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.
'If you want to change everything all of a sudden to polyester, then the production of khadi flags will come under trouble.'
Chandrashekhar Sawant halted the train by applying the emergency brake when he saw the debris falling as the train was approaching the collapsing bridge.
The hits and misses of the week.
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.
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.
'Where was the armed police?' 'Did you see armed constables around him?' 'There was deep negligence by the UP police and this was a deep conspiracy.'
Can Nawazuddin Siddiqui bring Bal Thackeray's powerful personality to life? Syed Firdaus Ashraf watches the Thackeray trailer to find out.
'It is a well-thought-out decision. I feel it is difficult for him now to step back.'
'When Etihad initiated their bid, it was conditional.' 'They said only if someone takes a 'haircut' would they be interested.'
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 a sense within the government and Modi that things are not as good as they were in 2019.'
'This is not the right way to speak about farmers. How can Kumaraswamy call farmers goondas?'
'BJP has achieved its aim by making him a regional leader dependent on them.'
The result was so disastrous for the Congress and NCP that they lost 41 seats out of 48 to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
'...it gets a survey report that they are going to lose elections.' 'The fear of losing elections will make them immediately conduct a caste census.'
'They fear their caste privilege will be exposed if there is an OBC caste census.'
'Upper castes who complain against reservations are fighting only for their own castes.'
'They want to wind up Osho's Pune operation, take the money and move out of India.'
'After Ambedkar, Dr Gail was the only writer who wrote critically on caste issues.'
Journalist Prashant Kanojia was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police on August 18 for a retweet and has been in custody ever since.
'While I am talking to you, I have no idea whether I'm infected or not.' 'I just want to go back home safely.'
'Whenever the Government of India throws the debris, they will not take such care of the mosque's debris and Muslims may object to such a move at that time.'
'They were certainly not practising Hinduism in the Harappan culture (which includes Mohenjo Daro and other sites).' 'There was no notion of Hinduism then.'
'Many BJP MLAs and ministers tell us the police does not listen to them.'
'The actual amount due to Jet Airways employees is Rs 1,200 crore, and the management is giving only Rs 52 crore.'
'Punjab elections are there and so are UP elections. They must have done some calculations (before announcing the repeal).'
Where did the rasgulla originate from? Is the dish originally from Odisha or West Bengal?
'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.'
'Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal are the two people who have been marked and punished'
'Gehlot is right now doing things, which are not appreciated by the Gandhis.' 'The Gandhis have realised that their writ does not run in Rajasthan, therefore they have deflected the issue to Kharge.'
Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf does a comparative analysis of suicide numbers released by the NCRB. Data: Hemantkumar Shivsaran/Rediff.com.
'The decision to supply free food grains is not an economically sound decision because the government will find it very difficult in future to charge anything for food grains.'
'They killed one Gauri, but now there will be lakhs of people who will continue to do Gauri's work.'
'After Father Stan Swamy's death one thing has become very clear, that if you fight for justice in India you will be called a Maoist by the State.'
Rohith Vemula's suicide exposes all of us as a nation, argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'Javed Ahmed was no mastermind of the riots, and this is not mentioned in the FIR against him either.'
