'Earlier, a lot of fear was in the minds of people that the BJP is anti-Christian and anti-minority, but over the years people have learnt to accept that the BJP is just another national party.'
What used to be confined to homes as a winter garment has become a political and cultural symbol, with most leaders and many citizens donning the long cloak at offices and their places of work, observes Athar Parvaiz.
While Modi had a party and an organisation that supported him, all Mulayam, a self-made man with no inheritance in politics, had was a set of (fairly flexible) beliefs.
Tribals constitute 7-8 per cent of the state's population, and are a deciding factor in 47 assembly seats and seven Lok Sabha constituencies spread across the Junglemahal districts of Purulia, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Jhargram in southern Bengal and Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar in the north.
At the time of the media maelstrom around her non-dom status, she hit back at implications that it was in some way indicative of her stronger bond with India than the UK.
Economist Gandhi: The Roots and the Relevance of the Political Economy of the Mahatma by retired entrepreneur Jerry Rao provides insights into a hidden facet of Gandhi's personality -- his thoughts on economics and capitalism -- and also highlights some of his views on religion, ethics, human nature, education and society.
Citizens belonging to different religions and denominations follow different property and matrimonial laws which is 'an affront to the nation's unity', the Centre had said last year in its affidavit in the Supreme Court on the Uniform Civil Code matter.
'The most important priority for the next 25 years should be to strengthen our democracy so that it is supportive of social harmony, and to not just respect but to take pride in the diversity of Indian society in terms of the variety of languages, religion and religious practices and social norms,' explains Nitin Desai.
Speaking at a rally at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Saturday, Raj Thackeray had criticised Sharad Pawar, accusing him of 'playing the caste card from time to time and dividing society'.
'Secularism is associated either with corruption, malgovernance or minority votes.' 'That allows the BJP to construct its own majority vote.' 'It will remain a feature of electoral contests, but it is not the only reason for the BJP's success.'
A bit of economic reforms stalled and decisions delayed -- what Narayana Murthy spoke of -- don't hurt if a country's compassionate and inclusive social fabric has survived intact; if the country is happy, observes Shyam G Menon.
Like the Hindi film industry, where formulas for hit films are done to death, the political fraternity in India is making an all out effort to 're-brand' itself to follow the hit script of the AAP, says Upasna Pandey
As the posters suddenly sprang up in Kumbakonam, the VCK members staged an agitation demanding stringent action on the Indu Makkal Katchi for their affront on Ambedkar.
Jayanta Roy Chowdhury reports on how the West Bengal elections are being fought by the BJP and Trinalool Congress amid COVID challenges, 'Bangaliana', and campaigns based on religion, region, and caste.
'Is it a crime to be inspired by the Left ideology? Why can't I read a book on Marxist philosophy? Is it banned in India?'
The KCBC, in a statement, said that even the United Nations reports have made it clear that money earned from drug trafficking is being used for terrorist activities.
Away from the distraction of its new high-profile politics, Wayanad's worries seemed very down to earth, discovers Shyam G Menon.
'Punjab elections are there and so are UP elections. They must have done some calculations (before announcing the repeal).'
National security, consolidation of border defences and border security highlights China's Tibet policy, points out Jayadeva Ranade, the former senior RA&W officer and China expert.
'Now that an extremist organisation like the PFI has been banned, it is time for the leaders to reach out to the minority community.' 'You need to have co-ordination between the State and the social fabric to send out the message that it is not directed at the community, and they should not feel vulnerable.'
Founder of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party Prof Bhim Singh passed away in Jammu on Tuesday after being unwell for about a month. He was 81.
Police are probing various angles, including the assailants coming from neighbouring Kerala.
'And Joshimath has already shown the dangers ahead.' 'We have to acknowledge that our mountains are still young babies.' 'You don't put an extra load on the back of a growing child!'
Kasam Shaikh is the fifth person in India and first from Maharashtra to receive the award for Microsoft Most Valuable Professional title in Artificial Intelligence.
'You will see more laws that treat Hindus and non-Hindus, especially Muslims, quite unequally.' 'Once you see this kind of erosion of secularism, it will be very hard to get it back.'
According to the findings of the CSDS-Lokniti survey, the BJP saw a marginal increase in its support among the Muslim voters as compared to the 2017 assembly elections.
As electoral sails shift in the dynamic political winds of West Bengal, two factors may still change the electoral equations are how the BJP fares this time and how Muslims are going to vote. Mayank Mishra reports.
'All parties are engaging in polarisation to strengthen their political vote banks, which is very unfortunate because these are young, impressionable, students.' 'These students are our future.' 'What kind of a society are we banking upon if we are planting such poisonous seeds into their minds?'
Xi's ascent to power and the quick consolidation of his leadership of the party with a shock anti-graft campaign securing the title of the "core leader" of the party bequeathed only to Mao has indeed forced his rivals in the party to submission and caught the attention of the world.
'I do not want to get into the number game. This time, the BJP will get unprecedented seats and vote percentage in Gujarat.'
'The top 11 billionaires in India added so much to their wealth during the pandemic that it would have sustained MNREGA for 10 years or the ministry of health for 10 years.'
Despite his statement that the word 'Hindu' is Persian and it has a 'dirty' meaning drawing widespread criticism, Karnataka Congress Working President Satish Jarkiholi on Tuesday sought to defend himself saying he was only referring to what has been written and published.
With its political colour dominated by less than democratic trends, BRICS currently leaves some of us wondering -- where in this grouping is there an assurance that human freedom will be respected unconditionally? It would be nice to see the new members of BRICS drawn from the ranks of countries wedded to preserving and guarding human freedom, observes Shyam G Menon.
Driven by the winds of globalisation, people are moving towards a global culture which is emerging as a threat to local cultural symbols and identities, even as social media, television and pop culture glamorise a particular way of life that the people are sadly "blindly aping", Chief Justice of India N V Ramana said on Friday.
'India's defining characteristic has been its ability to manage and sustain democratic governance through an accommodation of ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity.'
'What she did so far and what she will do now is secondary; the most important thing is a person from the Adivasi community has reached the top-most position in the country.'
Poor governance and mediocre short-sighted politics are destroying the paradise that Goa was as its environment, water table, culture and way of life is drastically threatened by tourism and migration, points out Ramesh Menon.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's solid solo performance in Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections confirms continuation of some of the trends that emerged in the Lok Sabha elections in May this year.
'Second-class citizenship would have been meaningless to a Hindu in the Mughal empire.'
'Akhilesh did politics like Rabi and Kharif crop which come once a year. Politics is not seasonal, you have to harvest your field all through the year and only then you get a good crop' Political analyst lists 12 reasons why Akhilesh Yadav lost the UP elections.
