The prime minister's insistence that his voice cannot be suppressed left me both puzzled and amused. He has at his call, the government's official news dissemination/publicity channels, the pliant newspapers and television channels that were eager to prostrate themselves before a powerful government and yet, the dominant voice thinks it is in competition with other voices! exclaims Shyam G Menon.
'Modi's advent has made the mass of Indians realise that there was absolutely nothing wrong or objectionable in proclaiming nationalism as the masthead of the polity and Hinduism as its centerpiece,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
How many times has NaMo attended a movie star's wedding reception?
Prime Minister Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attended CCS meeting.
'I don't think there will be any problem for Hindus to accept Adityanath as the leader, since they have already chosen Modi.'
What some of our leaders were up to on Friday, November 11.
Is Amit Anilchandra Shah being clearly projected as Narendra Damodardas Modi's future successor and not anyone else (cough, cough) with similar ambitions?
A handsome victory for the BJP in UP would act as confirmation of its recent political choices. The UP chief minister would be cemented in the popular mind as Mr Modi's chosen heir within the Hindutva fold, and presumably as his successor in New Delhi, observes Mihir S Sharma.
'My protest was in the interest of the nation.' 'I am just doing my duty as a citizen of this country.'
'For Modi, it's not just winning, but winning with style.'
The BJP's top leadership will drop its MPs found to be facing anti-incumbency, according to its internal surveys -- a pivotal tactic to ensure the party achieves its target of winning 370 seats.
Here's how Ahmedabad is decked up to welcome Mr and Mrs Trump.
September 2, 2022 was a historic day in the Indian Navy's history as Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi commissioned India's first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant at the Cochin Shipyard in Kochi.
Dominc Xavier wonders if this latest Modi pitch is in tune with strongmen trends around the world, setting the course for a presidential-style poll during the Lok Sabha election.
India requested Pakistan to let Modi's aircraft fly over its airspace to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.
The BJP's rediscovery of its allies, including the PM touching the feet of Parakash Singh Badal, would be interpreted as the party's efforts to keep its flock together if it falls short of the majority mark on May 23.
'The oddest thing about this general election campaign so far is that one might think that the BJP was fighting with its back to the wall, rather than as the favourite to win.' 'Perhaps there is something they know that we don't,' says Mihir S Sharma.
'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.
This past week, His Holiness has been in Leh, the capital of Ladakh, the Union Territory where Indian and Chinese soldiers have been in a standoff for two years, since April 2020.
'If Rajpath was a symbol of slavery, how is the Central Vista not a symbol of slavery?'
'For the first time, all major countries are discovering India's indispensability to their own foreign policy interests.'
A memorandum submitted by the journalists accused India's minister of state for home -- no less! -- of scuffling with them and snatching a reporter's mobile phone.
'Rama is Lord God of maryada. Today's maryada is the Constitution.'
Dominic Xavier wonders what will happen to the poorest who have been ravaged by the strict lockdown imposed by the Narendra Modi govt in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and the unemployment rates spiralling out of control every passing month.
'It is inevitable when he pleases those who share his Hindutva ideology that at the same time he can alienate those who do not feel he speaks for them.'
IIn the first of a year-end series of observations on 2020, Dominic Xavier is still shocked by the nightmare that the lockdown wrought on India.
The prime minister has been unstoppable as he transported the BJP to colossal success on a wave of muscular nationalism, majoritarian pride and charisma.
Will January 22 mark a point of no return for our Constitutional secularism? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'There is so much for the country that we have to achieve.' 'Be it Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, or economic targets or many other pledges like this, we have to achieve them during this period.'
'If he loses Gujarat, then he has a major, major, problem coming up in 2024.'
'An important dimension that shone through was the enormous pride in India, a general belief that as Indians we are starting to count globally and we are at the forefront of the world.'
At a time when the BJP's stars are at the top on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, the Puri-Joshimath Sankaracharyas may have kick-started a row whose efforts might be to divide Hindus, not in the name of castes, but on what passes for greater belief, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said the country has to decide if the sweetness of sugarcane will grow or the followers of Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah will cause mischief in the state, in a veiled attack on the Samajwadi Party (SP).
A faltering economy may have led to a re-think on economic strategy. And Mr Modi might think he is politically strong enough to take some risks. But there could be a minefield ahead, observes T N Ninan.
Film folk, politicians and sports personalities joined hundreds of fans as they paid their last respects to Lata Mangeshkar.
'The BJP is saying we have Modi, who have you got?' 'We have the people of India on our side.'
'Bharat is the core value that has to be lived by and if you deny it, then the people will discard you.'
Lara celebrates Saira's birthday... Rajkummar begins a new project... Ashutosh meets Modi...
Uttam Ghosh offer his take on the Pragya Thakur controversy.
