'A close relationship between India Inc and the government cannot help the BJP win elections.' 'While Opposition parties may feel good about Mr Bajaj criticising the Modi regime, the BJP should be seeing the indictment as a political boon,' says A K Bhattacharya.
'China is constantly probing India's weaknesses.' 'The challenge is to implement a strategy that will allow India to buy time, gather its strength, and eventually counter China,' recommends Harsh V Pant and Vinay Kaura.
After watching Uri: The Surgical Strike, Syed Firdaus Ashraf gets the feeling that Modi has added another tool to help him win the 2019 Lok Sabha election: Hindi cinema...
'Seems more than half of the 'desh' remained untouched by his 'samajik ekta ka andolan',' points out Jyoti Punwani.
'Where you change the law and then say, we are following the law.' 'The fact is, the law is not meeting any international standards.' 'How can you call UAPA or PMLA a law when you are guilty until proven innocent?'
The answer has two components: as a leader with a vision who can carry the masses and his ability to realise his vision through his decision-making and executive skills, says Col R Hariharan.
'And Sir, you are at fault if they don't like you. 'You don't boast of your government's efforts to be the first one to bring in thousands of Indians back home without thinking for a second about their race, religion, language, orientation, or even citizenship,' says Sarang, a reader of Rediff.com.
'Earlier we had been told we were the crown of India.'
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
'Without doubt, India's success story will come up for close scrutiny when Modi's prime ministerial legacy is summed up in history.' 'A failure is simply unthinkable.' 'And the success will largely depend on national unity,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The PM of India was 20 km away from the Pakistan border and he is one of the persons under extreme threat from that country and they put his life in danger.'
Had it been an election of digital campaigns, the cost of the 2019 election would have been far less than what it actually is.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a democratically elected leader who received a massive mandate of 71% of votes, and he owes nothing to Delhi or Washington for staging his political comeback, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
After the people pay their homage for an hour on Friday morning, the late prime minister's body will be taken to the BJP headquarters where it will lie in state before the funeral.
The judiciary, the police, the lawyers and the public will have to know the new laws. It will also endanger settled jurisprudence on the old laws and open up all sorts of minor and major problems that currently do not exist. Whose then was asking for the change? Not the judges or police or lawyers or citizens, points out Aakar Patel.
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.
'Even those who do not like him will rally to his call if he says that the country's sovereignty is being threatened by China,' notes Aakar Patel.
'With sufficient gaps between polling dates, the BJP will have time to convert the 'fence-sitter' votes,' observes Payal Mohanka.
According to the Centre's legislative business list for the upcoming session, three bills have also been listed to replace three ordinances.
One looks upon the coming new year with foreboding as current wars in Ukraine and Gaza spill over and escalate and new ones erupt in incipient fault lines across the world, notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Mr Modi and Mr Shah will need him if they want to win UP again in 2022 and India in 2024. This signals a Yogi Adityanath-sized change in BJP politics, even under Mr Modi, Shekhar Gupta.
'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.
'His track record in the market has been spotless and untainted.' 'That is why he had such great fan following among investors.'
Former Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya has opined that cutting trade with Beijing at this juncture would amount to sacrificing India's potential economic growth.
'Since the rise of the Modi-Shah paradigm, the BJP has followed a simple formula.' 'Sweep the Hindi heartland and the two big Western states, and you can rule India with a majority by just adding some little bits on the platter from here and there,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
'We will celebrate Independence Day as usual, but not this celebration from August 15 to 22 (as sought by the Modi government).'
'Papaji had a dream one night where he saw my father as Hanuman.'
'Fiscal purists would quarrel with the idea of selling assets to pay for current expenditure -- such as the payout to farmers and the health insurance programme -- for the obvious reason that the process cannot go on forever.' 'At some point, the list of assets available for sale will run out,' notes T N Ninan.consultations -- something already aired in connection with the lease of airports to the Adani group, says T N Ninan.
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.
'The unprecedented bitterness and rancour that marked this election campaign need not spill over into government and governance,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Aakar Patel looks forward to Prime Minister Modi's speech at the bhoomi pujan for the Ram temple in Ayodhya next week. It will be entertaining and stirring, predicts Aakar, and make lots of promises that he most likely won't be able to keep.
From deciding on the composition of various House committees to fixing the seating arrangement of MPs, Speaker Om Birla has a full plate.
This 14-year-old schoolboy's invention can save lives.
'However, a lot of preparatory work would have to go in and China must be prepared to announce an end to the standoff by disengaging from the remaining areas along the LAC.'
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.
'We don't need to hinge India-UK relations on shared hostility toward China,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Rajinikanth is the third cinema personality after the late thespian Sivaji Ganesan and the late director K Balachander, also Rajinikanth's mentor, to have been chosen for the award from Tamil Nadu.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
'In the short term the relationship will get worse.'
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
