With Congress hubris reduced to ashes and the BJP's advance halted -- a new political force has made its entry in the turbulent waters of Indian politics. It is a new force, with people who seem to be ready to learn and who have, at every step so far, responded by taking seriously all the criticisms that were levelled at it, says Aditya Nigam.
As India logged a world record of over four lakh coronavirus infections on Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the entire world is shaken by what is happening here and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "dropping the ball and throwing it to states" after prematurely taking credit for having "won against COVID-19" when the second wave was already underway. "Rely on yourself is the motto. No one will come to help you. Definitely, not the prime minister," Gandhi said, while alleging that the COVID-19 situation has gone completely out of control for the Modi government, and wondered whether it was their way of making the states and the citizens truly 'Aatmanirbhar'.
'The fatal mistake for the USSR was the invasion of Afghanistan.' 'Quite possibly the fatal mistake for the Chinese empire is the assault on Ladakh,' observes Rajeev Srinivasan.
'His humble words are no substitute for a clear vision for the future of the country. But humility has its own power, its own impact.' 'And it's probably more than that of a monogrammed suit,' says Shuma Raha.
'Pakistan will leave no stone unturned to keep Kashmir on the edge and put the entire blame on the Government of India if there is any untoward incident,' says Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
'The visit by the MEPs and their photo-op with Modi would suggest that we have now given a quiet burial to the 'internal matter' charade,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
An Australia team that stared down the hardened bureaucrats and faceless money men of the nation's cricket board to strike a huge win in pay negotiations showed precious little unity when put under pressure by Bangladesh, the ninth-ranked Test team.
'For Modi and Shah, the humiliating setback is bigger than the electoral defeats in New Delhi and in Bihar in 2015.'
'I would like to extend a heartfelt mea culpa to Mr Modi and his associates.' 'I'm sorry for having been so critical -- I didn't know, I didn't know...' says Mitali Saran.
Enabling the online booking and payment for Indian Railway tickets is one such case. Amitabh Pandey's book is about how he went about enthusing teams inside the Indian Railways and facilitating online reservations, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Make no mistake, the Bangladeshi and Afghan missions in Chanakyapuri would report verbatim to their capitals the abrasive remarks attributed to the Indian leadership, casting a slur on their countries' political culture and national honour, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'I am not surprised that hubris brought Chanda Kochhar down. It would appear that as a person she thought she could do no wrong and as a leader she considered herself above what her company demanded of others in terms of financial probity and honesty. That, my friends, is NOT a good way for a leader to feel,' says S Muraleedharan, former managing director, BNP Paribas.
Arundhuti Dasgupta finds herself surrounded by Greek legends and fables in the mythical centre of the world.
The Islamic State (Daesh) in the latest edition of its online propaganda magazine warns that the terror group is preparing for fresh attacks in Bangladesh.
Desperate times need desperate actions, and the BJP's only option is to enforce legislation to build a Ram mandir, says Sunil Sethi.
The anti-CAA protest was an ugly rant more consistent with the violent chaos of anarchy, argues Vivek Gumaste.
'We have here the world's largest economy and dominant superpower thrashing about as it wrestles with its own decline.' 'It has become everything that China was supposed to be: A threat to the world order, and as a country that is not playing by the rules on trade, on climate change, international commitments and nuclear deals,' says T N Ninan.
'One must remember that a dragon has a forked tongue,' warns Vivek Gumaste.
'Manik Sarkar may have been able to hang on if he hadn't been a follower of the CPI-M's all-time hardliner Prakash Karat,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
'It promises to get much, much darker before the dawn.' 'But at least dawn has a fighting chance,' says Mitali Saran.
UP and Bihar contributed 105 seats to the BJP's tally in 2014. It has now lost 8 Lok Sabha by-polls in the last four years, including three successive losses in UP and two seats in Rajasthan.
'This is not a time for bruised egos, face, shows of state power, petulance, or PR spin. It is a time for big-tent action across a table -- no matter how acrimonious -- with transparency, and with the media present,' notes Vijay Verghese.
With signatures to the petition constantly rising, Labour MP David Lammy appealed to fellow MPs to ignore the result of the referendum on Friday which, he said, was only advisory.
'Both Doval and Jaishankar are savvy enough to know what is good for them and won't want to meet the fate of Icarus in Greek mythology,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Mahatma Gandhi, even for those on the extreme Hindu Right who believe he founded the politics of Muslim 'appeasement', is suicidal to target,' asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Let start-ups be start-ups until they become grown-ups, let young entrepreneurs be experimental and bold, let VCs do their job, but for God's sake, the nation must prime the real grown-ups to solve the imminent issues., says R Gopalakrishnan.
'"We want to get the learnings from Flipkart and take it to other parts of the world," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was quoted as saying.' 'That is a very large tuition fee for an MBA in a country that outdoes Brazil and perhaps even China in busting multinationals' knees and sometimes their heads as they try to crack a market of mostly impoverished people run by a government that has never really given up the sadistic pleasures of administering the license raj,' notes Rahul Jacob.
The distinction between "cheap" and "affordable" is a fine one, but no one understands this better than India's aspirational first-time car-owner, says Kanika Datta.
If he doesn't, two things are guaranteed: Failure for him, and continued slide for his nation despite its talented people, strong nationalism, the gift of geography and a formidable army, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The 3D version of Sholay is tedious and feels like a classic novel being turned into a children's pop-up book. But Raja Sen recommends this cult classic for a taste of how good the Indian entertainer can truly be.
'It is up to New Delhi to take quick advantage of the turn of events in Sri Lanka. Otherwise, Beijing's economic clout and the deep roots it has grown in the island nation may well tempt the new President to play the India versus China game,' says Nitin A Gokhale.
The opposition parties snatched the high-profile Kairana LS seat in from BJP with a united force.
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Monday said it was in "our best interest" to heed the advice of the Constitution as not doing so would result in a "sharp descent into chaos".
'Loss of faith in the fairness of the system and the perception that one cannot expect justice are the first few steps to the slippery slope of anarchy,' warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The Rumble in the Jungle was the greatest boxing spectacle of the 20th century, notes Dhruv Munjal.
Rajat Gupta, 70, the first Indian managing director of McKinsey and who of 17 months in US prison for insider trading, gets ready to tell his side of the story. And he is less than complimentary about Preet Bharara, then the famous crusading US attorney for the Southern District of New York. "The jury, the press and the public saw only... a 'cropped picture', he says. For someone whose life story was a model of the Great American Dream - an Indian of modest means who rose to the highest circles of politics and business, mingling with the White House and Davos crowd - his indictment in 2012 marked a stunning fall from grace. Many ascribed it to the hubris of the rich and powerful, says Kanika Datta.
Infinite Analytics CEO Akash Bhatia and Lead Scientist Joseph Kibe reveal how AI reads Wikipedia index noise to pull out the winners.
'The airline business is very dynamic. If you are unable to keep up and lead, you end up last.' 'This is what has happened to Jet.'
While China is bigger and feels mightier at the moment, Beijing's rulers would be well advised not to be tempted to provoke India, for that would only trigger a chain reaction around the world that would not serve anyone's interests, says Sanjaya Baru.
'According to legal advice provided to me then, I was told we had very limited options.' 'Now in hindsight and after taking stock of things myself, I can quite see how I was ill-advised.'
