What political leaders and twitterati had to say about India's response to the Uri attack.
'Narendra Modi could be too old to change his personality. On the other hand, his attachment to the RSS could be mostly sentimental. So one must hope that if he becomes prime minister, he is able to detach himself from the RSS view of the world as completely as Narasimha Rao detached himself from the Congress's First Family.' 'India cannot be governed by the autocratic methods by which he has governed Gujarat. If he becomes prime minister he will have to learn to speak in a more civil language about his political opponents,' historian Ramachandra Guha tells Arthur J Pais/Rediff.com
After the Supreme Court ruling on playing the national anthem in all movie halls, Veenu Sandhu misses the innocent days when patriotism was part of our being, not a prescribed potion to bring all our problems to an end. And no one told us to 'leave', 'get out' or 'go to Pakistan' if we differed.
Here is Rediff.com's selection of some stories from Thursday that you may not have read in the morning newspaper.
'Indian democracy has become an oxymoron.I am hopeful that more people will boycott this politics of perversion and hatred and realise that this isn't sustainable for our great nation to prosper.
'The saffron party is under pressure from RSS and other Hindutva quarters to move swiftly on construction of Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.'
'A member of the house referred to me as 'terrorist'. It is an attack on my dignity as a member of parliament'
The road show was the virtual launch of the Congress campaign for the assembly polls slated later this year, in which his party has the tough task of dislodging the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been ruling the state for the last 15 years.
'The film industry will remain soft targets and continue to be picked upon with no respite, with no choice but to give in due to personal safety and financial compulsions,' says director Suparn Verma.
'Till the time we do not remove fear in the minds of Muslims of India, how will we achieve peace?' asks the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Gorakhpur, Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, who says he will resign as a member of the Uttar Pradesh assembly if any Indian Muslim of his constituency is evicted from the country during the Citizenship (Amendment) Act exercise.
India is mushrooming with Deve Gowda wannabes because being a former prime minister is better than being a former chief minister, says Shekhar Gupta.
'You should raise your voice even at the cost of being called a deshdrohi. 'This country is built because of the raising of voices of the people and no one can silence such voices,' says Kannan Gopinathan who resigned from the IAS to protest against revocation of Article 370 in Kashmir.
Congress brushed aside demands for imposition of President's rule in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of violence in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas and said it was time for the Akhilesh Yadav government to "follow Rajdharma".
The Congress has "consensus" over the leadership of Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate, a party spokesperson said on Monday amid speculation that he may be anointed as the party nominee at the All India Congress Committee meeting being held in New Delhi on January 17.
Economists who get too close to prime ministers eventually come to grief after their boss is defeated
The BJP chief condemned the arrest of over 2,000 devotees, including Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Sangh Parivar activists, across the state agitating against the entry of women of all ages into the temple.
Why this non-BJP MP became a Modi bhakt.
With so much bad news, everybody is hunkering down in readiness for Mr Modi's next radical Big Idea, says Kanika Datta.
Is it sustainable?' 'Or is it like an overdose of a medicine that saves your life in the short run but kills you through long-lasting side-effects?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'If the prime minister wants to be seen as a global statesman, then is it not embarrassing to be so closely associated with a gang of foul-mouthed bullies?' asks Vir Sanghvi.
'They were the leaders of my country and the children of Mother India, but they didn't die as martyrs.' 'They were killed, most unfortunately, by a well planned enemy plot, and they were victims of political violence,' states Sudhir Bisht.
'The BJP must realise that a resurgent Rahul Gandhi will take the battle straight into its camp.' 'He is not going to be held back by the misdeeds of UPA 1 and 2, so there is no point harping on them,' says Sanjeev Nayyar.
The American funnyman speaks to Ranjita Ganesan about his first brush with 'Hindutva trolls' and regular run-ins with Trump trolls.
'This is fake. Tyagi was made to sign on a blank paper of the register for media entry and later the names of Rahul Gandhi and others were added in the register,' Congress said.
In a state where Hindu social identity continues to remain in the overarching Dravida umbrella, the 'Hindutva' political identity does not have the same, or even near-similar electoral purchase, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Two have already sacrificed their lives.' 'How many more shall need to sacrifice before the government listens?' 'Four, five or six? They are ready, waiting.' After Ganga campaigner G D Agrawal's death, a Haridwar ashram's sadhus are on a relay fast unto death.
Members of all parties condemned the killings in the name of cow.
And you thought Bollywood was just about making movies!
'There is no remorse over the Dadri lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq or of Pehlu Khan by cow vigilante groups.' 'But should you not have remorse for those who came to kill them?' 'They were Hindus. Do you accept that?' 'That to kill one Pehlu, 20 Hindus have become murderers.' Rajdeep Sardesai in conversation with Ravish Kumar.
'I am quite optimistic that sooner or later, my wishful thinking would turn into a reality.' The only hitch is that the INC president's own career ambitions may be hurt if the Congress merges with the BJP,' says Sudhir Bisht.
'It used to sound very strange.' 'That the same child who used to sing Jana Gana Mana the loudest in class, who celebrated August 15 and 26th January with such fervour and who has always nurtured the desire to make India a better nation being called desh drohi.' 'It was very painful.'
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