A 10-member Bharatiya Janata Party ministry led by Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in at Wankhede on Friday.
'Strategy is to divide and polarise electorate on communal lines.'
The BJP sees investments, both foreign and domestic, as their pathways to political power and not the construction of the Ram temple or a nationwide ban on beef. It will have no option but to let commerce prevail over religious sentiments, says Amulya Ganguli.
The Bharatiya Janata Party claims it has over six lakh committed workers in Bihar, a team of 10 deployed for each of the 62,200 polling booths.
'Even if the BJP's hope of a Congress-mukt Bharat is realised, it will still have to contend with Mr Gandhi's god-like status in the foreseeable future,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj along with Arun Jaitley and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states are likely to attend the funeral in Nagpur on Sunday
'According to the survey, ideological issues like Article 370 and Ayodhya received only 14 and 12 per cent voter-backing, respectively.' 'It could well imply that hardline Hindutva issues have only that much voter-purchase, compared to Modi's overall popularity of 52 per cent -- putting the man way above the mission,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The attacks, which disrupted normal life, marked return of political violence on large-scale after a gap of over a year in Kannur.
'It is perhaps a sense of intellectual inadequacy, of an ingrained inferiority complex born of the years when the BJP languished in the margins of Indian politics and society that, when faced with the soaring ideas about Indian pluralism, the Hindutva camp turns its face so resolutely against Nehru,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Barely a week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to launch the Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign in Jammu and Kashmir, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Monday sought to downplay the Sangh Parivar's long-standing demand repealing Article 370 of the Constitution.
If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made it clear that the Left government was with the believers.
Congress legislators spent the whole night inside the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Council, escalating demand for the dismissal of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa over his statement regarding the national flag.
'Destabilising the Yediyurappa government is not a cakewalk.' 'If he is destabilised, then the BJP will have problems in Karnataka.'
Allies, Opposition increase volume of criticism; hope in Kashmir, Assam
Though the Cabinet reshuffle on July 5 has a clear stamp of the Prime Minister's Office, the changes have also increased the coherence between the Bharatiya Janata Party, the government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Sharad Yadav, President of the Janata Dal (United), is one of the architects of the proposed merger of six political parties who trace their roots to the erstwhile Janata Dal. Yadav tells Archis Mohan how the grand alliance with Left parties and even the Congress is the need of the hour.
Sunday's yatra proved that it needs both the maturity of locals as well as the police doing their duty, to ensure that a religious procession doesn't turn ugly.
Claiming that that the law is a rejection of secularism, the Kerala CM said his govt will question its validity on all platforms.
'Tipu Sultan may have had his flaws, but that does not mean he can be axed from textbooks.' 'Besides, if it is Tipu today, who will it be tomorrow?' asks Shuma Raha.
BKS and BMS leaders have told the BJP leadership that it is staring at a build-up of anti-government propaganda in the run-up to polls in five states.
'A second defeat in a Hindu heartland state will be disastrous for its morale and political fortune.' 'There is no alternative for the BJP, therefore, but to play the patriotic card with gusto.'
The channels were suspended for 48 hours over their coverage of last month's communal violence in Delhi, with the official orders saying they covered events on February 25 in a manner that 'highlighted the attack on places of worship and siding towards a particular community'.
'Sanjeev Kumar was my favourite actor. But no one can compare with Amitabh Bachchan.'
The RSS has been at loggerheads with Advani ever since he praised Jinnah as a secular leader during his recent Pakistan visit.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday said it wanted a "Hindu-minded person" to succeed L K Advani as the Bharatiya Janata Party president and termed as "unfortunate" his critical remarks against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
'We had no inkling this would come. Admittedly, we failed to inspire confidence in migrants that no harm would come to them if they stayed back.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Aditi Phadnis and Archis Mohan take a state by state takedown of the party's chances in the poll-bound states.
There is disquiet and discomfort in the citizenry that can be touched and felt. No one is talking, but then, the Indian voter has not talked much -- with the conviction that all that goes up has to come down, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The appropriate bench will fix the schedule with regard to the hearing of appeals in the case. "We will fix the date of hearing of Ayodhya dispute case before the appropriate bench in January," the CJI said.
The Karnataka high court on February 8 will hear the petitions filed by five girls studying in a Government Pre-University College in Udupi, questioning hijab restriction in college.
'Amit A Shah's sharp vilification can be interpreted as a sign of nervousness in the saffron camp,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Although conventional political wisdom would decree that the construction of a 'magnificent' Ram temple at his 'birth-place' would bring the BJP a big yield of votes in the prospective elections, its leaders know by now that the mandir must not exist in isolation in its game plan, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
The BJP says an 'assassin' is very different from a terrorist.
BJP CMs promote a lawless culture, one where groups backed by the State are encouraged to attack fellow citizens, where being trigger-happy is the official police policy, notes Jyoti Punwani.
'Although Narendra Modi had no direct participation in the Ayodhya agitation, he would not have been in the dominant position he is now had it not been for the Ram Janambhoomi agitation.'
BJP-supported students' union, aided by a friendly government, is aggressively settling historical scores with Leftist students' organisations.
'Kejriwal tries to project that his party is not Hindu virodhi.'
The VHP leadership notes that 'ghar wapsi' wasn't something started after the Modi govt took over. Archis Mohan reports
Is there a likeness between the characters from Ved Vyas's timeless epic and those prancing about on the political proscenium? Saisuresh Sivaswamy finds out.
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