'Like 2014, 2017 was also Modi's election.' 'Every voter you met, apart from those who are BJP cadres, everybody said they would vote for Modi, not the BJP.' 'The one and only factor is the Modi juggernaut. He is the one who turned the tide.' 'The wave which he created in 2014, and to maintain it for three years, is a huge task in itself.'
'The year in pictures' treks across the globe, looking back on the moments that shaped 2016. From the United States presidential race, to demonetisation in India to the refugee crisis, the news has kept pouring in. Here are our top 50 moments from the world.
Kabali has nothing new to say or offer, besides Rajinikanth playing his age, feels Raja Sen.
'That is not a democratic ideal obviously, but it is a practical reality.' 'It is a consistent feature of politicians in Pakistan that their rhetoric on the army softens the closer they get to the seat of power.'
'The clearest interpretation of the November 8 mandate is that the backwards, Dalits and minorities, and a huge proportion of women cutting across caste and class, displayed massive consolidation to the extent that despite chipping of votes by the Left Front, by the Third Front and by the BSP, Mahagathbandhan candidates won, and in many cases by huge margins,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Sterling was last at $1.4450, having carved out a massive range of $1.4000 to $1.5022.
'Our target is to award Rs 25 lakh crore worth of projects that would result in creating 25 million jobs'
Once these banks start showing losses, they will not be able to pay dividends to the government nor pay taxes, which will further aggravate the situation for the government as its return on investment as an investor would be very negligible for the next few years, says M V Subramanian.
'In one mansion we visited, I was told the doors in the back courtyard had to be kept closed because to have the front and back doors open at the same time would result in Chettiar wealth flowing away,' notes Rahul Jacob after a memorable visit to Karaikudi.
This is the safest Nano Tata has ever put into production.
Brijmohan Lall Munjal was a perfectionist, who empathised with people who worked for him.
At a time when the BJP is facing a perception battle, is Sambit Patra, its national spokesperson, helping the party's image?
Floyd Mayweather Jr. cemented his place among the pantheon of boxing greats by improving to 48-0 with a unanimous decision over Manny Pacquiao on Saturday in a fight that lived up to its immense hype and price tag.
Begin with ITC. Larsen & Toubro, yes. ICICI and HDFC, yes again.
My sense is that we are in a situation similar to 2011-13, notes Debashis Basu.
The Z3 promises a lot in terms of entertainment and performance. Let's see if it does justice to the previous two Xperia flagships.
'And Tina, that girl inside that woman, wants to try different things.'
'Kejriwal has taken a leaf out of Modi's campaign of 2014 and improved upon it.' 'That suit will haunt Modi till he exits politics.' 'Of all the factors that favoured Kejriwal, the biggest was the arrogance and over-confidence of the Modi-Shah led BJP.' 'What the Congress could not do in the last two decades in Gujarat, Kejriwal did it in no time in Delhi.' 'The BJP has behaved exactly like the Congress in decoding Kejriwal's politics.'
What will be the impact on the Euro itself? Will it devalue and to what extent?
The call to make brand ambassadors accountable has rattled filmstars and sports stars.
After the wedding, Sheena and Mekhail did not meet again. Four or five months later she met her death. Mekhail referred to their last meeting without overt emotion, clear-eyed.
'Khadi is my passion. The only idea behind this start up is to promote and popularise khadi.'
Buying on the internet is the future but be wary of the fine print and make sure you get a genuine product.
The 10-year UPA rule came under sharp attack in the BJP's National Council meeting in on Saturday, which unveiled the new government's future plans and policy prescription in domestic and foreign affairs arena in a political resolution, which hailed the "strong and able" leadership of Narendra Modi.
'There were no singers like Lata, Kishore, Rafi or Mukesh. And until now, there is nobody. Nobody with that kind of voice, nobody with that kind of brain to learn. Not only to learn, but to improvise. We improvised music, we improvised the songs. Nowadays, they just listen and copy.'
Celebrating 50 years of a timeless Hollywood classic.
Barack Obama will still be in the Oval Office till the morning of January 20, but gosh, we are already beginning to miss him.
There is something about Anurag Kashyap that puts the cinema watchdogs on alert, says Veenu Sandhu.
The attempts to unearth the document started getting more and more frantic. The clerks began to flip pages of files full of documents, some hand written, some bearing thick seals or multiple stamps, some in Hindi, some in Marathi. Several junior lawyers joined in, perusing different files and dockets. But in spite of the best of efforts the document was not to be found.
Charles Darwin found his passion playing with rocks halfway around the world.
Indrani, radiant in an immaculate white and gold salwar-kurta that matched the moment, her hair open, a bindi gleaming on her forehead, beamed placidly, fully enjoying this small minute of victory.
Honda's Mobilio is a multi-purpose vehicle that, while being functional, oozes style.
The new ordinance on land acquisition will allow land grabbers to deprive millions, destroy agriculture, horticulture, rivers, forests, tree cover and mangroves to extract minerals as well as ground water, without replenishment at a pace that will not leave anything for the next generation, warns activist Medha Patkar.
Ranjita Ganesan and Nikita Puri chronicle the journey of Abhishek Poddar, one of India's leading art patrons.
With Uber dipping into its generous war chest to subsidise its service, its pampered clientele should sit back and enjoy the ride.
Indrani is clearly in charge in her little corner. She is speaking rapidly to a not-very-tall, pot-bellied, balding man, whom she repeatedly, decisively, asks, "Have you understood?" The tone is that of a boss talking to an employee. The words "cheque" and "two lakhs" float by.
'The partnership of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi has made their biggest mistake. They have been very successful for their party in the last two years, but this batting pair has made the biggest political mistake of their life so far, which is calling Kejriwal a chor. It will backfire on them.'
Parliament on Wednesday saw a washout as the Opposition aggressively pressed for ouster of Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, rejecting the government's offer for a debate.
'Modi has entered blunderland as he does not understand the army. He has actually meddled with the army, which is much more damaging than the ignorance of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.' 'People had an impression that the BJP was different. Now it has been made very, very, plain that it is not.' 'Look at the contrast in the behaviour of the prime minister. When they burnt buses in Gujarat for an unjust demand, the prime minister addressed them in Gujarati while the army veterans were on relay hunger strike for the 74th day on that day, but no word on this from the PM.'
'Will 'Make in India' be able to harness the demographic dividend so it does not become a disaster?' 'Will 'Digital India' live up to the lofty promises the government and private sector made as part of its recent launch?'