'Modi's power rests on the Hindu vote.' 'It is this vote bank that sees the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala as an intrusion into its religious practice and is frothing at the mouth.' 'History shows us the ill-fated consequences of a strong government buckling before street power,' cautions Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The Congress on Monday hit out at Narendra Modi and his close aide Amit Shah for carrying out a "communal campaign" and demanded action by the Election Commission against Shah for his controversial remark that Azamgarh in UP was a "base of terrorists".
'In economic matters governments should not take sides based on religion and caste,' says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'This time, even the professedly secular parties have maintained a conscious distance from being identified with Muslims.' 'This could be interpreted as a success of the BJP campaign of what it has been calling 'minority appeasement', says Mohammad Sajjad.
Top Opposition leaders, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday lashed out at the Narendra Modi government for "doing nothing other than 'show-baazi'" by slashing allocations to all major social security schemes like MGNREGA.
'Hinduism is the mother of all religions; communal hatred should not be spread in its name.'
Will Malik's worldview, shaped by his years with the socialists, Charan Singh, the Congress and V P Singh, help him govern the troubled state? Or would his rule have the imprint of the party he joined in the latter years of his chequered political career?
While the Congress is not willing to campaign in Muslim areas, the BJP encourages Muslims to attend its public meetings, reports Archis Mohan.
So many films have been made with Muslim characters. But how many have actually got them right?
'I am more worried about the BJP as I see lot of marginalisation of top leaders in the BJP.' 'I am really worried about the terminal decline of the Congress. And the greatest tragedy is that there are so many good people in the Congress.' 'It will take a couple of years, but this is the most appropriate time for a new political party and leadership to emerge.'
Hours before Narendra Modi's scheduled rally in Bahraich, the district administration gave a conditional permission to the Bharatiya Janata Party to hold the meet on Friday.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Bannerjee on Friday rubbished allegations of understanding between her and Bharatiya Janata Party, stating that she attended the IISCO programme along with Prime Minister Modi as it was related to the state's development.
'There was the indisputable fact that Savarkar knew Godse, Apte and Karkare well, he had corresponded with them closely, and funded their extremely provocative newspaper, and they looked up to him as their icon.'
Gandhi accused BJP of re-inaugurating projects launched by the UPA dispensation.
Javadekar, along with Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan, is among the few ministers who have party as well as ministerial responsibilities.
On the occasion of Gandhiji's birthday, Rediff.com presents an excerpt from the book that shows how Gandhi changed the face of cricket as it was played then.
'Public dissent is the highest public duty and I will continue to speak out,' says Harsh Mander.
'This is a political case and police is being used here right from the day one.'
'Once the common man realises that living in harmony, respecting, loving and protecting each other is the real meaning of secularism, and treating everyone equally to safeguard our Constitution and motherland is patriotism, there will be no opportunity for communalism.'
'...that it takes fantasy seriously as a part of real life'... A fascinating excerpt from Jonathan Gil Harris's book, Masala Shakespeare: How A Firangi Writer Became Indian.
'It is possible that in his perambulations from the company of Baba Ramdev to that of Anna Hazare and finally to the BJP, he hasn't had time to refurbish his memory of what he may have read earlier,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Kulkarni said that he has accepted Kasuri's invitation to join the launch of his book 'Neither a Hawk nor a Dove' in Karachi on November 2.
Traffic is muddled and lacklustre in its set-up, feels Sukanya Verma.
'Offensive operations to capture objectives across the LoC to eliminate terrorist launch pads and deny the use of the most dangerous routes of infiltration, are likely to be limited to brigade-level attacks.' 'These limited operations are unlikely to escalate to war across the international boundary,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The issue of conversion of some Muslims in Agra rocked the Lok Sabha for the second day on Thursday with opposition members creating uproar and demanding immediate discussion on the matter, which they said could have grave consequences like causing riots.
'The Hindu quest for political power in terms of a Hindu identity can pose a problem for tolerance, as the alignment of religion with power often does.'
'Will this communal pendulum, which is swinging towards the extreme of division and violence, ever swing back to its position of the '60s and '70s within my lifetime?' 'Or will my children, and their children, have to continue to suffer the consequences of the country, that we all love, torn apart along communal lines,' asks Najid Hussain in anguish.
'Muslims in India have been suffering in many ways. Yet, they are proud Indians and love India as much as any other Indian community.'
The Jammu and Kashmir high court has directed the Centre and Chief Election Commissioner to act against politicians who seek people's mandate in elections by invoking religious nationalism, to prevent them from subverting the Constitution of the country.
'I assume Ramachandra Guha's neglect of this aspect of Gandhi grows out of the belief that Gandhi's life had no central text,' says Rudrangshu Mukherjee, professor of history, Ashoka University.
'They are saying my petition is an attack on Hindu religion.' 'You pray in your home, there is no problem, but the school is a public institution run by government funds.'
Speaking of the religious freedom and safety they feel in India, Rabbi Romiel Daniel, part of the Indian Jewish Congregation of USA, tells George Joseph/Rediff.com that members of his community hope for better relations between India and Israel.
Hrithik as Krrish or Anil Kapoor as Mr India? Take your pick!
In the absence of a conducive environment, India should not show any "hurry" to hold talks with Pakistan when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits New York later this month, BJP president Rajnath Singh said.
'There is an observable difference between Nepalis and Lankans and the rest of us.' 'It would serve us well to understand where this difference comes from and, if it is something that is better in some way, how it is that we can access it,' says Aakar Patel.
'We will have a big say in Delhi in 2018 or 2019 (whenever the elections are) in the Lok Sabha.'
'Extravagant new promises can buy him time, but far from solving the problem, they compound the risk.' 'His main alternative is to stress not aspirations, but resentments.' 'He has already de-emphasised aspirational appeals: Nothing has been heard for over two years of the coming of achhe din,' points out James Manor.
'Across the country -- in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Manipur, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal -- men were lynched on suspicion of being thieves by ordinary people armed with rods and sticks.' 'But none of these lynchings made big news.' 'None of these lynchings were cow/beef-related.' 'The perpetrators were unknown people, not so-called gau rakshaks.' 'So why were these instances of mob violence considered less newsworthy than cow-related lynchings?' asks Jyoti Punwani.
Between its sentimental leanings and farcical outbursts, the superficial sermonising of Dharam Sankat Mein remains just that -- superficial, says Sukanya Verma.
The BJP, on the other hand, learnt from past mistakes to clinch power.
