Do not underestimate the ingenuity of the Deep State in America to have its way. Keeping the guard down will be a catastrophic mistake on the part of the Delhi establishment. We could get hit when least expected. That's what happened in Bangladesh and Syria, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
If Mr Modi is to be blamed for the post-Godhra riots, he should also be given credit for maintaining peace after the Akshardham and Ahmedabad terror attacks. The BBC will never tell you that, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The challenge will be to force the officials of his government to own this vision.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said he replaced India with Bharat in his Twitter bio to reflect his 'journey' from the Congress to Bharatiya Janata Party, in a dig at the opposition coalition.
'The policy focus of the government should have been on creating more good quality jobs but that was not their focus.'
'The sense of Constitutional propriety and political morality seems to be vanishing fast.' 'There are many things in today's politics of governance which Manmohan Singh would have never dreamt of saying or doing.'
If his attempt to have his appeal heard in the Supreme Court fails, in principle, Modi can apply to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to try and block his extradition on the basis that he will not receive a fair trial and that he will be detained in conditions that breach Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the UK is a signatory.
Rajasthan Cricket Association representative Mehmood Abdi feels Board Of Control For Cricket In India president N Srinivasan should not decide on any matter relating to Lalit Modi's possible return to administration through the RCA because of his "old enmity" with the banned former IPL commissioner.
When a former police constable was appointed Gujarat unit chief, everyone was surprised. Now workers are laying bets on when he will be elevated to the Union Cabinet, notes Aditi Phadnis.
'There is economic danger: Not inflation, but a slowdown that feeds an employment crisis,' says T N Ninan.
The 'aura of invincibility' around Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been 'shattered' by the Indian voters who gave the Opposition a new lease on life, this is how the international media described the outcome of India's general elections.
e Union minister of state for home is somewhat brash and rowdy, and has enormous confidence.' Some of this derives from the fact that he has independent sources of income (he reported assets amounting to Rs 18 crore in his 2019 Lok Sabha nomination papers)
Take Rediff.com's Pulse of the Nation poll and let India know what you think of Mr Modi and his government.
The Modi government finds itself in a contradiction of its own making. It has encouraged pro-Russian, Westophobic public sentiment while setting strategic policy that's exactly the opposite, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'There was a lot of resentment against the BJP which has not translated into votes, this is surprising.'
Many were hoping that with Vajpayee's NDA gone, there would be a return to the Congress normal. Nobody was prepared for the opposite. Sonia Gandhi was sceptical. This became the only issue over which Manmohan Singh took on his party bosses and risked his government. Politically, it was riskier than the 1991 reform, recalls Shekhar Gupta.
The record of other prime ministers too shows how much can change when a prime minister is faced with the two-year challenge, says T N Ninan.
Top leaders of the two parties are campaigning in Jharkhand and Maharashtra for the ongoing assembly polls in the two states.
'We could of course call ourselves the Alliance for Betterment, Harmony And Responsible Advancement for Tomorrow (BHARAT). Then perhaps the ruling party might stop this fatuous game of changing names'
'You can see the essential contours of his new Pakistan strategy. Rather than keep engaging with or humouring them, he'd rather work on taking their four biggest supporters -- the US, China, the UAE and later Saudi Arabia -- away from them.' 'In his calculation,' says Shekhar Gupta, 'with the total support of all four of these, Pakistan will be forced to moderate its policies.'
'This whole story is going to become extremely murky and that discovering who is an agent of the Indian government is not necessarily a simple matter.' 'And that if Trudeau was to name (the person) who he thinks is the connection with the Indian government, that the Indian government will be sure to have some deniability and will be able to say he had nothing to do with us.'
Modi had said he receives "2.5-3 kg" of abuses everyday, but he turns the harsh remarks into positive energy.
'Rahul Gandhi is going to turn 54 and in India political leaders peak when they are around 60.' 'This 'bhai-behen ki jodi' has done a wonderful job for the Congress.' 'Priyanka Gandhi was a very effective campaigner.'
Both have made factory jobs the centre of their economic agendas. Kanika Datta explains the practical limits to their ambitions.
'Jockeying for that position has possibly started at this time.'
'The economy is in a free fall.'
'And it's been declining for so long, so consistently, that the promise of growth and better days now looks a fantasy.' 'A mid-1970s kind of pessimism, even hopelessness, is growing among the young.' 'This isn't what Mr Modi promised them.' 'Their aspirations and needs are clear and present, and not being fulfilled,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
'If you compare the data from 2017 and 2023 of the US imports from the world and China, you will see that the US was a complete loser in the trade war, and China was a complete gainer.'
Joseph Francis A Pereira, a citizen of Pakistan who currently resides in Cansaulim, south Goa, is the first in the state to be given an Indian citizenship certificate.
Accusing the prime minister of pushing a particular narrative in the media through the PMO, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said "Modi will not be able to deflect from real issues".
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday said that Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee has submitted a written apology for his remarks against Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia besides apologising in the House.
Jairam Ramesh said Gandhi spoke for 37 minutes but was shown on Sansad TV camera for only 14 minutes and 37 seconds.
If Priyanka wins the Lok Sabha bypolls, it would be for the first time that three members of the Gandhi family will be in Parliament. Her mother Sonia Gandhi is a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan.
At some stage this fall in the quality of life will begin to hurt anybody's popularity, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Indian Members of Parliament have written to President Barack Obama, urging the US Administration to maintain the current policy of denying visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
'Someone who cannot even take his cabinet into confidence, how will he take the NDA alliance into confidence?'
The winds of nationalism laden with religion will now yield to those of concern over the stalled economy, unemployment, and a general malaise and unhappiness, predicts Shekhar Gupta.
The Sikhs love a good fight, and that's what the Modi government has given them.
Delhi's appeasement strategy may now translate as more mega arms deals with the US, generating substantial business and job creation in the American economy. Make no mistake, Americans will use it to pressure India, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'We know each other for quite some time.' 'He could provide stability to the country for five years.' 'But he could not provide confidence to the countrymen that he is our leader.'
