The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'Had the Congress made Sidhu its CM face, they would have won 80 out of 117 seats.'
'Defence, development and democracy is the formula to defeat Naxalism.'
'In spite of all the sermonising from the political class, when they come in public, the ministers don't follow their own rules.' 'They don't mask.' 'If you look at the West Bengal election campaigning, if you look at the Assam election campaigning or if you look at Kerala election campaigning, they are not setting an example.'
Without doubt, the BJP is miles ahead in marshalling digital tools for electioneering better than any other party, observes Virendra Kapoor.
'2019 now looks like a real contest.' 'It will not be a repeat of 2014 if the BJP has to deal with erosion of its already low vote share of 31 per cent, and also faces a united Opposition,' says T N Ninan.
'Kejriwal has given not only Modi and Shah some food for thought, but also to jaded Opposition leaders who must now wonder whether taking on the BJP's majoritarianism by the horns, as they have been doing so far, is the appropriate strategy in such extraordinary times,' notes M K Bhadrakumar.
The politics of hate does not pay. The people are too sensible to fall for such a ruse, says Amulya Ganguli.
Bose's views make it amply clear how he would have dealt with communal and supremacist forces post-Independence had he been there at the helm instead of Nehru, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
'None of his grandparents, and only one of his parents, was born in the US or spoke English as their mother tongue.' 'Of his three wives, one was born in Czechoslovakia and one in Slovenia.' 'Where would Trump have been if they, too, had 'rejected the ideology of globalism and embraced the doctrine of patriotism'?' asks Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'Kejriwal took political steps and micro level care at every level not to allow the consolidation of Hindu votes behind the BJP,' observes Sheela Bhatt, the distinguished political commentator.
'Many Indians are not voting mostly on the basis of issues like the economy and their own well-being as measured by data provided by the government.' 'They seem to be as concerned and perhaps more concerned about other things, especially those that have to do with the harassment of India's minorities,' asserts Aakar Patel.
'Vajpayee was predictable in his ways.' 'Modi is a schemer, possessed of a shrewdness that can be rewarding in the chaotic world of politics.' 'His political journey gives reason to believe that 2019 will be another milestone in his private project,' notes Vikram Johri.
Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister only till the time the BJP wishes, points out Ramesh Menon.
There are many life lessons to be learnt from the way Sharad Pawar handled the Maharashtra political crisis.
As the Aam Aadmi Party heads for a resounding win in Delhi, Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf lists the reasons behind Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's triumph.
'It is almost certainly wrong in assuming that the Modi government will use its strong mandate to undertake some serious reform measures.' 'For it is fairly clear that the government's priorities lie elsewhere, in the powerful home minister's domain,' notes T N Ninan.
'The ground reality is that Banglar manush Didir shonge aachhe (The people of Bengal are with Didi).' 'Even as the BJP is still looking for a CM candidate, the elections will be over and we will form government with a two-thirds majority.'
'Whatever the legal position, it is my understanding that in practice, the Indian authorities have always treated Hindu refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh far more sympathetically than Muslims,' notes Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'Modi wants to go down in history not necessarily as India's first overtly Hindu RSS pracharak prime minister, but as a world statesman who built the idea of India as a great nation.'
'Modi personally provides the higher direction of the ministry and the minister then works with bureaucrats on implementation,' points out Aakar Patel.
'We will interrogate and punish the guilty.' 'Please don't use this case as a Maharashtra versus Bihar issue.' 'This is the most deplorable thing to do.'
'The message they want to send to the country is that they can do anything by hook or crook'
Even as the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress were burning the candle at both ends to hammer out a deal over forming the government in Maharashtra, the Amit Shah-led BJP was quietly planning its moves.
Driven by hardship, adventurous souls mortgage their homesteads in Punjab or Haryana, pawn the family jewellery and borrow heavily to satisfy the greed of the criminal traffickers who organise their trips, points out Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
There's no telling how long this government will last or how cordial the relations between the alliance partners will be, but it tells us that while constancy and fealty pay, timing is everything, points out Aditi Phadnis.
'She is worried that the small fry have been caught, soon the big fish too will be caught.'
'This kind of poisonous and anti-national activities happening in the country and the economic failure of the Modi government may boomerang in the form of a Congress revival.'
Even Subramanian Swamy, who says he is an ardent supporter of the prime minister, has been taking proxy pot shots at him.' 'At the ground level too, there is resentment from workers and local leaders who have perhaps not got whatever they may have wanted,' notes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Gen Bipin Rawat's appointment, first as army chief superseding two other army commanders, and then as CDS, was the consequence of his close personal rapport with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Now, with General Rawat gone and nobody named to replace him as CDS, it is evident that no other top military officer enjoys that relationship with Doval, observes Ajai Shukla.
'When he has been retired against his will, Advani appears to have found the merits of tolerance.' 'It took his one-time pupil to teach the old man his own lesson,' says Aakar Patel.
'The standing committee on defence was flagging what the services had said.' 'As a soldier, General Khanduri might have felt that it was his duty to point this out in the greater good of India,' points out Aditi Phadnis.
'I don't buy the theory that if the BJP gets less than 220 seats or 200 seats, there will be a change in leadership.'
Declaring that he has no ambition of becoming prime minister, Pawar is holding Rahul Gandhi's hand, reassuring Mayawati and reaching out to Mamata Banerjee, reports Aditi Phadnis.
'The Hindu electorate is more or less in the BJP defined space now.'
Mukesh Sahni's move to contest 55 seats in the UP assembly polls antagonised top BJP leaders.
'What matters to me is that the film is reaching out and touching hearts.' 'An 85-year old man and his 75-year wife, who had never stepped into a cinema, went to see The Kashmir Files.' 'That is my real achievement.'
'It is this difference in their personalities -- one in eloquent command of the requirements of Parliamentary debate, the other unable to infuse spontaneity in his script -- that will be as much a factor in who India votes for next year, as other more germane factors,' says Vikram Johri.
'After the Congress's 2014 Lok Sabha debacle, commentators identified three major shortcomings: Leadership, organisation, and ideology.' 'Here we are six years later -- and what are the Congress's major failings? Leadership, organisation, and ideology.' 'The party seems to have learned very little during its six years in the Opposition wilderness.'
Uddhav Thackeray would do well to remember: Once he decides on a course of action, Bhagat Singh Koshyari never gives up, notes Aditi Phadnis.
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