Narendra Modi is no reformist, but here's how he could yet change the path India's economy.
Early trends from counting of votes on Tuesday threw up disappointing results for the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections, which appears to be losing heavily in its strongholds of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan although it is expected to form the government with about 290 seats.
Why the prime minister's legacy will depend on how he governs, not the number of state elections he fights as personality contests, says Shekhar Gupta.
After his recent stand-up act that caught everyone's attention, Kunal Kamra now faces trouble from a source he probably didn't expect.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday accused the government of misleading the nation on the India-Pakistan conflict and demanded holding a special session of Parliament immediately, following Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan's acknowledgement of aircraft loss in the hostilities.
'Pura phas gaya woh... barbad, satyanash ho gaya woh.' 'Usko ticket bhi diya, election bhi ladha woh; ganda video bhi bahar aa gaya; hamara izzat bhi nikal diya woh; abhi letter ke baare main pooch ke kya hota hai?'
'I defended them -- Amit Shah and Narendra Modi -- in over 10,000 national debates, but I never asked for any favour.'
Narendra Modi's speech had surprising omissions about his economics.
'If Mr Modi and Mr Shah have made a poisonous, polarising campaign their brahmastra for 2019, Mamata Banerjee is showing them its limitations,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Industrialists have the same complaints as they did in the UPA's second stint.
The Supreme Court expressed its disapproval of an analogy used by the Centre in support of the inclusion of non-Muslims in Waqf boards, stating that such logic would disqualify a bench of Hindu judges from hearing matters related to Waqf. The CJI questioned the Centre's stance on the provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, which allows non-Muslim members in the Central Waqf Council and state waqf boards. The Solicitor General defended the provisions, emphasizing that the non-Muslim inclusion is limited and does not impact the Muslim composition of these bodies. However, the CJI asserted that judges shed their religious affiliations while serving on the bench and maintained their secularity in their judicial capacity.
'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
The Congress on Tuesday took strong objection to the criticism directed at it by the Indian envoy to Ireland while responding to an Irish daily's editorial, saying that attacking opposition parties openly in a manner like a 'party apparatchik' was 'disgraceful behaviour' and the ambassador should be sacked.
Prime Minister Modi made a strategic blunder of Nehruvian proportions -- presuming no war can happen now, and the Chinese won't be a military threat and risk their economic interests, observes Shekhar Gupta.
That he hasn't done so yet, has continued to be active on the political street, in public debate and on social media, signals an important change. It will give his party hope. Maybe the achievement of reducing Mr Modi well below the majority mark will now motivate him to stay committed, observes Shekhar Gupta
India's badminton team lost their Group D tie against South Korea 2-3 in the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship.
'The Congress wants to distort the very fabric of Indian society because they are obsessed with vote bank politics.'
If the CM can steer the BJP into forming a government for a third term, he will have achieved a unique place in the party's history -- Mewat notwithstanding.
Instead, increases in foreign-direct-investment levels; and reforms to make labour, land and capital more mobile.
Gandhi said Modi's top priority now is to get his Speaker in Parliament and is not bothered about NEET .
'Mr Modi has a huge opportunity before him.' 'Whether he grabs it the way Mrs Gandhi did in 1969 or squanders it as he did in 2014 will determine his economic legacy,' notes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'We are in a dilemma if the central government supports this ethnic violence and Biren Singh.'
With the general election campaign less than six months away, the BJP has more to think about than it had on the eve of 2019. It's the states that will be robbing BJP strategists of their sleep at this point, not the Lok Sabha, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'China was a relationship from which Mr Modi had expected the most it seems.' 'It showed in a string of summits, and somewhat breathless celebration of Xi Jinping.' 'It was hasty and simplistic,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
Despite failing to secure a simple majority in Parliament, we will continue to see him on TV, newspapers, magazines, bill boards, vaccination certificates, railway stations, bus shelters, airports, sea ports, on the highway and on rural roads, sighs A Ganesh Nadar.
'In India people want progress, development, they don't want politicians to hamper progress. If that is what Mr Modi has done, that is what will happen. If this is not true, why would the people of Gujarat, which is such a progressive, developed society, vote for Mr Modi?' asks Devang Nanavati.
The Modi government's record on governance is better than that of UPA-2, but not better than UPA-1, observes T N Ninan.
'Gyanendra back on the throne would be bad news for the Nepali people. He may not have learnt from his experience, but we have.'
Cricket Association of Bihar president Aditya Verma has asked the ICC to clarify on the claims made by controversial former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi that two leading Indian cricketers and a West Indian player had been bribed by an Indian real estate tycoon.
If he doesn't win next year, it will set back the party's prospects in 2024. If he wins, it will be seen as his win as much as the BJP high command's, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video and said the BJP leader is openly threatening to kill the Leader of the Opposition of this country.
'There might be some internal tussles that can be expected between any two persons in any party.' 'But I do not see any tussle which might weaken the possibility of dictatorship.'
While the BJP backs Nitish Kumar as chief minister, Chirag isn't hiding his readiness for the role, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw countered Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Monday on his claim that after the COVID-19 pandemic, most incumbent governments, including the one in India, lost elections in 2024, asserting that his statement was 'factually incorrect'.
'All senior Muslim leaders of the BJP are left behind.' 'Doodh mein se makhi jaisey nikaal dete hain.'
India needs another shot of difficult reform, of the kind only possible at gunpoint. Mr Trump holds that gun to our heads now. A drastic reduction in tariff protection, other elements of sarkari wet-nursing will force entrepreneurial India to become competitive again, argues Shekhar Gupta.
When the Indian economy tanked in 1991, it did so because it ran out of foreign exchange. Today, it is tanking because it has run out of rupees even as the foreign exchange granary is overflowing, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'The speech shone a spotlight on both the promise and the challenges of the Narendra Modi era,' says Ram Kelkar. 'The single-minded focus which Mr Modi displayed on issues of good governance and empowering the private sector and individual enterprise.'
Tensions between the Congress and its leader Shashi Tharoor escalated on Thursday with the party saying he was very much part of their family but had erred in claiming that surgical strikes against Pakistan were held for the first time in 2016.
The BJP may be in the Opposition in many states, but nowhere is it as divided as it is in Karnataka, points out Aditi Phadnis.
