Thanks to Sharad Pawar and him alone, Maharashtra has shown that the Modi-Shah duo can be halted. The next step is to take the battle to Dilli, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
In a lot of ways, Tamil Nadu votes exactly as do other states. But at places there are crucial differences.
President Kalam was loved by the youth of India. Something evidenced by the mass of student volunteers who have arrived in Rameswaram to mourn and to help out other mourners who have arrived in the island town to pay their last homage to India's 'Missile Man.'
Part II of the Kanchi Shankaracharya's exclusive interview to rediff.com
'In spirit, and more importantly in its DNA, this is the Congress Inc, or Incorporated, a family-run entity,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Manoj Bajpayee simply lives, and loves, the role -- of a man who life is fast passing by, and who continues to live the lie of a simple government servant, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Seventy-six is not an age to be plowing a lonely furrow in the heartless electoral fields of India, especially in Rajasthan, given the heat in summer, but Jaswant Singh, the expelled Bharatiya Janata Party veteran, is not exactly alone, says Rediff.com's Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The last auspicious day of the ongoing Kumbh Mela was full of action
'The BJP is the most progressive force within Hinduism today.'
Trade analyst Vinod Mirani gives us the weekly verdict.
'Certainly if Advani had agreed to Vajpayee in sacking Modi, then we would never have been talking of Modi today.'
Other strong men have stopped Modi and his hordes in states before, but none of them with a footprint or battle cry to shake up New Delhi, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Trade analyst Vinod Mirani gives us the weekly verdict.
If you'd like to know more about Rajini the actor, Saisuresh Sivaswamy offers a wide selection.
Pon Radhakrishnan is also a Union minister of state. His opponent is the richest candidate in Tamil Nadu.
Is Rangoon a hit or a flop? Find out...
The hits and misses of the week.
Stalin has given due respect to seniority in the pecking order, but has also taken into consideration the demands of individual ministries and the suitability of individuals, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
2.0 raises the bar for Indian films, taking them a step closer to Hollywood blockbusters, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'This is what Hindu Rashtra looks like, which has been enabled by conditions of democracy.'
Trade analyst Vinod Mirani gives us the weekly box office verdict.
'In Kejriwal's re-election, we are finally seeing someone who has successfully bridged his Hindu identity with ground-level development triumphing over the BJP,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
By pegging the exact area of the Babri Masjid site at 0.313 acres, and not the original 2.77 acres, the government hopes to be in line with the court ruling in the 1994 Ismail Faruqui case which mentions return of land to original claimants once the exact area needed for acquisition is determined, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Like in cricket, M S Dhoni was the captain and Virat Kohli played under him.' 'Then Dhoni played under Kohli.' 'Now imagine, having a second switch.' 'That is the analogy here, and I find no other example in Indian politics, or even world politics.'
The films that mattered: Here's looking at the half yearly box office report of 2017.
What does the box office of Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan's film have to say?
Muthayya Fernandes, a fisherman from Rameswaram, was imprisoned in Sri Lanka for crossing the International Boundary in search of fish.
'He failed to foresee that the campaign of hatred need not be continuous; a sporadic, scattered campaign is enough.' 'What was important is to keep the pot boiling, not let it overflow like happened during the masjid-mandir days,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'The unprecedented bitterness and rancour that marked this election campaign need not spill over into government and governance,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'As casualties go, Maoism has been exacting a heavy price, and with a sickening regularity.' 'Yet, it is the other threat that hog all the limelight, the headlines and the TV studio debates,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The Hindi version of Rajinikanth's Kabali did not find much love outside Tamil Nadu
The funeral of late former President A P J Abdul Kalam will be held in Rameswaram, his birth place in Tamil Nadu, on July 30 with full military honours.
'The story of how Modi won a re-election in the face of severe agrarian crisis, mounting unemployment, looming economic crisis, is the story of how the power of the message can be put to devastating effect in the hands of a strong leader,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Why has the phrase gone missing from Modi's vocabulary?' asks Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
