Having emerged as the face of opposition resistance to the Narendra Modi juggernaut after the TMC's triumph in the assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is locked in an unequal battle as she squares off with "lightweight" rivals in her own lair--Bhabanipur.
'Extravagant new promises can buy him time, but far from solving the problem, they compound the risk.' 'His main alternative is to stress not aspirations, but resentments.' 'He has already de-emphasised aspirational appeals: Nothing has been heard for over two years of the coming of achhe din,' points out James Manor.
'For Nitish Kumar the message is to be democratic. With the support of the BJP, he had suppressed criticism in Bihar. He would also need to change his highly authoritarian way of governance.' 'The Grand Alliance, given the decisive mandate in its favour, cannot afford to fail the people. They have a duty to make it a model for the rest of India,' says Apoorvanand.
It is a record that the saffron party has created, where the majority of its legislators belonged to the minority community.
'It is perhaps a sense of intellectual inadequacy, of an ingrained inferiority complex born of the years when the BJP languished in the margins of Indian politics and society that, when faced with the soaring ideas about Indian pluralism, the Hindutva camp turns its face so resolutely against Nehru,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Friday reacted strongly against Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah's 'crackers in Pakistan' remark, saying it was an insult to the people of Bihar.
'I cannot remember a time in my life when we had such economic strife, such levels of unemployment, a national epidemic and the enemy inside our house and such little interest in these and a focus on Bollywood and temples and such things,' notes Aakar Patel.
This was a difficult election to win, but the Modi card, the caste divide and the division in the Opposition vote bank helped overcome many challenges.
'The best course for India is to wait out the implosion that is bound to take place in Pakistan sooner than later.' 'We have to ensure that the fallings debris from a collapsing State does not damage us,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'After Vajpayee-Advani, Modi-Shah is the second best in India.'
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the Bharatiya Janata Party's mascot in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley, even as the party is exhorting the people in Jammu to vote en bloc for it to protect the region's interests.This divergent campaign strategy for the ongoing seven-phase assembly election in the state has been worked out to resolve the party's dilemma in seeking votes in two regions where the BJP's presence invokes opposite feelings among the voters.
'The BJP is the most progressive force within Hinduism today.'
'Once the violence is contained, the politicians must play their role, but unfortunately that is not happening.'
Far away from the glare of publicity lives Atal Bihari Vajpayee's family -- three sisters, nephews, nieces and their children. A large family proud of its bond with India's leader.
Articulate segments of Muzaffarpur have been at the the forefront of all anti-establishment mobilisation, which makes their silence over the atrocities in a shelter home in the town puzzling. Could it be that if those accused of horrific crimes belong to dominant castes and if the victims belong to the vulnerable groups, then the middle classes become mute, asks Mohammad Sajjad.
The police protection followed protests after a media report claimed she had named her dog after a revered Muslim figure.
'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
'Didi' became the real 'Dada' as she got past the post, on a wheelchair and a foot in cast, a souvenir from the Nandigram battle against former protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari.
'India serves itself poorly with its latter-day discovery of Pakistan as an instrument in domestic politics,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
'Some of his decisions were not so good, but his intentions were always guided by a deep national interest.'
The Mamata Banerjee-led party, which has often been mocked by opponents for not having a well-defined ideological plank, seems to have finally found its calling in Bengali sub-nationalism, as a section of top party leaders feel only an 'inclusive message of regionalism, which the Bengalis can identify with, will counter the aggressive nationalism and Hindutva practised by the saffron camp'.
It is well known that Israel would welcome a diplomatic relationship with Pakistan and feelings of a section of the Pakistani military were likewise.
Former minister Shahnawaz Hussain won in Bhagalpur.
Given Nitish's track record as an accomplished trapeze artist who can dump the BJP overnight and embrace the RJD, he can leave the saffron party stranded should he fail to get the chief ministerial crown for the fourth time, notes Virendra Kapoor.
The 'secularists'are more adept at the politics of intense and alarmingly exaggerated fear-mongering, as this kind of politics provides easy votes of Muslims without making them answerable for the concrete issues of poverty, unemployment, lawlessness, and of basic needs like roads, electricity, etc, which is exactly how Nitish Kumar was defeated in the elections, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'It is precisely because of the apprehensions about Lalu's revival that the upper castes have started re-thinking their electoral preferences. Out of confusion, they are simply deciding to vote for winnable candidates from their respective castes of any of the three parties -- the BJP, JD-U or RJD. This is what has considerably neutralised the NaMo wave in Bihar and resulted in Nitin Gadkari's remark that "Caste is in the DNA of Biharis". This is why Giriraj Singh, the BJP candidate from Nawada, made provocative statements,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The list has been sent to Governor Ram Naik for approval.
On Wednesday, Bengal's own daughter she firmly pitched herself as, was sworn in as the chief minister of the turbulent state for the third successive term amid raging fires of political violence and a rampaging pandemic.
'We can't underestimate future threats.'
Unlike Al Qaeda, ISIS recruiters are proactive and internet savvy. They know there is angst among Muslims about their helplessness even in a vibrant democracy like India, leave alone other parts of the world where Muslims live. So ISIS feeds them a regular diet of the golden age of the Ummah, creating for these youngsters a live yet make-believe world which is completely disconnected from the reality around them, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'The BJP, or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, are celebrating their biggest ideological and philosophical victory in some time,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Given the controversy over Uttar Pradesh's population control moves, Hemant Shivsaran/Rediff.com digs deep to find out how many children BJP MLAs in UP have.
Regarding alliance with the Congress, the Sena's political rival till recently, Raut said leaders of the country's oldest party have contributed to freedom struggle as well as development of Maharashtra.
Bharati Dutt witnessed life-changing events that shaped India on the threshold of freedom. Her memories are an account of how ordinary Indians saw India change.
With Donald Trump unable to make it, Modi settles for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
The party said such a stance from the prime minister was equivalent to condemning the entire community for the crime committed by a few.
The Asom Gana Parishad's fears relating to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill are not misplaced. But does the party still matter in Assam's politics?
'America and Britain want a greater role in sorting out the Kashmir problem which they liken to the Palestine problem,' says Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, former chairman of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference.
'For showing us a shining vision of how even a ceremonial role can be infused with life by a patriot, a scientist and a humble man of the people, representing the best of India's pluralist ethos, we will remember Dr Kalam.'
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