'The Republic is currently captained and crewed by people who seem interested in the safety and well being of only a select kind of passenger, advising the rest to swim for Pakistan,' points out Mitali Saran.
'Whatever the legal position, it is my understanding that in practice, the Indian authorities have always treated Hindu refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh far more sympathetically than Muslims,' notes Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'Till today, we don't know what PM Modi discussed with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, but we have been told that the relations have been reset.' 'We have no evidence from China to show that anything has changed, even though India had made several gestures in preparation for Wuhan,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'India has demonstrated that if tomorrow, any enemy country that has a lot of satellites threatens it, India can (bring them down).'
'Modi loves to keep others guessing and basks in the media glare, both traits that are politically helpful but are inimical to stable relations, especially in the fragile Indo-Pak equation.'
What is it like to be a woman in a male-dominated profession like a police officer, asks Adrija Shukla.
Even his critics say Thaawar Chand Gehlot is a man of delivery. 'If a task is assigned, he wins it over with political sagacity,' they say.
Sheela Bhatt visits a large urban basti a mere 20-minute drive from the prime minister's home to discover a story of grim struggle in the time of lockdown.
Monday, November 8, 2021, Lal Kishenchand Advani -- the politician who took the Bharatiya Janata Party from its parliamentary nadir in 1984, when it won just two Lok Sabha seats, to establishing the edifice for its present dominance in Indian politics -- will turn 94.
Glimpses of The Legend from our archives.
'The farm bills will not bring in corporate zamindari'
'Bihar today has erected a barrier against the BJP bulldozing the polity, the Constitution, and Opposition parties.'
'They know Sharad Pawar will be playing a huge role in unifying the Opposition.'
'I could have joined the BJP in 2014, the doors were open.' 'I stayed on with the TMC, a party I was involved with since its very inception.' 'But today enough is enough.'
'The Modi government thinks that once the CAA protests are over, they will bring in the NPR that will help to get the NRC.'
Just six years after his father's Rath Yatra, the BJP came to power in New Delhi in 1996, points out Jayant Advani.
'The BJP has lost 5 states and Lok Sabha elections are due in less than 90 days.' 'The reservation bill is a jhunjhuna (lollipop) for the upper castes.'
'The BJP will be the single largest party in the next Lok Sabha, the only one party with a three digit tally.'
'Whatever I did, I did for the farmers and whatever I am doing, I am doing for the country'
'In Punjab, disappointment among the people about the AAP government has already set in.'
'There is no democracy, and in fact, there is some kind of monarch ruling.' 'They are protecting themselves and they are scared.''
'The Constitution must reflect the reality of mature states because otherwise it is the Centre that will become irrelevant,' says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'China physically occupies about 45,000 sq km of J&K as claimed by India, including 3,000 sq km captured in the 1962 War and never returned; and 5,180 sq km ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963.' 'It is hard to justify remaining silent about the return of China occupied Ladakh,' observes Ajay Shukla.
'The unprecedented bitterness and rancour that marked this election campaign need not spill over into government and governance,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'The only thing that makes Nitish Kumar acceptable to Biharis, to the Mahagatbandhan allies, is the BJP.'
The Blinken visit indicated that the Biden administration is still somewhat tentative about the specifics of its relations with India, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who has served multiple stints at India's embassy in Washington, DC.
'I do not think it's possible for the winners and losers to shake hands and go back to regular business at the end of this.' 'It seems visceral, personal and nasty at a depth we have not plumbed before,' says Aakar Patel.
As the new year arrives, what is clear is that the BJP's stars continue to shine the brightest while its rivals' search for a way to dim their glow go on.
'Now the political boss decides, and the ED acts.'
'Imran Khan would only have spoken with the full awareness of Modi's complex political personality.' 'He has the great advantage of being privy to the confidential exchanges between then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Modi during the latter's celebrated surprise visit to Lahore in December 2015 as well as the 'back channel' conversations between the national security advisors of the two countries,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
With the Indian Navy's requirement of conventional submarines standing at 24, there is critical need to expedite the planned acquisition of six more conventional submarines.
'But that does not make him weaker than his adversaries.'
'The threat of ceding space to China in Afghanistan appears to be one factor propelling our government to get a bit more active now.'
'His past as a cricketer makes it difficult for the BJP to question his nationalism.' 'He gets away by ridiculing Modi while something similar from most Congress leaders does not resonate as much.'
'Since the bilateral deficit is a reality -- and a worry -- we need to find a way to deal with it,' says Ravi Bhoothalingam.
Japan could soon be the second country after the US with which India has a logistics support agreement. Besides the LSA, India and Japan may also sign a maritime domain awareness agreement which would enable the two navies to share information. For example, if a Japanese P-1 maritime patrol aircraft detects a Chinese submarine in the Indian Ocean, it would pass on the information to the Indian Navy, reveals Ajai Shukla.
Debates on changing the name of India to Bharat continue to spark a crisis of identity without answering moot questions that stare us in the face. Ramesh Menon asks a few of those questions that do not have easy answers.
'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.
'Does the BJP opening up a new assault on Rajiv Gandhi indicate that the BJP's internal calculations are pointing to the election results not going as it hoped, and hence a sign of desperation?' asks Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
EAM Jaishankar's mission is aimed at strengthening India's strategic autonomy in a complex international environment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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