Narendra Modi has proved through execution of this event in Ayodhya that amongst all his contemporaries in politics he knows ordinary Indians like none other, notes Sheela Bhatt.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
Former minister responds to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com's questions.
Sheela Bhatt reports from Firozabad, the country's centre for glass bangles, on what life is like for its workers in the wake of the national lockdown.
'He also presented a facsimile of the scroll that was given to Gandhiji in Johannesburg in 1908 by the Chinese community there. I think that was quite a thoughtful gift,' Sabarmati Ashram Director Tridip Suhrud tells Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
Is this 'Yashpal Kapoor' the late Congress leader, one of Indira Gandhi's closest aides in the 1970s?
'Whether she will remain CPP chairperson or not, that she will decide.'
Much before Rashtrapati Bhavan confirmed the new ministers' portfolios, we had said who will get what in Narendra Modi's Union council of ministers!
'I see in the BJP an attempt to get growth and redistribution of resources.' 'For growth you need growth of the economy.'
'After the 2002 riots when the media and other political parties started blaming Modiji, thousands of people like us -- now, it must be crores of us -- started becoming staunch supporters of Modiji. The more you blamed him the more of our support he gained.' Pramod Singh of Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh is one of Narendra Modi's biggest fans and a member of Modi's India272 Web initiative, spreading the leader's message on social media and the Internet.
Ela Gandhi, the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi and a member of Nelson Mandela's party, recalls some fond memories of the South African legend in a conversation with Sheela Bhatt.
'It will be like a never-before-visit by an Indian prime minister to America,' a senior diplomat told Rediff.com
Rahul Gandhi's sister may finally break her self-imposed ban on political life, reports Sheela Bhatt.
Congress General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi, who praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a conversation with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com, later backtracked from his statements to claim that he was quoted out of context.
Just six years after his father's Rath Yatra, the BJP came to power in New Delhi in 1996, points out Jayant Advani.
Dmitry Rogozin, deputy prime minister of Russia, in an exclusive conversation with rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt says, what Russia can do and has done for India nobody can do.
'There were any number of Congress leaders who disliked Sonia Gandhi, but they were very close to Ahmed Bhai and he would listen, and give a shoulder to cry upon.'
'B Raman knew that Yakub Memon should not be given the capital punishment but at the same time he harboured too much anger against Dawood Ibrahim and 'Tiger' Memon, and wanted to see that they do not stand to gain in the legal process in any manner whatsoever.'
The anti-corruption watchdog posts have been vacant for the last nine months.
Malti Marie Chopra Jonas was born just after 8 pm on January 15 at a hospital in San Diego.
'Let me reveal for the first time that around August 2019 Congress President Sonia Gandhi told the Congress leadership and CWC members to form a consensus over the name of a non-Gandhi leader.'
Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, who appeared on the Rediff Chat to take questions from our readers on Tuesday, told Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt that he will not be fighting the Lok Sabha elections.
'For Modi and Shah, the humiliating setback is bigger than the electoral defeats in New Delhi and in Bihar in 2015.'
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...
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been persuaded to agree to a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into IAS officer D K Ravi's death.
GST implementation could happen in September itself, with the next meeting of the Union Cabinet likely to take up the matter.
'So you have welfare programmes, you reach out to the poor, you cut out the middlemen, you cut out the leakages and you try to raise the standard of living.'
'Pakistan should evolve a common narrative. The country should have common position in combating all kinds of terrorism and not fight selectively.' 'The main motive was revenge, of course. But the Nobel Prize to Malala Yousufzai also contributed to the Taliban's anger' Bestselling Pakistani author and foreign policy expert Ahmed Rashid speaks exclusively on the Peshawar school attack with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
S Jaishankar took charge as foreign secretary, replacing Sujatha Singh, on Thursday.
Jailed Gujarat police officer D G Vanzara is believed to have shot of a letter to the Gujarat home ministry put off by his guru Asaram Bapu's arrest in a rape case. Sheela Bhatt reports
In the couple of hours that you spend in the riot-hit city you find it is not the BJP that is asking for the votes of an excited section of Hindus, but it is the people who are clinging to Narendra Modi. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports on the sentiment on the ground in Muzaffarnagar, whose Hindu-Muslim fracture is a long way from being mended.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has started preparing the ground to rescue Indians who are expected to be deported from Saudi Arabia as it goes ahead with its new job law, Nitaqat. Sheela Bhatt reports
Embarrassment apart, it is a reminder to the Narendra Modi government that it is in acute minority in the Upper House
'To get success in business one should know how to create and attract talent and how to retain it.'
Over lunch, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley breaks down his Budget. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports.
In order to implement big ticket ideas which are likely to come via the Budget of 2015, Modi needs better political talent around him, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a strict religious fast, has had several high profile engagements on the second day of his United States visit.
But the ways of the Congress high command are never so simple. It behaves as a State by itself, reports Sheela Bhatt from New Delhi's Talkatora stadium after witnessing how the clamour was kept up to name Rahul Gandhi as the Congress PM candidate.
The letter, to be written by the NDA's Bihari leaders, will mention that Modi was not talking about 'Bihar's DNA' but he was pointing towards the 'political DNA' of Nitish Kumar. The letter will also ask a few uncomfortable questions to the Bihar chief minister. Sheela Bhatt reports.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances