By changing the nation's name from India to Bharat, would this landmass overnight lose the emotional and cultural linkage that had been built over generations, centuries and millennia, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Polling for the 288-seat Assembly is being held in a single-phase on Wednesday.
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
Founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena in its more than five decades long journey has allied with the Congress, formally and informally.
A democracy is one, only if it has a robust Opposition. And as its actions show, the Modi-BJP combine gives two hoots for that. So, the Opposition must learn to convince people why the BJP must go. Else, it can count down to 2029, points out Shyam G Menon.
Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao gives sanction to the CBI to prosecute former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh scam case.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra which completes two years in power on November 27 has survived against all odds amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Besides late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, NCP president Sharad Pawar also figured in the posters.
From Bollywood strong men to cricketing greats, celebrities upped the glam quotient this poll season. Some we will see as future MPs, the others just have to get back to business. Rediff.com takes a look at some popular faces, who fought Election 2019 and here's the verdict on them.
'Whatever happens, we have decided to go alone.' 'This is the Shiv Sena's word and we will never go back on it.'
Did the fear of central agencies probing scams involving NCP leaders that forced these politicians to jump ship?
The flooding in Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra has left people without homes and brought about destruction worth crores.
In 2014, young Muslims became Owaisi fans. But five years of BJP rule and a weakening Opposition have drawn older Muslims too towards the AIMIM chief. Not enough, though.
Yoga was the mantra and asanas the discipline on Wednesday as millions across the globe and distant corners of India stretched for the skies and dived for their toes, breathed in and out -- mindfully -- and twisted and turned to celebrate the International Day of Yoga.
'The BJP's real pain lies in the fact that all their skullduggery and chicanery has failed to cow down the Shiv Sena. They just cannot digest this fact.'
While farmers in Gujarat are rejecting the compensation package, farmers in Maharashtra say they do not wish to part with their land for a project that largely benefits Gujarat.
Kovind spoke to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray over phone and thanked him for supporting his candidature.
The second list has named 16 candidates from Uttar Pradesh and five from Maharashtra.
Congress leaders and workers continued their protests in several states on Thursday against Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald money-laundering case with many of them taken into preventive custody including former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury in Hyderabad after she allegedly grabbed the collar of a police official.
Unlike other top police officers, A A Khan spoke boldly --- be it while defending 'encounters' in many of which he was involved, or in tracing the cause of the ghastly Radhabai Chawl incident, recalls Jyoti Punwani. Encounters were useful, he said, because hardened criminals who were targeted were beyond reform and no good for society.
From disbursing Rs 25.11 crore to political parties in 2014-2015, the Tata group is learnt to have contributed Rs about Rs 600 crore towards the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
'When I felt that the party is drifting away from Hindutva, I tried to speak to Uddhavji. But nobody was ready to listen.'
'The BJP's solo aim in Mumbai and Maharashtra is to finish off the Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's NCP.'
Counting's underway and the fate of the candidates is awaited. As we wait for the results with bated breath, here's how your heavyweights are faring for now.
'Why should we disclose how and from where we will get these numbers?'
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi greeted him on the occasion, NCP's Praful Patel blamed the Congress party's internal culture for Pawar missing the opportunity to occupy the top post in the 1990s.
N Suresh pays tribute to a consummate politician who passed into the ages on Monday.
Come May 16, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will have more seats from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh than any formation mustered by the Congress, notes T V R Shenoy.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said his party had anticipated such an action against its leader Malik as he 'speaks openly'.
If a masked man climbed upto your window and demanded something from you, what would your first reaction be?
Two and a half hours into voting day and Maharashtra saw its top netas and Bollywood celebrities come out and vote. Among the early voters on Wednesday were...
In what could signal the end of its long-standing alliance with the Congress in Goa, the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday announced its decision to contest both the seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com reports from Shivaji Park and the MMRDA ground to sense the mood of Shiv Sena workers -- from the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde camps.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena bubble has burst in the Lok Sabha polls.
'No, that is not an abbreviation for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha,' says T V R Shenoy, 'but for J Jayalalithaa-Mamata Banerjee-Mayawati-Mulayam Singh Yadav... If the AIADMK, the Trinamool Congress, and other regional forces do extremely well, we could be heading for a repetion of the 9th Lok Sabha (1989 to 1991) and the 11th Lok Sabha (1996 to 1998), each of which saw multiple prime ministers and neither of which lasted even half of its five-year term.'
Bollywood has found its new mission...
Whether to seek blessings for an upcoming release or personal happiness, often one catches glimpses of celebrity trips to places of worship in different parts of the country.
At a time when elections, both Parliament and assembly, are round the corner, die-hard Shiv Sainiks believe that Uddhav Thackeray needs to reconcile with some important leaders, because they can make or break the party's performance, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com visited many polling booths in Varanasi on polling day. This is what he discovered.
The state has total 8,98,39,600 voters, including 1,06,76,013 in the age group of 18 to 25 years. A total of 6.5 lakh polling personnel have been deployed at 96,661 polling booths across the state.
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