'The one thing India has over these two States, whose toughness awes us, is our ability to embrace diversity with ease. 'The way ahead lies in learning from Vajpayee's method, not in Xi Jinping's,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'The Opposition has no option but to make it an 'All versus One' fight to even think about winning.'
'Kejriwal has shown that not only can Modi-Shah be stopped, they can in fact be routed... Today, as the Delhi votes are counted, it shows not only the AAP's victory or BJP's defeat. But also the Congress's final irrelevance.'
'There is more that is common between Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi than what might separate them. In fact, what divides them can be spelt out in just two words: Clashing ambitions.'
'The prime ministership needs a statesman, not a politician, and 18 months into the job Modi is yet to learn the difference between the two,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
On the occasion of the Narendra Modi government completing one year in office, Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com speaks to BJP president Amit Shah who is yin to Modi's yang. Don't miss it!
Paramilitary forces were on Tuesday deployed in four districts of Punjab as a precautionary measure even as another incident of "sacrilege" of a holy book took place at a village in Bathinda.
'In today's digitalised world, news about the prevalence of such intolerant groups with their pathological animosity towards the minorities cannot remain a secret.' 'Silicon Valley CEOs will undoubtedly factor in such disturbing inputs as they draw up their investment plans.'
The ruling AIADMK is leaving no stone unturned to win the Vellore Lok Sabha poll and push its tally to two in the state, with its candidate even donning the skull cap to woo minority votes. But the DMK's stars are clearly on the ascendant in the lone constituency that goes to the polls on August 5. A Ganesh Nadar reports.
'There is nothing like the Sangh agenda or the BJP agenda... we believe only in the Nation's Agenda,' says newly appointed BJP Vice-President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe.
Brushing aside speculation about a leadership change in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan virtually confirmed on Thursday that he is not going to be replaced.
Officials said that taxmen visited seven locations in Bengaluru and three in Hyderabad of those event management companies which were given contracts to give a blockbuster look for the wedding of Bramhani last week.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sumitra Mahajan will be appointed Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha on Friday. Other key parliamentary posts like that of Leader of Opposition, deputy Speaker, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and head of the all-important standing committee on finance will be keenly contested.
Former Union minister and Haryana Congress leader Kumari Selja decries former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's style of functioning, his inability to carry everybody with him and pitches for a fresh leadership in Haryana after the poll debacle, in an interview with Anita Katyal.
'Think about how he would have handled Hyderabad, and JNU. He would have been very cross if he found two of his Cabinet ministers weighing in on the side of the ABVP.' 'And if Rohith Vemula still killed himself, he would have been the first to speak out in anguish and empathy rather than deny he was a Dalit.' 'And JNU, he would have simply said something like, 'let the boys speak, then they will grow up and join the IAS).' 'A good idea, when in crisis, is to apply the 'Vajpayee test' to your actions,' says Shekhar Gupta.
It would be a miracle if demonetisation doesn't extract a political price from the BJP and Modi, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
The leadership styles of the two Gandhis being different, the party appears to be pulling in different ways. While Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving Congress president, seems more predisposed to holding the government accountable on issues of probity, the younger Gandhi is more keen on taking up battles that ensure immediate victories.
Rumours of which tycoon is close to which minister will soon start floating, and those could affect prices in the short term.
Why did Kamal Haasan name the leaders he did?
Successor Anandiben Patel isn't having an easy time, with a protest movement by her own community and new challenges in keeping the mandate
The dispossessed of Delhi cropped up repeatedly in the rhetoric
On the eve of Winter session of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that the Congress "strongly" believed that the government should reach out to the Opposition on certain issues.
Former Union minister GK Vasan's decision to revolt and float a separate outfit in Tamil Nadu serves as a deadly blow to the Grand Old Party, which is already struggling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked ally Shiv Sena to stop attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cautioning that it will only boomerang on it.
Nitish Kumar has said the only remarkable thing during the period was that prime minister has more selfies than all his cabinet colleagues put together.
Two days after two of his former associates accused him of using the Patidar quota agitation as a "tool to nurture his leadership ambition", Hardik Patel on Wednesday hit back saying his detractors were "playing into the hands of some in the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat who were trying to weaken the protest" by maligning his image.
Right now, in Modi's Cabinet and in the BJP, there is no challenge whatsoever to Modi's leadership but even those leaders who have some potential, who the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh can think of backing in an unforeseen circumstance, are fast turning into damaged goods, reports Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
In Delhi, the poor are pitted against the middle class, with the former led by Arvind Kejriwal and the latter by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'Even if Rahul doesn't emerge with flying colours -- at least initially -- during the jousts with the media, he will at least be posing a kind of challenge which will not be to Modi's liking,' feels Amulya Ganguli.
If I were the BJP, I would not be celebrating quite so quickly. It can sweep its heartland in 2014, as it has shown it can do, but that heartland isn't quite big enough. And it can put up a good fight in towns and cities, too - but unless it neutralises AAP or similar political entrepreneurs, it may find itself tantalisingly short, just as has happened to it in Delhi, says Mihir Sharma.
The BJP is methodically turning India into the world's laughing stock, one brainless statement after another.
With all its ups and downs, 2015 is now concluding. And the New Year will bring new expectations to all of us. So tell us your expectations from 2016:
Dharmendra Kumar Singh explains the four major factors that contributed to Modi's win in the 2014 elections.
'Apart from Satya -- which was a very good film -- Manoj Bajpayee has not featured in any hit in the 10-12 years of his career. Who is he to talk about my career? He should worry about his own.' CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani lashes out.
'It is obvious within these two months that in many ways Narendra Modi has a great degree of resemblance with Indira Gandhi.' 'The same style of management of power. The same kind of attempt to reduce a large section of the political leadership into, if not spectators, bureaucrats. His leaders are taking orders from him and executing those orders.' 'This is the model that has worked in Gujarat. And he is hoping that it will work in India.'
N Suresh on the factors that led to the rout of the ruling alliance and what lies ahead for the BJP, Shiv Sena, MNS and AAP in the state.
A look at few gurus who have attracted controversy in recent times.
'He is 47 years old and not married. Since his son or daughter can contest for Parliament only 25 years after being born, the earliest, if he marries in December, would be 2043.' 'So this, pretty much, is the end of the road for dynastic rule in the party,' says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
The high court also took note of Khattar's statement on Friday in which he blamed anti-social elements for the violence, which also spilled over into neighbouring Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi.
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