Is there a likeness between the characters from Ved Vyas's timeless epic and those prancing about on the political proscenium? Saisuresh Sivaswamy finds out.
'No amount of digression can hide deflect the fact that the PM's visit was badly conceived, planned and executed,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Why are far right Hindu organisations growing in strength? Why is there a rising subscription to Neo-Wahabism, the Saudi Arabian version of contemporary Islam?
BKS and BMS leaders have told the BJP leadership that it is staring at a build-up of anti-government propaganda in the run-up to polls in five states.
Higher education policy may be at the core of the Tamil Nadu assembly polls next May, with a potential to break the ties between the ruling AIADMK in the state and the BJP counterpart at the national level, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Barely a week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to launch the Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign in Jammu and Kashmir, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Monday sought to downplay the Sangh Parivar's long-standing demand repealing Article 370 of the Constitution.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Phadnavis on Sunday faced flak for "brokering the deal" with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena instead of enforcing law and order, amid the row around the release of Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil".
Sharad Yadav, President of the Janata Dal (United), is one of the architects of the proposed merger of six political parties who trace their roots to the erstwhile Janata Dal. Yadav tells Archis Mohan how the grand alliance with Left parties and even the Congress is the need of the hour.
'His prowess in Aikido -- a Japanese martial art that focuses on harmony with the opponent to peacefully resolve conflicts -- gives Rahul Gandhi an advantage that fanatical adversaries lack,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'For the Shiv Sena, Hindutva is like a shawl which can be put on and discarded at will.'
'Rather than 'consolidate' the Hindu majority votes, as the BJP-RSS combine has been known and wont to try, this time round PM Modi has himself taken the party to the next step, by seeking to create a new divide within the majority community, a la V P Singh in his time.'
Police have initiated action against independent MLA P C George who had levelled derogatory charges against the victimised nun.
It looked as if the BJP was hoping to use Rajinikanth to press their seat-bargain with the AIADMK. Now with the Rajini bait gone, the question now is not how much the BJP would settle for, but how much the AIADMK would be ready to offer, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Gaumutra kills all bacteria,' says the Congress corporator from Mumbai, who wants cow urine to clean the city's hospitals.
A towering figure in the world of letters, Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy, who died in Bangalore on Friday, was modern in his sensibilities and intellectual underpinnings in his literary works questioned many deeply-held beliefs.
'Knowing him personally, I can safely say that the usually soft-spoken, qualified medical doctor would not have said what he was 'caught' saying if only he had realised that he was stepping on a political landmine across the emotional LoC, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
The attacks, which disrupted normal life, marked return of political violence on large-scale after a gap of over a year in Kannur.
After several women were prevented from entering the Sabarimala shrine after the Supreme Court verdict upheld their right to do so, Bindu and Kanakadurga managed the seemingly impossible. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com finds out how they did it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's success at courting Indians abroad have been as much a result of his old contacts as efforts by a dedicated arm of the BJP abroad. Archis Mohan reports
'Amit Shah's trajectory seems unstoppable; no wonder some say the day is not far off when he could be pitching for the top job, and that this is only the first step,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
On the first anniversary of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, Sangh Parivar affiliates say they are annoyed with the ruling dispensation but can't live without it either
The mood of the Karnataka's Bharatiya Janata Party has been upbeat ever since its strongman B S Yeddyurappa declared his decision to come back to the party. He was the man who led the BJP to power in Karnataka, remained the chief minister for three years, stepped down on corruption charges, left the party and then formed his Karnataka Janata Paksha before returning to the BJP a year later.
'Today when people are fighting to get their salary, you are telling them you will privatise airports!'
UDF, LDF raise voice against cow slaughter ban backed by BJP leadership.
The BJP/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and right wing outfits have made it clear that they would not allow any woman in the 10-50 age group to offer prayers at the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate).
'If India adopts a punitive and unforgiving stance against the Rohingyas, it will be courting disgrace,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'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.
The VHP leadership notes that 'ghar wapsi' wasn't something started after the Modi govt took over. Archis Mohan reports
The government is bracing up for a tough week in Parliament from Monday, with opposition parties giving a number of notices in both Houses seeking a debate on 'intolerance' in society and action against some ministers for their alleged provocative remarks.
'The BJP had no traction in Karnataka and Siddaramaiah would have scraped through if he had not done all that he did.' 'When you pander to one community, the other community gets irritated.' 'Then, when you make fun of the cow and the treating of the cow as sacred, in your effort to belittle the Sangh Parivar and its obscurantism, you are hurting your normal voters too.' 'It is okay to make fun of the Sangh Parivar, but it is not okay to make fun of all Hindus.'
Call for balance in assessing the first year of the PM -- and less prickliness on the part of the BJP
'This country is not of one culture. We must live together and we must respect each other.'
'These guys did not even issue an apology to me and were taken back into the party.' 'They were reinstated on the grounds that they will contribute to the Congress campaign.'
BJP-supported students' union, aided by a friendly government, is aggressively settling historical scores with Leftist students' organisations.
2,470 BJP workers from across the country would spend a year visiting polling booths, while another 1,441 workers would spend six months and 378,000 workers will spend 15 days to reach out to party cadres and ensure better polling management in areas outside their home districts.
'The Mughals became completely Indian in every sense and united the vast Indian subcontinent, not only territorially, but also the hearts and minds of people with multiple religio-cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversities' 'The Mughals, arguably, made India an enviable superpower in the then world.' 'Are the Hindutva rulers of today scared of acknowledging Mughal accomplishments?' asks Mohammad Sajjad.
The government is doing things in agriculture that count for little, says Shreekant Sambrani.
'Since the general election is only two years away, the BJP will need a surefire plan of action -- and it cannot be either the Ram temple or ultra-nationalism,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'If the prime minister wants to be seen as a global statesman, then is it not embarrassing to be so closely associated with a gang of foul-mouthed bullies?' asks Vir Sanghvi.
What the Congress will have to understand is that it is not enough to have a 40-something vice-president in New Delhi, but young faces with fresh ideas in the states,' says Amulya Ganguli.
