'Delhi's streets were not alleys but an artist's canvas,' the eminent poet Mir Taqi Mir noted more than 150 years ago. Syed Firdaus Ashraf savours the sights and cuisine of the national capital.
'Journalists must ask the Mumbai police why are they sending notices via X to cartoonists.' 'The Mumbai police must come clean. Who is giving them such orders?'
'When voting clause by clause on Waqf came up in the JPC, the TDP and JD-U supported the BJP on each and every clause.'
'What is the harm in having more polling booths?'
'They contest to ensure they win the election.'
Shaheed Maqbool Sherwani changed the course of Indian history forever, but himself lies forgotten in the town he saved.
It's a different Srinagar from what Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf encountered 24 years ago. Tourists throng the Kashmir Valley post-Article 370, azaadi appears dead, and everyone says one man is responsible for this change, so what if his poster is nowhere to be seen.
The nomination papers of 35 candidates including that of jailed separatist Sarjan Barkati were on Wednesday rejected during scrutiny for the first phase of assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, leaving 244 contestants in the fray.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com does a deep dive into four elections when Narendra Modi resorted to anti-Muslim fervour and points out that Hindu-Muslim politics does not necessarily mean victory for the BJP.
'The people of India have shown immense faith in the Tata group as they have never broken the trust of Indians.'
'This is leading to anarchy.'
'Till the BJP does not understand Kejriwal they cannot win Delhi.'
'The Congress cannot speak the BJP's words while targeting Kejriwal.' 'What is the difference between the two? Where is the unity of INDIA then?'
'The intellectual A G Noorani and A G Noorani the family man sound like a contradiction in terms, but both aspects were integral parts of the individual.'
'Maharashtra is virtually in a debt trap.'
'This was a decision taken and executed by Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman. Both were convinced that the assassination would not be linked to them.'
'Omar Abdullah presented Delhi as a villain in front of the people of Jammu Kashmir before elections and now is shaking hands with them.'
'When I see people's faces I can see that there is a certain sadness in their eyes which makes me unhappy as a person.' 'I want to see people happy in their lives.'
'There are 7,000 guns which are in the hands of the armed militia of the Kuki and Meitei communities.'
In 2022 Nanaji Dembi pulled down the Hurriyat office board in Srinagar, an act of defiance that grabbed headlines. Despite such nationalistic bravado, the BJP has denied him a ticket for the assembly election.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com comes across a Ganesh temple in Kashmir's summer capital that remains a well kept secret.
'That was my mistake.' 'Gautam Adani was not involved in forming the Maharashtra government.' 'Adani was not there in the meeting.' 'The meeting was at his guest house and we were sitting in his guest house.'
'The government does not want to be transparent or accountable. Therefore, they do not want to appoint information commissioners.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com tried to buy a house on his recent visit to Srinagar.
'Politicians can do symbolism by changing the names of places and museums.' 'Judges need not be seen to be craving for approval from the public.'
Dominic Xavier wonders whether Rhea is being made a scapegoat in a case which has clear political overtones.
'Government cannot pick and choose as to against whom they want to take action and against whom they do not want to take action.'
'Ranbir Kapoor has only one film as does Salman Khan.' 'Hrithik Roshan only has War 2.' 'Ranveer Singh has no film on floors today.'
Tral, the former hotbed of terrorism, rocks to the music of democracy.
'Party workers sit outside polling booths and they know everything that is happening.' 'Besides, as a voter when you push the EVM button to vote there is a paper slip that comes out showing you who you voted for.'
'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
'I want to die with my finger on the click button of the camera,' veteran photographer Pradeep Bandekar, who passed into ages early on Sunday morning, told Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'Ladakh has become a hollow UT.' 'Bureaucrats from Delhi rule Ladakh and there is no attention paid to the grievances of the people.'
'The Abdullah family is the problem and facilitator of the instability that we are seeing in Kashmir.'
'The reason I am not anxious about the opponent facing me in the front (Ajit Pawar) is because of who is standing behind me like a rock (Sharad Pawar).'
'Article 370 is now dug 70 feet deep in the ground. It cannot come out.'
'When Sikhs were killed in the Afghan-Sikh war in 1837, the Afridis used to bury their heads like flowerpots in the ground,' writer and popular historian William Dalrymple tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'When Sikhs were killed in the Afghan-Sikh war in 1837, the Afridis used to bury their heads like flowerpots in the ground,' writer-historian William Dalrymple, whose latest book Return of a King is a historical work based on the First Afghan War, tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'The BJP claims they have eight lakh cadres in the Kashmir Valley so why can't they contest elections from Kashmir?'
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