The sengol must revert to where it belongs -- behind a glass case and not figure in ceremonies concerning India's democracy, argues Shyam G Menon.
Not only will Arun Govil, Sunil Lahiri and Deepika Chikhalia attend the Pran Pratistha ceremony, Moti Sagar, Ramanand Sagar's son, also received an invitation.
'An important dimension that shone through was the enormous pride in India, a general belief that as Indians we are starting to count globally and we are at the forefront of the world.'
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
'My protest was in the interest of the nation.' 'I am just doing my duty as a citizen of this country.'
'While other parties generally need support directly from their central leadership to get influencers or celebrities to endorse their party, the work of identifying and contacting such influencers has been decentralised to state and district level IT cells to get more engagement in the BJP.'
'When he was sidelined in the INDIA bloc, it was was the turning point because it badly hurt Nitish's ambition.' 'After that, he decided to damage INDIA by changing sides.'
A lady ties a rakhi made up of gold and silver onto a cut-out of Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi on the eve of Raksha Bandhan in Ahmedabad, August 10, 2022.
BJP sources suggest that the upcoming elections will likely revolve around the renewed enthusiasm for the temple unless another theme with religious and nationalist undertones emerges.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's interview where he denied any anti-incumbency against the BJP.
Modi will accompany on July 25 from Rashtrapati Bhavan to 12 Janpath as a courtesy.
The BJP lost 15 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Union ministers have been deployed in all 15, tasked with turning the result around.
Most politicians and even non-politicians have been honoured because of what they were purported to be electorally worth for the ruling party of their time, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
There's nothing that Bharatiya Janata Party Supremo Narendra Damodardas Modi appears to like better than hitting the campaign trail, addressing countless meetings on the same day with a verve that is unprecedented in India's electoral history.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's speeches in Parliament on Monday and Tuesday.
'Bharat is the core value that has to be lived by and if you deny it, then the people will discard you.'
Officials hint the visit could finally see a formal defence industrial road map being adopted by both nations.
Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com decodes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech after the Pran Prathistha ceremony at Ram Temple in Ayodha.
The prime minister's insistence that his voice cannot be suppressed left me both puzzled and amused. He has at his call, the government's official news dissemination/publicity channels, the pliant newspapers and television channels that were eager to prostrate themselves before a powerful government and yet, the dominant voice thinks it is in competition with other voices! exclaims Shyam G Menon.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Rama is Lord God of maryada. Today's maryada is the Constitution.'
Uttam Ghosh wonders when Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's promise of Acche Din will become a reality.
For the first time since the assembly elections were announced in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party's supreme leaders were seen in public together on Sunday.
'Their role model is Iran: high control of the citizens by the State.' In Iran it is Islamic control; in India, it will be Hindutva control.'
The scaling up of the India-US strategic partnership to the level of non-NATO ally with defence deals, sharing and transfer of defence technology, interoperability, joint collaboration and joint production of defence equipment has exacerbated Moscow's anxiety, notes Rup Narayan Das.
'Despite being Bihar chief minister twice and an MLA for over three decades, he and my mother used to stay in a jhopri in our village.'
'How come the BJP won even in the Muslim belt? I am 100% sure that the BJP would not win in the Muslim belt.'
'Now the political boss decides, and the ED acts.'
Rajasthan is reeling under a huge financial burden with the state's debt having gone beyond Rs 5.59 lakh crores. Rajasthan has increased expenditure on education by 203.4 percent, by 105.4 percent on health, by 227.14 percent on housing. Its expenditure on social welfare schemes has increased by almost 2,475 per cent.
At a time when the BJP's stars are at the top on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, the Puri-Joshimath Sankaracharyas may have kick-started a row whose efforts might be to divide Hindus, not in the name of castes, but on what passes for greater belief, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The people of Kota will show Om Birla his place.'
The rulers of the day need to be sensitive and involved in managing the identities of sacred spaces and the ongoing dialogues about the past in diverse societies, suggests Colonel Nikhil Apte (retd).
Will January 22 mark a point of no return for our Constitutional secularism? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'In the short term the relationship will get worse.'
'They are happy for the Hindu community as Ram Lalla is consecrated in Ayodhya.'
Four Cabinet ministers and 8 ministers of state are to be dropped and the same number of ministers likely to be inducted in Prime Minister Narendra D Modi's council of ministers.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, February 2, where he accused the Narendra Damodardas Modi government of creating two Indias -- one for the rich and one for the poor.
Women in Surat have come out with a unique way to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi on his visit to the city for Navratri.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances