'If the BJP detoxifies the nuclear liability law, it will bring economic, environmental and, most of all, strategic benefits.' 'Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that this Budget promise is met soon -- ideally, before Mr Modi heads to his first meeting with Trump 2.0,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitions abroad may run the risk of foundering on constraints at home.
Bhupendra Patel can never really break free of intervention from New Delhi. But if he can win over the Gujaratis and improve the BJP's tally substantially, he will have proved that he should be taken seriously.
With changes to Delhi's architectural map, a re-naming rash, and more Hindu symbolism in secular spaces, the government is making it clear it wants a clean break with post-colonial India, asserts T N Ninan.
Leading the Opposition attack over the Adani-Hindenburg issue in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday linked Gautam Adani's meteoric rise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's coming to power and said "magic" happened after 2014 that propelled the businessman from the 609th to the second spot on the global rich list.
External Affairs minister S Jaishankar in New York praised the leadership skills of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while recalling the attack on the Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan near the Indian consulate and while India was coordinating evacuations from the country.
The BJP coined a new word for AAP, 'Aapda (crisis)', which Modi repeated constantly during the election campaign to show how Delhi residents's lives had become miserable under AAP's 11-year rule.
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.
Will Foreign Minister Mr. Jaishankar please refer to the RTI reply dated 27-1-2015...The Reply justified the circumstances under which India acknowledged that a small island belonged to Sri Lanka," Chidambaram said.
Putin said the 'policy' pursued by Modi is the main 'guarantor' of relations between the two countries.
The real risk is that the core assumption -- that the votes for a candidate sponsored by an alliance will at least equal the sum total of its parts -- proves to be facile, observes T N Ninan.
When India's Blind World Cup-winning cricketers called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, the PM spent time in the company of the talented Indian team who beat Pakistan to clinch the title in Cape Town on Sunday.
'I hope Prime Minister Modi will take the population bull by the horns,' says Sudhir Bisht.
'There is nothing that Pakistan has done which deserves a resumption of dialogue. The assurances made in Ufa contain no commitment except a whole range of talks, which could take place without the paraphernalia associated with a joint statement of prime ministers.'
The Delhi high court on Friday sought a response from the Centre, Election Commission of India, and 26 political parties on a petition seeking to restrain opposition parties from using the acronym INDIA for their alliance.
Three-quarters into the 10 years that Mr Modi had sought for transforming India, the 'output' numbers look impressive, but the key 'outcome' numbers don't show up much, if at all, observes T N Ninan.
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 Congress on Friday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "taking credit for the commissioning of" India's first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and accused him of "hypocrisy" for not recognising the contributions made by earlier governments.
It is possible to be blind to this and pretend to carry on as if nothing has happened but that will not change the reality, asserts Aakar Patel.
'The Opposition parties will continue to woo Chandrababu Naidu even though he has said he will support the BJP.'
Joshi said, "(BJP leader) Nishikant Dubey issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi for making baseless allegations (against the PM). What they say has to be supported with evidence but they haven't produced any. We all are answerable to the people of this country. This time action will be taken on this notice."
'Someone who cannot even take his cabinet into confidence, how will he take the NDA alliance into confidence?'
Narendra Modi's speech had surprising omissions about his economics.
Urvish Kothari looks beyond the myth of Narendra Modi and highlights the chinks in the Gujarat chief minister's armour.
Gandhi also said such controversies seem to play out every time his party raises concerns of "crony capitalism".
Take Rediff.com's Pulse of the Nation poll and let India know what you think of Mr Modi and his government.
Meet IAF Veteran Bhopinder Singh Saini from the Viro ke Vir Indian Party.
'Maybe, if Mr Modi can fire over Patel's gigantic shoulder, people will start to think that he is very much like Patel?' 'It's a long shot, but the Modi sheen has worn awfully thin, and after five years and a long, much-frayed rope, he faces real accountability from voters.' 'He needs any help he can get,' says Mitali Saran.
Much of the pre-2014 peace in our hotspots is diminished. Kashmir is on the boil and the Northeast is anarchic, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
'There is no peace in the Kashmir Valley.'
'Jockeying for that position has possibly started at this time.'
It is because of the feared domestic backlash that the Modi government is now stepping up pressure on Pakistan to accommodate Indian interests.
For someone who is such an indefatigable litigant, what is stopping Mr Saxena from using the law to depose Mr Kejriwal? Maybe we will get the answer after May 25, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Narendra Modi along with his team of 65 ministers will attend President Pranab Mukherjee's 79th birthday bash at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on December 11. After a cake cutting and a toast by Team Modi, the President will host a dinner at the banquet hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
If the BJP wins by getting Hindu voters to consolidate, its opponents can't beat it by bundling together the Muslims and some of the 'others', observes Shekhar Gupta.
'Although perhaps not with a greater majority, and maybe even a slightly reduced majority in the Lok Sabha.'
A faltering economy may have led to a re-think on economic strategy. And Mr Modi might think he is politically strong enough to take some risks. But there could be a minefield ahead, observes T N Ninan.
Mr Modi must stop talking, and start writing
