'A President who is a living embodiment of high principles can tone up the entire national fabric,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Narendra Modi stoked a controversy yet again on a polling day by releasing a video message seeking votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which an angry Congress decried as a violation of the electoral law and demanded that the Election Commission take action against him.
For firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yogi Adityanath, Hindutva and development complement each other and the sitting MP from Gorakhpur is harping on this ideology of political Hinduism, which he says is a "symbol of our nationalism", as he eyes a fifth straight term.
The BJP has been pushing the two AIADMK groups to merge and then get the Sasikala clan out of the party and government.
Assembly elections in Bihar, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is set for a battle against a united Janata Parivar, are likely to be held sometime in September-October when extensive central forces and a reworked expenditure monitoring system will be deployed to curb money and muscle power.
India suggested that Pakistan should refrain from using the Right of Reply and instead "use the right of introspection" to think about the direction in which the country is moving.
Congress sitting MP Sanjay Nirupam is facing a tough contest from Bharatiya Janata Party Gopal Shetty in the North Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to polls on April 24.
'George was a politician with a difference. He had the ability to stand alone, take a position, however extreme, and sustain that position,' remembers Arun Jaitley.
The two were convicted on July 6 in the Avenfield properties case linked to the Sharif family's ownership of four luxury flats in London.
'Somewhere along the way, elected office-bearers appeared to have lost sight of the interest of cricket and begun to pursue their own interpretation of what the game should be.' 'Families made it a tradition to have their representatives occupy, if not usurp, positions in state associations,' points out Vinod Rai, who will step down as head of the BCCI's Committee of Administrators on Wednesday, October 23.
Coming as it does only months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Chennai meet could provide the launch pad for a national alternative to the BJP-NDA, and MK Stalin may be given the credit for getting it going, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
United States Congressman's father is convicted of making illegal donations to his son's campaign coffers.
Thousands of angry supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, chanting slogans like "down with military rule", today took to the streets after Friday prayers demanding his reinstatement, as soldiers opened fire to chase them away, killing at least three people.
'The Thai junta, who immediately took control of the operations in a military manner, took the decision to involve the best world professionals for the rescue.' 'This made a huge difference.' 'It is highly probable that in India, the authorities would have said, "We have the expertise, we don't need foreign aid",' says Claude Arpi.
Why are far right Hindu organisations growing in strength? Why is there a rising subscription to Neo-Wahabism, the Saudi Arabian version of contemporary Islam?
Inscrutable have been the ways of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. She is a political strategist and tactician rolled into one that her unpredictable ways have won the day for her - mostly, says N Sathiya Moorthy
Nitish Kumar has failed to curb communal forces and hoodlums across communities. And that is ominous for Bihar's present and future, warns Mohammad Sajjad.
Over 20 political parties, except the Biju Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front, took part in the massive rally.
'In being dismissive of Naveen, his colleagues showed incredible naivety.' 'On the few occasions that he put his foot down, the overconfident party leaders, who believed they were using him and not the other way around, failed to read the signs of what was to come.'
The prime minister has followed a dual strategy. He is invoking Gandhi to project himself as a statesman and yet, because he is essentially a politician, he has to take the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh along as well
The Sangh's leadership has boxed itself into a tight situation. It now needs to wait and see if Modi can deliver in the Lok Sabha polls, says Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
In writing to the government for a change in the law, the Election Commission has actually acknowledged the future possibility of countermanding polls to curb the use of money power, says N Sathiyamoorthy.
Political observers say that except for a strong anti-incumbency sentiment, there is little that might go against the BJP.
R-Day is a different sort of exercise for the defence forces and the security establishment. At one level it is an enormous tamasha, at another, it is a nightmare.
Kashmir's youth are being radicalised. The once-alienated separatists are ready to return to their old haunting ground. The ruling PDP-BJP coalition finds itself on the defensive over almost every issue of governance.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed wanted a government with the PDP (representing Kashmir), the BJP (representing Jammu) and the Congress (representing Ladakh), but he failed because the BJp and Congress were unwilling to make any exception to their national level inimical relationship, reveals Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
While all poll surveys point to an overwhelming anti-Congress mood in the country, there is a growing consensus in the grand old party that it has no reasons to be defensive and should instead run an aggressive campaign against Bharatiya Janata Party' prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi by questioning his administrative acumen and underlining the corporate support he enjoys, says Anita Katyal
Trump's diatribe against India in his speech on the Paris Agreement is hard to explain, especially when a Modi-Trump meeting is supposedly on the cards, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Don't forget the BJP in the last election almost doubled its vote.' 'Even if they were not traditional BJP supporters, they were convinced about Mr Modi.' 'If the voter perceives that Mr Modi has performed well and he reinforces it, they will vote for him.' 'Otherwise, they won't.'
Many in the Congress feel that holding meetings at the block, district and state levels would reveal the real reasons for the Congress's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal reports
Partyless democracy is an idea whose time has come, says Sandeep Pandey
It is the voter who has corrupted politics, not the politician, says Aakar Patel.
A possible, easier and less-complicated way for the Centre would have been to approach the SC with the same queries much earlier, before a ground-swell of popular sentiments and consequent political tensions had built up in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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!
'There are many cases where a company hits the wall because of reasons not under their control.' 'If you do not understand and appreciate that and paint all promoters with the same brush then definitely you are inviting trouble.'
'Most Hindus believe in living in peace with their Muslim neighbours and vice versa.' 'It is this India we have to preserve.'
With Donald Trump the appeal has to be to his business instincts in which his personal interests seem to play a significant role, says former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal.
What used to be confined to homes as a winter garment has become a political and cultural symbol, with most leaders and many citizens donning the long cloak at offices and their places of work, observes Athar Parvaiz.
'Who would want to be the man nominally in charge of driving the economy when your boss orders you to swerve it into a ditch of unknown depth?'
'Demonetisation demonstrates that this government is simply too amateurish in terms of economic policy-making to properly address India's deep, deep problems,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
Pakistan faces a challenge largely of its own creation and only political processes can correct it, argues Raza Rumi.
