As Narendra Modi and his ministers vigorously campaign for a shift to a cashless society, Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf reports on what is really happening on the ground.
'The Ever Given, which had 200,000 tonnes of cargo, was too long for the Suez Canal.'
'Had it not been for the complicity of the state and Biren Singh's leadership, these riots would not have spread this far and for so long.'
'The collegium system will remove any such doubts from the minds of people and the political parties.'
'Therefore, these people want Imran Khan out of the elections whenever it is held.' 'For this, he will have to be disqualified from contesting on the basis of cases against him, declaring that he is not sadiq (honest) and ameen (righteous).'
'Siddaramaiah was openly taking on the BJP's communal agenda, which very few non-BJP politicians do.'
Chandrashekhar Sawant halted the train by applying the emergency brake when he saw the debris falling as the train was approaching the collapsing bridge.
'If we want a stable society, then all groups must feel that they have a seat at the table of power.'
'A slum free Mumbai cannot happen with Dharavi at the centre of the city.'
'This trope must have been taken in 30 films.' 'The rogue agent is a common trope and not something unique.'
Within four years of winning a single party majority in the Lok Sabha with 282 seats -- the first time it has happened in 30 years -- the BJP has lost it.
The hits and misses of the week.
'The act of demolition, for whatever reason, was far too hasty without even giving an opportunity of an appeal.'
'Since I was held at gunpoint I had no option but to give them the car keys.' 'They took the car and drove away.'
'The decline of the Congress party and its inability to play the lead role in Opposition politics has created a space for the TMC to expand.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf tries to escape the Mumbai heat in the hills of Uttarakhand and discovers the aftermath of climate change and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
'There is no point in just saying, 'hum wapas bhej denge (we will send Kashmiri Pandits back)'.'
Can Nawazuddin Siddiqui bring Bal Thackeray's powerful personality to life? Syed Firdaus Ashraf watches the Thackeray trailer to find out.
'William Mustoe, the director of horticulture during British rule, named the Presidential Palace garden after the Mughals.' 'He simply kept the name because it was made on the pattern of a Mughal garden.''He simply kept the name Mughal gardens because it was made on the pattern of Mughal garden.'
'I would like to see Kharge include Shashi in the Congress Working Committee.' 'The other alternative is that the Congress will marginalise him.'
'If the Congress gets to form the government in 2024, then Sonia Gandhi by virtue of being CPP chairperson will have the authority to decide who will be the prime minister and not Kharge.'
'The BJP always said Rahul Gandhi is an 'air-conditioned leader', but after this yatra he has proved them wrong.'
'It was Maulana Azad's foresight which created the IITs, UGC, science academies across the country.'
'Switching loyalty from one party to another is completely unfair as it devalues my vote.'
'This is not the right way to speak about farmers. How can Kumaraswamy call farmers goondas?'
'When Etihad initiated their bid, it was conditional.' 'They said only if someone takes a 'haircut' would they be interested.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com traces how the beating up of a man in Ghaziabad went from alleged communal attack to reported regular crime in a matter of days.
The result was so disastrous for the Congress and NCP that they lost 41 seats out of 48 to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
'If you want to change everything all of a sudden to polyester, then the production of khadi flags will come under trouble.'
'The place I used to sleep in the jail had a big window high up on the opposite side, where at sunrise and sunset time a bird would drop in every day.' 'It could be an eagle or a peacock. And sometimes a monkey.' 'Those moments calmed you, brought hope...'
'Israel has received an extremely hard and rude reminder that it cannot go ahead and talk of normalisation of relations with other Arab countries without addressing the issues pertaining to Palestine.'
Where did the rasgulla originate from? Is the dish originally from Odisha or West Bengal?
'BJP has achieved its aim by making him a regional leader dependent on them.'
'Every traffic police station in the city has a policeman designated unofficially as the 'cashier.' 'His job is to collect the bribes and, at the end of every month, distribute this money among the cops according to rank.'
'You need to have enough funds to maintain the primacy of public transport and it should not suffer because of lack of funds.'
'Many BJP MLAs and ministers tell us the police does not listen to them.'
'There is a sense within the government and Modi that things are not as good as they were in 2019.'
