'For the first time one single party is getting 49% which is a record of its own.'
With time on his side, that Hardik Patel will one day occupy the top spot in Gujarat is a no-brainer. But the BJP doesn't like rabble-rousers.
'Even if Akhilesh Yadav opens up the entire state treasury for us we will not vote for the Samajwadi Party... ''...I don't want to return to my village, my head will be chopped off. They want me to press the button on the lotus.' Caught between an aggressive BSP cornering Dalit votes and the BJP cornering other Hindu votes, the Muslims of Muzaffarnagar have nowhere to go, no one to turn to. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt presents the grim situation on the ground in western Uttar Pradesh.
According to a National Crime Records Bureau report, a total of 356 cases of sedition -- as defined under section 124A of the IPC -- were registered and 548 people arrested between 2015 and 2020, out of which only six were convicted.
'We have learnt lessons from Mamata Banerjee who overcame the BJP's canard by reciting Chandi Path and playing up her Brahmin origins in her campaign. We need to adopt strategies like asking Muslims to lie low and distributing tickets prudently so that we are not accused of favouring one community.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Roy accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of telling a "lie" at his Ramlila Ground rally in New Delhi on Sunday that his government never said anything about the NRC process and that there are no detention camps in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for seeking en bloc voting by Muslims for the Trinamool Congress and said had his party made a similar appeal to Hindus, it would have been criticised and censured.
'The Opposition parties should seriously give thought to endorsing Kovind's candidacy and close this chapter of divisive politics,' advises M K Bhadrakumar.
'Extravagant new promises can buy him time, but far from solving the problem, they compound the risk.' 'His main alternative is to stress not aspirations, but resentments.' 'He has already de-emphasised aspirational appeals: Nothing has been heard for over two years of the coming of achhe din,' points out James Manor.
As of now, there is nothing to suggest that the 'Michaelpatti episode' has the potential to polarise Dravidian Tamil Nadu on religious lines, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The world is silent because your rhetoric is dishonest and rings hollow,' says former RAW officer Tilak Devasher.
'Without destroying idol worship, you cannot destroy caste because idol worship keeps religious communities in its religious ideology. The RSS is a big promoter of idol worship.' 'They may have an OBC PM, but neither the RSS or the VHP talk about an OBC becoming a priest. The equation is: Business in Baniya hands. Religion in Brahmin hands. OBC votes for the BJP.'
Sources in various parties suggest that two lakh votes of the Patel community, locally known as OBC kurmi, for which mother-daughter led Apna Dal (S) and Apna Dal (K) are competing and over one lakh of OBC Rajbhars would be crucial in deciding the outcome of the assembly seats in Varanasi.
Amit Shah's meticulous planning and Modi's charisma will turn the tide in the BJP's favour, says Nazarwala.
A full majority might be difficult, but Mayawati is in a commanding position this time.
'Was he afraid that his answers during cross-examination would land him in trouble under the new ruling dispensation?'
'She should review her strategy of social engineering and get back to the BSP's initial plank of social change.'
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis faces the challenge of ensuring that Dalits and Muslims -- who are likely to be most affected by the beef ban -- do not drift away towards the opposition.
The fifth-term Lok Sabha member is the mascot of the party's Hindutva-wrapped agenda of development as the BJP makes a final push in its bid to capture power in the state
'Mr Modi's next challenger/s will need to invent a new politics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The mohalla committee movement in Mumbai celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend. The movement, which was born in the wake of the horrific Mumbai riots of 1992-1993, has played an important role in ensuring that Hindu-Muslim riots do not recur in the Maximum City.
The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance in connection with the 'gang rape and brutality of a 19-year-old women belonging to the Scheduled Caste in Hathras district', the rights panel said in a statement.
Yadav also called for firming up of an Opposition alliance to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections, suggesting that the Congress must focus on over 200 seats on which it is in direct fight with the saffron party, while taking a 'backseat' in states where regional parties are a formidable force.
'We have done majoritarianism through other means.' 'The Citizenship Amendment Act, read together with the National Register of Citizens, will prove what I mean,' notes Aakar Patel.
Hundreds of RSS cadres are helping the Saffron party counter Lalu-Nitish's campaign on the reservation issue in Bihar polls, observes M I Khan
'The only narrative before India is what Modi and the BJP is presenting.' 'Nationalism has been taken as a serious plank by the BJP and RSS.' 'They want to keep the nationalism thing alive to make people forget the economic reality.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh will be reduced to its 2012 tally of 47 or thereabouts as the wind is blowing in favour of the Akhilesh Yadav-led coalition this election, says Swami Prasad Maurya who left the saffron party to join the Samajwadi Party last month.
The BJP ignored the principle of the Cabinet's joint responsibility and the adage of the buck stopping at the top, observes Amulya Ganguli.
'He may have had his reservations about the law and order situation there, but the way the family of the victim was intimidated raises a lot of questions about the intentions of the DM.'
'People are questioning these highways and expressways in UP because ultimately, they want to get bread and butter first.'
'Muslims and Dalits must erase the way they remember their past, or carry out their their performances in private,' says Jyoti Punwani, as Maharashtra's Censor Board denies permission to a play Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat.
'The Congress-NCP is a declining force while we are a rising force.'
Asking Team Anna to clarify its stand on reservation issue, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday said he suspected "political ambitions" behind Anna Hazare's decision to expand his committee to include Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Muslims.
'The CPM is not in a mood to introspect, and their total failure on all fronts is being covered up by crimes such as maiming and killing political opponents,' alleges Bharatiya Janata Party's Kerala president V Muraleedharan on the eve of his rally to protest the murder of his party activists in Kannur.
Has Owaisi's MIM become an albatross for Imtiaz Jaleel, former journalist and the party's candidate in Aurangabad?
Insiders say the BJP is now concerned the LJP putting up a good fight against the JD-U would mean benefitting the MGB in those seats. Moreover, Chirag and Tejaswi are known to be friends, and the former is battling for his political survival.
The Congress which has set its eyes on wresting the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Asia's largest civic body, from the Shiv Sena-BJP in the 2012, is alarmed by the possible Muslim support to Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Jammu and Kashmir's mainstream political parties, including the National Conference and the PDP, formed the Gupkar alliance on October 15 for restoration of special status of the erstwhile state and also to initiate a dialogue between all the stakeholders on the issue.
A Team Anna member said the 74-year-old Gandhian will now head to Medanta Medicity in Haryana's Gurgaon for a check-up. Hazare had lost at least 7.5 kg since August 16 when he sat on a hunger strike for a strong Lokpal Bill. He now weighs 64.5 kg
'Putting Yogi Adityanath in the CM's seat two years before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls is something to be read carefully.' 'Opposition parties would be dishonest themselves and unfair to secular people if they failed to unite and work as a single force to defeat the BJP.'
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