'In enacting the citizenship law, the BJP's focus has been so much on consolidating its Hindu vote bank all over the country to divert attention from the economic downturn that the party forgot that there are Hindus and Hindus and that one group of Hindus may not always be warmly embraced by another,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
Sonia Gandhi's prime ministerial ambition for her son has been a major factor in the Congress's internal politics since 2004, points out Amulya Ganguli.
'If the National Conference and PDP make handsome electoral gains in the valley and call for the restoration of the former state's lost status, how will the rulers in Delhi respond?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
Sonia Gandhi's unopposed election as Congress president not points to a woeful paucity of leadership material, it also underlines the disturbing presence of feudal characteristics which cannot be welcomed in a democracy, says Amulya Ganguli.
'In the end, it was possibly Pawar's pow-wow with Modi that helped her to come to a decision,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'As long as a Hindu rashtra is not formalised, one can live in hope,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'Homosexuality is the new 'abnormal',' proclaims Amulya Ganguli.
'Mohan Bhagwat's reaffirmation of the RSS's Hindu rashtra ideal has shown that nothing has changed, that it remains firmly rooted in its fundamental beliefs, that the willingness to listen to voices from outside its fold was a pretence about being openminded,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
'For the Hindutva lobby, there is cause for worry.'
'No more than 43 per cent of the people who were asked by Sushma Swaraj to say whom they supported stood by the trolls.' 'As many as 57 per cent do not approve of the minister's traducers,' says Amulya Ganguli.
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'It is best for Sonia to retreat to the background and let Rahul gradually come to the fore to stand by Manmohan Singh.'
As the Congress party steps into its 125th year, Amulya Ganguli says that Sonia Gandhi has played a remarkable role first in the party's comeback and then in its rise to power.
The selection of a woman Senator with an Indian background as the Democratic party's vice-presidential nominee should normally be a matter of elation in India, especially for those who boast of their nationalistic credentials such as the BJP followers, notes Amulya Ganguli.
'What is there to worry about, he has asked, when there is so much freedom in the country?' 'Freedom can never be adequate, as Kher seems to think.' 'Its presence should be so pervasive that all citizens will feel secure and expect justice to be done if anything untoward happens,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
'It will be better if the 'family' desists from giving 'advice and guidance' lest it should be seen as a backseat driver which had placed a puppet at the top,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'His revelation about what went on behind the scenes make it abundantly clear that the BJP must have indulged in similar tactics in Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya where it formed a government even though it did not have a majority,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'Is Modi failing is the question which the BJP will begin to ask itself,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'What the Hinduisation of Muslim names by the BJP suggests is that the party's anti-Muslim outlook matches the virulence of almost any other far right outfit such as the Ku Klux Klan,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
The head of the Congress's first family has never been an astute politician, points out Amulya Ganguli.
'His prestige would have been enhanced by a show of mea culpa and not diminished,' says Amulya Ganguli
'It is obvious that the RSS's desire to gatecrash into the gated establishment which has generally been seen as the redoubt of the liberal intelligentsia is putting it at odds with the BJP which is less tolerant of the mentor's freshly-minted open-mindedness,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
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'After a longish time being on the defensive on the Muslim issue, Mamata found in the Centre's surgical strike just the kind of battle in which she specialises -- hand-to-hand combat.' 'Having routed the once formidable Marxists by her trademark, no-holds-barred belligerence, she is now ready to employ the same tactics against the BJP,' predicts Amulya Ganguli.
'The only reason why it has taken him in is to rile the Congress and also to show, yet again, how fleet-footed the saffron camp is when it comes to raiding the pastures of its rivals,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
'One of the reasons for the BJP's recent resounding success in West Bengal is the resentment of the locals against the Trinamool Congress for failing to maintain law and order.' 'So, it isn't only the supposed pampering of the Muslims by the Trinamool Congress which has undermined its base among the Hindus,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
'Since the two successive drubbings of the Congress have rung the alarm bells about the party's future, the need to chart a new course cannot be delayed any further,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'Amit A Shah's sharp vilification can be interpreted as a sign of nervousness in the saffron camp,' says Amulya Ganguli.
This must be the first time in India's history that it has found itself bracketed with countries in a category which political scientists will not rate very highly if only because the group recalls Nazi Germany as one of its most infamous past members, notes Amulya Ganguli.
'For the RSS, which is supposed to be the standard-bearer of plain living and high thinking, to be as quiet as a mouse suggests that it, too, is playing a political game like its political wing, the BJP,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
'For the women of a community whose seclusion has been a byword of their lifestyle to take to the streets as a means of protest is an unprecedented event,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
It will require a political and tactical genius to, first, assuage the hurt feelings of the locals over the denial of their state's privileged status, and then to accommodate the national objectives of integration and development as spelt out by New Delhi, points out Amulya Ganguli.
Interestingly, the choice of August 5 as the day of the bhoomi pujan coincides with the abolition of Kashmir's special status on the same day a year ago. Perhaps the RSS-BJP wants August 5 to be remembered as the date on which the foundation stone of their cherished Hindu rashtra was laid, notes Amulya Ganguli.
On Thursday, December 14, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy tweeted: 'Jihadis have killed, maimed, brutalised tens of thousands of innocent people all across the world. And you ask me about a man killed in Rajasthan and then tell me not to do whataboutery!' It was not the first time that Roy's statements have provoked controversy. Should Tathagata Roy even be a governor, asks Amulya Ganguli.
'The feeling is growing that if India slips in the realms of liberal tenets, it will be a tragedy not only for the country, but also for the world because it will lose a remarkable role model,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
'There is little doubt that China today stands in the dock, charged with misdemeanour with regard to the health and well-being of its own citizens and of the people of the world,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
'From now on, every time Modi takes a foreign dignitary in his arms, the Indians will remember how he was taken aback when an Indian indulged in hugplomacy,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'It isn't likely that he would have observed a 'strategic silence' on a sensitive and controversial issue, as is done today by the powers-that-be lest an observation lets the cat out of the bag about the ruling dispensation's mindset,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The politics of hate does not pay. The people are too sensible to fall for such a ruse, says Amulya Ganguli.
The term, 'pro-Pakistani', is helpful for the BJP to depict its opponents as anti-nationals while the sedition law is handy for locking up or harassing the government's critics, points out Amulya Ganguli.
If Amit Shah is likely to take to the home ministry like a duck to water, Nirmala Sitharaman's handling of finance will show whether she will justify the confidence which Modi has placed in her.
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