The 71-year-old remained Sonia Gandhi's most trusted lieutenant for most of her tenure as the longest serving Congress president, standing by her side through sun and shade.
'Three decades after liberalisation kicked off, my friend's son and niece -- both born well after that historic shift in economic policy -- find themselves newly off the beaten path for no fault than listening to their heart,' notes Shyam G Menon.
'Why did they attack us? What was our fault?' 'They killed a woman. They burnt down vehicles.' 'They pelted stones at us over a 45 km stretch. There was no police bandobast.'
'We have learnt lessons from Mamata Banerjee who overcame the BJP's canard by reciting Chandi Path and playing up her Brahmin origins in her campaign. We need to adopt strategies like asking Muslims to lie low and distributing tickets prudently so that we are not accused of favouring one community.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
'The Dalits have always asserted themselves, but there has never been any gain for Dalits.' 'But now the most significant thing that has emerged, and which has got all the political parties in denial mode, is the assertion of smaller OBCs along with the Dalits.' 'I accept that the Dalits by themselves are not in a position to make a Mumbai bandh successful.' 'It was only because of the participation of the smaller OBCs that the bandh has become a success.'
'The government says it will file a review petition against the Supreme Court, but there is no conviction here.' 'It is doing this purely because it is worried.' 'It comes from the same sentiment as asking BJP MPs to spend two nights in a Dalit village,' says Aakar Patel.
'There is core BJP support on the Hindutva line. It will continue.' 'Along with that, the BJP is ready to play the OBCs trifurcation card to its benefit.' 'If you see the post-Kairana result, the BJP spokespersons and IT cell have already begun talking about Hindu unity against Muslim unity, Ram vs Allah.'
The shift toward a staunchly secular identity will help Congress to rebuild its trust and confidence with the minority communities, especially Muslim voters. Arguably, this is where the Congress' future also lies in national politics, observes M K Bhadrakumar.
'Is the agenda of the RSS according to the Constitution of India? They talk of Hindu Raj, Hindutva. Is this Constitutional?'
A group of protesters on Saturday marched to the office of a Malayalam vernacular magazine in New Delhi raising slogans, claiming that a novel serialised in the publication defamed Hindu women and the Brahmin community.
'If the BJP thinks it is going to overnight transform Bengal into Madhya Pradesh, sorry, that's not going to happen because I have faith in our ethos and culture.'
'Absolute non-violence is not only sinful, but immoral.' 'This doctrine of non-violence benumbed the revolutionary fervor, softened the limbs and hearts of the Hindus, and stiffened the bones of enemies.' A revealing excerpt from Vikram Sampath's Savarkar (Part 2): A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966.
He is neither a victim of the violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018 nor an eye-witness to it. Yet, Bhimrao Bansod testified for a full 14 days before the judicial commission of inquiry set up to inquire into the violence.
'Nitish is now a helpless junior ally of Hindutva.' 'He just cannot think of reining in the hoodlums raging, marauding and killing in the mohallas,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
The politicisation of ethnic sentiments in the state has coincided with the ascent of the BJP and increased activities of far right Hindu outfits, which organised rallies and other events on religious occasions such as Ram Navami a festival not very popular in West Bengal- unlike states in north India.
If Advani's ideological leadership galvanised the party's cadres and core support, Vajpayee's soaring oratory, common touch, easy charm and convivial manners won over the masses and brought new allies on board.
'I don't believe the talk of free will.' 'They are either forced to dress like this, or indoctrinated.'
Do Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut, and Sharad Pawar want the deaths of the Bhima Koregaon accused to be associated with their regime? asks Jyoti Punwani.
'Modi remains the most popular politician in India; the BJP's organisational and fundraising prowess is considerable; and the Opposition, while newly collaborative, has no leader or clear economic messaging as of yet.'
'Whenever Dalits have agitated on the streets, the government has blamed Naxalites.'
'The PM cannot give a single reason why farmers should trust him.'
'The BJP may well be his ultimate destination.' 'In the process, he has probably shot himself in the foot.' 'It is unlikely that either Scindia or Pilot will be anything other than a No 3 or a No 4 in the Modi-Shah dispensation,' predicts Amulya Ganguli.
In an apparent move to avoid stoking a fresh controversy as the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to terms with a bitter separation from the Janata Dal-United, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has declined an invitation to visit Ayodhya, his office said on Tuesday.
'there is absolutely no question that the Hinduism of the mob-lynchers, the people who have actually gone and killed others because of what they are eating or how they are worshipping or the faith they belong to or what they're doing professionally, those are, to my mind, not Hindus at all.' 'Hinduism needs to be reclaimed for the Hindus who are not bigots.'
Does Uddhav (and indeed the Sena) have the pizzazz and staying power to continue to be an actor in Maharashtra politics as a paler version of the NCP and an orange rather than saffron version of the BJP, asks Aditi Phadnis.
An impressive body of anti-Modi films accumulating since 2002, are now a ubiquitous part of the 'documentary festival' circuit, delivering compact body blows to the reputation of Hindutva's puffed up poster boy.
'They must take the bull of conservatism within their own ranks by its horns as much as they need to speak out against the fallacies of the non-Hindutva (or 'Muslim-friendly') political forces as well,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
The Bharatiya Janata Party announced a major organisational reshuffle in the party, appointing Hindu hardliner Keshav Maurya and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa as state party presidents in Uttar Pradesh and Karntaka respectively.
The RSS on Sunday said it has not abandoned its commitment to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and sought speeding up of the case proceedings in the Supreme Court.
Thakur will be part of the 21-member committee headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to a bulletin issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
'These guys did not even issue an apology to me and were taken back into the party.' 'They were reinstated on the grounds that they will contribute to the Congress campaign.'
Togadia said he would go on an indefinite fast from Tuesday to push the Hindutva cause.
Pravin Gaikwad, the state coordinator of Maratha Kranti Morcha, has two rare qualities: he has an unparalleled connect with people from his community and, at the same time, underpins his ideology on a strong analytical base.
'Sachin Pilot has revived the Congress.' 'What goes in favour of Ashok Gehlot is experience.'
Marandi was the chief minister of Jharkhand from November 2000 to March 2003.
'He was a nobody then.' 'And whatever little his contribution was there, it was restricted to Gujarat.'
'The Mughals became completely Indian in every sense and united the vast Indian subcontinent, not only territorially, but also the hearts and minds of people with multiple religio-cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversities' 'The Mughals, arguably, made India an enviable superpower in the then world.' 'Are the Hindutva rulers of today scared of acknowledging Mughal accomplishments?' asks Mohammad Sajjad.
Sangh leaders flay BJP for 'diluting' ideology \n\n\n\n
'Is Rahul turning the Congress' covert soft-Hindutva support into overt support now?' 'And if so, following in the BJP's footsteps, is the Congress going to abandon Indian Muslims and Muslim causes altogether?' asks Dr Najid Hussain whose father-in-law former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the Gujarat riots.
The revived factionalism in the AIADMK, if not curbed now, has the potential to split the party vertically, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
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