edifice of the rule of law which gives protection to citizens of this country would crumble into pieces.'
What is particularly worrying is that the vast majority will not have access to testing or even to proper treatment. These cases could have been avoided if the government had shown the political will to do so, observes Rashme Sehgal.
'An individual cannot fight the might of the State.'
UP accounted for 14.7 per cent of all registered crimes against women in 2019. The state also recorded the highest number of cases against Dalit women.
'This government puts poor people behind bars, demonises women after their death, puts out the call records of deceased raped victims and robs her of her dignity.'
'Every family in UP has been deeply affected in this second wave.' 'It has only been denial, denial, and denial by the incumbent CM.'
'The BJP will not be able to create dictatorship of the kind it is perhaps dreaming of.' 'We have Bengal as the biggest example.'
'So why didn't the police make it very clear that this is the line of investigation, this is what we are doing.' 'Nobody knows what kind of report was done.' 'Was she checked for (sexual assault)?'
Ultimately, whether the UP ordinance is struck down by the courts or not, it will be the courage of young Hindu and Muslim women and men that will act as a foil to the UP police-cum-mobs who will be out to get them.
'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.
'At this moment, the Trinamool has an edge.'
The most strident criticism of UP's anti-conversion ordinance has come from the judiciary with several retired Supreme Court and high court judges having described it as being violative of Article 14 (Right to Equality), 15 (Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion), 21 (Right to Life) and 25 (Freedom of conscience) of the Constitution, points out Rashme Sehgal.
Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister only till the time the BJP wishes, points out Ramesh Menon.
'They take each and every election with seriousness.' 'No other political party has that kind of cadre who is strongly aligned with the reason, motto and ideology of their party.'
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