'In Sanju, Rajkumar Hirani has essentially found a Rajkumar Hirani story buried inside Sanjay Dutt's life.' 'Now if you think that's scary, sample the alternative: Perhaps Sanjay Dutt had been living his life to suit the narrative of a Rajkumar Hirani film,' says Sreehari Nair.
In his characteristic 56-inch chest kind of bravado, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and his nephew and former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in their family stronghold of Western Maharashtra's Baramati. The family has never lost an election ever since senior Pawar began his political career. Reportage: Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com. Photographs: Sanjay Sawant/Rediff.com
Often when I meet a new Indian friend, who is not aware of my background, he exclaims: "So many years in India! but why, why? I can't understand! My dream is to go to the States or Europe and you are living in 'this' country!" Claude Arpi, who was born a Frenchman, looks back on his 40 years in India.
Following is the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 73rd Independence Day.
Accusing the Congress of playing vote bank politics, Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday attacked Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde over his proposal to state governments to review terror cases against members of the minority community.
Only on Wednesday, in his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Modi said he wants to resolve the Kashmir issue through Vajpayee's doctrine of "Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat" - a testimony to the former PM's lasting legacy.
'A plausible American tactic,' Rajeev Srinivasan suspects, 'would be to try and prevent the BJP and Modi from coming to power by splitting the anti-Congress vote using the AAP, and in case that fails, to follow up with a Plan B to make India ungovernable, to create mass conflict through their agents.'
Manipur needs an integrated politico, military, socio-economic approach, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
'Mumbai stands tall yet again.' Bollywood raves about the city's resilience.
Rahul Gandhi slammed the Modi government, accusing it of being against farmers, labourers, students and the poor.
'We are going to see relatively soon an executive order that deals with H-1B and other temporary visas.' 'We are also going to see an executive order on undocumented people.' 'Undocumented Indians comprise the largest population growth of all undocumented people in this country.' 'Just because India is not named in this executive order doesn't mean it won't be in the future.'
'People are more interested in India now than ever before.'
'People will realise sooner or later that there are no jobs, inflation is unchecked and loads of corruption charges are coming from various states which the government is totally brazen about.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invoked Atal Bihari Vajpayee's concepts of communal harmony, humanity and democracy to share the pain of Kashmiris and promised to take the state to new heights of development.
He pointed out that such a restriction is not prevalent in many Islamic countries.
The President talked about demonetisation, electoral reforms and disruptions in Parliament.
M K Stalin might not have his father's charisma, but he has learnt the ropes the long, hard way, says T E Narasimhan
While the government has the option of ensuring the passage of these Bills as money Bills, there are voices within the government advising discretion on the GST roll-out by April 1.
The 2 countries signed 15 agreements including one on defence cooperation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held 'productive discussions' with President Joko Widodo.
'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.'
'It is just that we have our standards so low that anybody looks good now.' 'His sort of extremely terminological exactitude is a serious problem. He doesn't seem to understand the difference between exclusive economic zones, territorial waters...' 'I am expecting a lot of confusion because of this... Unless Parrikar starts going into the depth of the problems, he is only going to compound the problem rather than resolve it.'
'Sasikala definitely has an emotional advantage over the others, but there are very seasoned politicians with a strong support base.' 'For the time being, they may toe her line.'
Do Modi's foreign visits actually serve India or they nothing more than expensive tools for domestic positioning and image-building, asks Shehzad Poonawalla.
Under threat from the Maoists, and jailed by the police, AAP's Soni Sori plunges into the election for all she holds dear. Aman Sethi reports
'There could be some aberrations here and there. This has nothing to do with the government or the ruling party. The government machinery is put in action when atrocities take place. They are not sitting silent.' 'Beyond making sensational news, what purpose does returning the awards serve?'
Now that the Aam Aadmi Party has uploaded 'evidences' in the form of videos, it has sought to democratise the legal process as now the public can also judge. Do we find this method acceptable? Are you free to enact a trial online or publicly, placing, propagating, popularising 'evidence' to prove your point? We know that this 'evidence' may not stand in a court of law. But that does not worry the moral brigade known as the AAP, argues Apoorvanand.
'The government that is talking all the time about national security and national interests should be concerned.' 'When national interests are jeopardised by their own project, they should pause and listen.' 'Whether it is the BJP or the Congress, they all want control over the people.' 'They don't give a damn if anything happens to the people of the country; they are only interested in what they can get out of the data.'
An insecure political class, with little knowledge of the military, has unquestioningly internalised the fear that a powerful tri-service chief would threaten democracy, says Ajai Shukla.
'I'm a big fan of Hindu and a big fan of India -- big, big fan.'
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The Politburo Standing Committee -- the most powerful body in China -- is unveiled, but in a break from Communist party convention, no successor to Xi Jinping is named.
'One of his most famous scenes is set in a prison in Delhi where the British try to subvert Karla, the legendary Soviet spy who is being transferred back to Moscow and is being temporarily detained by the Indian agencies.' Ambassador B S Prakash salutes John le Carre.
The decision of the Union Cabinet based on the Group of Ministers recommendations only creates an illusion by removing the political executive and creating a proxy institution instead, says Arun Jaitley
The decision of the Union Cabinet based on the Group of Ministers recommendations only creates an illusion by removing the political executive and creating a proxy institution instead, says Arun Jaitley
'That is what Gauri was, in her essence -- the principle of free, open, forthright words, made flesh.' 'And that is what was gunned down -- her words, and with them our freedom to fashion our own opinions, to frame our own thoughts, to articulate them without fear of reprisal.'
'This is a Frankenstein's monster that will engulf us all in its rage and greed.' 'This fake news/WhatsApp forwards industry -- and especially, the use of it in politics -- is one of the biggest threats to our world today,' warns Amit Mehra.
'If enough of us take up the issue with their elected representatives, politicians will get the message.'
Women of India need freedom, not halfhearted attempts at reform, says Vedika Kumar
Milind Deora, minister of state for communication and information technology and shipping, is one of the Congress' young guns under Rahul Gandhi. He tells Kavita Chowdhury that the core problem for the United Progressive Alliance in its second term has been its inability to communicate effectively. Edited excerpts:
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances