Faceless Ambedkarite groups from across the country are running BSP's election war rooms, writes Archis Mohan.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's task is to live down the hype and address the nitty-gritty, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
A students' march against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Saturday featured issues beyond free speech, with "simmering discontent" against the Narendra Modi government finding expression through colours, posters and poetry.
The counsel claimed that the ground-level situation in these states was worrisome as the cow vigilante groups were resorting to violence there.
In his address, Modi stressed on conserving water and remembered his days as Gujarat chief minister when people did not understood his vision to bring transformation in agriculture sector.
'The frequency of 'vikas' being used in speeches and slogans has reduced noticeably. Why is the 'BJP's Chanakya' so aggressive and combative?' asks Utkarsh Mishra.
'Public dissent is the highest public duty and I will continue to speak out,' says Harsh Mander.
'In a party run by 'two-and-a half men', Kovind fits the bill perfectly because, unlike the BJP's previous choice for the Presidency, A P J Abdul Kalam, he is unlikely to return a bill as Kalam did with the office of profit legislation,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
The BJP is has set its sight on regaining power by winning 150 out of 224 assembly seats.
Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Rajasthan has reported the highest number of cases of atrocities against SCs and STs during 2013-15, followed by poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, a new government report said, even as the Centre on Monday flagged the issue of poor conviction rates in such cases.
BJP-supported students' union, aided by a friendly government, is aggressively settling historical scores with Leftist students' organisations.
'As a student of history, I am no pessimist, but regardless of which party/coalitions comes to power on May 23, the space for secularism, pluralism and minority rights has shrunk significantly,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The protesting students claimed that when they reached Red Fort, police did not allow them to take out the march but they did not budge and said they would make their voices heard.
Claiming that a wave was blowing across the country in favour of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Paswan said, "Secularism aur communalism sirf chunaavi hathkande hain (secularism and communalism are poll ploys)."
Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister only till the time the BJP wishes, points out Ramesh Menon.
'I cannot conceive of any reason than my unsparing criticism of government policies that the government picked me to send a message to many who dare to take it on.'
The home minister asserted that one could not escape by saying that they had been misquoted and needed to ensure that what they were saying was accurate.
"I did not say that," Chandurkar told this correspondent during a brief conversation. "What I said was those supporting communal parties should be stripped of national awards given to them by the government. I respect Lata Mangeshkar."
'It is important that the prime minister and our officials here, we dedicate ourselves to that important goal, the concept of freedom of religion for all to worship their faith,' US Congressman Ed Royce tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com
'Seems more than half of the 'desh' remained untouched by his 'samajik ekta ka andolan',' points out Jyoti Punwani.
'There is a discomfort among many of us at the fact that the Republic is not more Hindu than it could or should be.' 'This discomfort is producing laws such as the one we now have in Gujarat,' says Aakar Patel.
Congress star campaigner and actress Nagma on Wednesday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was not a "minor" at the time of his marriage.
The Bihar government has decided to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Patna high court verdict acquitting 26 men convicted for the 1997 Laxmanpur-Bathe massacre of 58 Dalits by the upper-caste Ranvir Sena in Jehanabad district, Bihar Advocate General Lalit Kishore said on Thursday.
The leaders alleged that those who had no contribution in the freedom struggle wanted to spread fear 'in the name of nationalism', suppress the voice of people and were questioning the legacy of Congress.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on opposition BJP over its "double-standard" attitude towards corruption and attempt to "divide the society on communal lines".
"Anybody fighting for an ideology and appealing to the voice of conscience cannot be a scapegoat. I am a fighter and I will fight and I am sure that many will join me in this fight," she said in response to a question whether she was being made a scapegoat in the presidential election.
'For short-term gain, the BJP makes extraordinary promises, they take extraordinary decisions, but in the long term it is going to impact both them and the country.'
'Sachin Pilot once calculated that with a million Indians flooding the labour market every month, only an additional 12 million jobs annually could keep unemployment at the same level.' 'That's chickenfeed for the functionaries who cram my e-mail inbox every day with such a constant flow of job offers that trying to empty it is like trying to drink dry the horn connected to the ocean in Norse mythology,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'The BJP has taken too much of credit for sweeping urban local elections.' 'It is true in the mayor segment. But in the smaller cities, semi-urban and rural areas, the BJP has done badly and so have the other parties.' 'Nobody can claim they have swept the elections.' 'What Mayawati failed miserably to do in the assembly election, she has managed to gain that in this election.'
Party leaders and workers will try to build up public opinion against the alleged anti-national activities in the central varsity and in support of action against people involved in it.
'The only narrative before India is what Modi and the BJP is presenting.' 'Nationalism has been taken as a serious plank by the BJP and RSS.' 'They want to keep the nationalism thing alive to make people forget the economic reality.'
'Without destroying idol worship, you cannot destroy caste because idol worship keeps religious communities in its religious ideology. The RSS is a big promoter of idol worship.' 'They may have an OBC PM, but neither the RSS or the VHP talk about an OBC becoming a priest. The equation is: Business in Baniya hands. Religion in Brahmin hands. OBC votes for the BJP.'
'The BJP is not the party it was 10 years ago. It has changed. It is emerging like the Congress.' 'Sometimes, I feel the BJP has taken the Congress' space.' 'Its politics is also resembling the Congress.'
By conventional yardsticks, Das was an audacious choice by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP president Amit Shah, like Devendra Fadnavis was in Maharashtra and Manohar Lal Khattar in Haryana. Will his choice pay off in the elections next month?
An SIT officer probing the murder case said the investigation is in final stage and a chargesheet will be filed in two months.
'The top level will be development and then sab ka saath, sab ka vikas.' 'But at the street level, the tongue will be vicious.'
'Similarly, he is against Dalits forgetting that the only way to get rid of poverty is to empower poor people.'
Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are over. Another set of state elections is due in 2018. Here's an assessment of the next round of the electoral challenge and how it could change India's political equations.
She accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being 'anti-Dalit' and recalled the Una incident and the death of Dalit scholar Rohit Vemula to back her assertion.
Rahul Gandhi also predicts a NDA collapse 'not seen in many years'
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