'The Election Commission's involvement in the avoidable SIR controversy has carried a message down to the last voter -- who just does not like it,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the last 11 years, India and the world witnessed what he stood for, what he promised and did not deliver, and what he actually stood for and practised without fearing how history would judge him. Modi's tenure has been punctuated with headline-grabbing decisions, symbolic gestures, and stage-managed moments that continue to define his leadership and India's politics, points out Ramesh Menon.
The upcoming Delhi Assembly elections have turned into a fierce battleground of slogans, one-liners, and AI-generated memes between the three main contenders: AAP, BJP, and Congress. From the AAP branding the BJP as the "Bharatiya Jhootha Party" (Indian Liar Party) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the AAP "AAP-Daa" (disaster), the war of words has taken center stage. With the poll results set to be announced on February 8, the elections are being viewed as a referendum on the AAP's governance model, which emphasizes free welfare schemes. The ruling party faces stiff competition from a resurgent BJP that is seeking to return to power in the capital after a gap of more than 25 years. The Congress, although a long shot, hopes to regain its lost ground.
The message from Sunday's event will undoubtedly reverberate globally. It's a landmark occasion that will be remembered for generations and will inspire many other states to introduce the story of Rajendra Chola into school curricula, says Tarun Vijay.
'AAP achieved what it wanted. The BJP achieved what it wanted, a 'Congress mukht Delhi,' and the Congress also achieved what it wanted, which was to keep the BJP out of power.'
Embroiled in a controversy over his 'slip of the tongue' on Lord Jagannath, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and party's Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra apologised and announced he will undertake penance by observing fast for three days from Tuesday after being criticised from different quarters.
'My chants in praise of BJP and RSS stalwarts were a reaction to what MPs like Owaisi did.'
'When Sachin Tendulkar bats, no one in India cares if he is from Mumbai or if he is a Hindu or a Brahmin or whatever.' 'We just want him to win it for India.' 'The same is with Modi and the people who voted across caste and regional lines for him.' We want him to win it for India,' says Madhu A K.
"His own government has destroyed Gandhian institutions in Varanasi, Delhi and Ahmedabad," the Congress leader alleged.
Narendra Modi has proved through execution of this event in Ayodhya that amongst all his contemporaries in politics he knows ordinary Indians like none other, notes Sheela Bhatt.
'I have exited at least six WhatsApp groups because I am tired of your bhakts who impose their views on your behalf.' 'Why can't I have a healthy discussion about my nation's future without being called deshdrohi?' asks Divya Nair.
'I appeal to the BJP to keep the Lord above any political discourse.'
BJP sources suggest that the upcoming elections will likely revolve around the renewed enthusiasm for the temple unless another theme with religious and nationalist undertones emerges.
'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
Two years into power, there is very little to show for the Modi government by way of 'achievements' on the foreign policy front, and his China, Pakistan policies are gasping for breath, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
There is an impression within the Tamil Nadu BJP -- although no one is airing it -- that over-exposure for Narendra Modi over the past months may work against party candidates, as they have triggered a near-continuous social media debate on his achievements and failures, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Thackeray had addressed the audience as his deshbhakt and deshpremi brothers and sisters" instead of the traditional invocation of "Hindu brothers and sisters" at the Shivaji Park gathering in Mumbai.
While many praised Narendra Modi's US Congress address, Syed Firdaus Ashraf had only two words to say: SO WHAT?
By comparing I.N.D.IA. with banned terror outfits, Modi has exhibited the kind of nervousness never ever associated with him even at the height of the Gujarat riots, and certainly since his prime ministerial days, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a sarcastic note, the Sena also asked if the emotional call the Chief Justice of India Justice T S Thakur made on Sunday for increasing the number of judges to tackle the mounting number of cases could be termed as an "achievement" of the Modi government.
Sticking to his claim that Rajnath Singh had met Pragya Thakur, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday posted on Twitter a photo purportedly showing the Malegaon blast case accused seated beside the Union home minister and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had faced backlash on social media over his morphed photo during the aerial survey of flood-hit Chennai earlier this year, is now mired in a similar controversy once again.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray has again asked Union minister Nitin Gadkari to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party if he is being 'insulted', saying the opposition in Maharashtra would ensure his victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
'People have a certain perception about my political leanings -- and rightly so.' 'But I am an actor first, and then an activist.' 'And I am not an accidental actor.' 'There was no way I was going to be dishonest with my acting,' Anupam Kher tells Veenu Sandhu.
The BJP, which romped to power in 2019 on the back of an unequivocal mandate from UP, winning 62 of its 80 seats, was cut to size this time and had to be content with only 33 seats.
In a letter to Champat Rai, general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Pawar said he was thankful for the invitation to attend the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony at the temple on January 22 but won't be a part of it on that day.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
There is no use of the BJP targeting the likes of Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin, directly by the party's political bosses, both in Delhi and the respective state capitals, or even using the Raj Bhavans to fire those salvos from. Successive elections have proved that it's counter-productive, if anything. But the BJP is yet to understand it, acknowledge it, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Party leaders from across the spectrum have been using the harshest of words to run down their opponents.
Party leaders from across the spectrum have been using the harshest of words to run down their opponents.
From the time he first rose to prominence during the movement against the then UPA government, Arvind Kejriwal has regularly grabbed headlines for his surprise moves and decisions. Here are 10 such instances.
In these times of Rs 2,000 notes and digital payment apps, Syed Firdaus Ashraf tries to book tickets for Dear Zindagi.
Modi addressed scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation command centre in Bengaluru, who were involved in the Chandrayaan-3 mission and lauded them for their efforts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said there was a competition among Congress leaders as to who will use the most abusive words against him, referring to the opposition party president Mallikarjun Kharge's 'Ravan' jibe at him.
Is it is necessary to play divisive politics to succeed in the next general elections? asks Dr Sudhir Bisht.
Accusing Congress of 'abuse culture', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged the people of Karnataka to punish those indulging in abuse, while casting their vote in polling booths on May 10.
At a time when the BJP's stars are at the top on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, the Puri-Joshimath Sankaracharyas may have kick-started a row whose efforts might be to divide Hindus, not in the name of castes, but on what passes for greater belief, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Had it not been for the slow but sure emergence of China as a threat to the western order, would India have been accepted as a near-equal partner by individual western nations, jointly and severally, questions N Sathiya Moorthy.
'It is perhaps a sense of intellectual inadequacy, of an ingrained inferiority complex born of the years when the BJP languished in the margins of Indian politics and society that, when faced with the soaring ideas about Indian pluralism, the Hindutva camp turns its face so resolutely against Nehru,' says Amulya Ganguli.
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