'This is leading to anarchy.'
Travelling from South India to Kashmir in December was magical for Ganesh Nadar as he feasted his eyes on the beauty of the snow-capped Himalayas.
'There are 7,000 guns which are in the hands of the armed militia of the Kuki and Meitei communities.'
'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.'
'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.'
Director Rajkumar Santoshi has had a hit after a long time. He discusses what the success of Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani means to him with Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'The people of India have shown immense faith in the Tata group as they have never broken the trust of Indians.'
'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.'
'In the case of a road accident, prevention is the only answer.' 'There's no cure to death or disability when the accident happens, and when it's due to reckless or negligent driving, it's worse because it's avoidable.'
'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.'
'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).'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com comes across a Ganesh temple in Kashmir's summer capital that remains a well kept secret.
'Government cannot pick and choose as to against whom they want to take action and against whom they do not want to take action.'
His cinema of compassion inspired me, gave me tools to develop empathy for others. But it also made me understand that serious, socially committed cinema with deeply engaging narratives and great performances is an art form to admire, appreciate and explore. Aseem Chhabra remembers Shyam Benegal, who passed into the ages on Monday evening.
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.
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.
'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.'
'We accept EVMs cannot be hacked because it is not connected, but can they be manipulated?' 'Are you allowing us to check if EVMs can be manipulated?'
'I love to meet people.' 'I love that personal connect when they express their genuine, heartfelt feelings.'
Among the many reasons to watch Murder In Mahim is that it may be a chance to wipe out -- if it is achievable by a Web series -- the air of judgment towards those who do not conform to the majority's idea of normal, asserts Deepa Gahlot.
'Ladakh has become a hollow UT.' 'Bureaucrats from Delhi rule Ladakh and there is no attention paid to the grievances of the people.'
Tral, the former hotbed of terrorism, rocks to the music of democracy.
'The Abdullah family is the problem and facilitator of the instability that we are seeing in Kashmir.'
'I want to ask the Congress only one question: What is more important than election management in politics?'
'Article 370 is now dug 70 feet deep in the ground. It cannot come out.'
'The whole Kashmiri population is seemed to be a suspect community. This status is not good.'
'There is some deep rot that has set in the Congress party. This requires an organisational surgery.'
'Congress leaders are ready to lose the election and not form the government, but are never ready to share seats with others.'
'...or go to jail.' 'The government is getting them silenced.'
'If the country felt very strongly about the BJP, then why did the country not put money where the mouth is?'
'Who are Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti to issue certificates?'
'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.
'Ranbir Kapoor has only one film as does Salman Khan.' 'Hrithik Roshan only has War 2.' 'Ranveer Singh has no film on floors today.'
'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
'I went to jail and met my father to convince him to join politics and believe in the Constitution.'
Shaheed Maqbool Sherwani changed the course of Indian history forever, but himself lies forgotten in the town he saved.
'Every Haryana assembly seat has its own unique problems to earn victory for a political party and you as a politician need to know what are those issues and tackle it.'
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 wave of terrorism is over in Kashmir. Local people do not support it.'
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.
