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.
'It is a well-thought-out decision. I feel it is difficult for him now to step back.'
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.
'...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.'
'They want to wind up Osho's Pune operation, take the money and move out of India.'
'There is a sense within the government and Modi that things are not as good as they were in 2019.'
Can Nawazuddin Siddiqui bring Bal Thackeray's powerful personality to life? Syed Firdaus Ashraf watches the Thackeray trailer to find out.
'Upper castes who complain against reservations are fighting only for their own castes.'
'When Etihad initiated their bid, it was conditional.' 'They said only if someone takes a 'haircut' would they be interested.'
'BJP has achieved its aim by making him a regional leader dependent on them.'
'This is not the right way to speak about farmers. How can Kumaraswamy call farmers goondas?'
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.
'They were certainly not practising Hinduism in the Harappan culture (which includes Mohenjo Daro and other sites).' 'There was no notion of Hinduism then.'
The result was so disastrous for the Congress and NCP that they lost 41 seats out of 48 to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
'After Ambedkar, Dr Gail was the only writer who wrote critically on caste issues.'
'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.'
'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.'
Journalist Prashant Kanojia was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police on August 18 for a retweet and has been in custody ever since.
'Punjab elections are there and so are UP elections. They must have done some calculations (before announcing the repeal).'
'The actual amount due to Jet Airways employees is Rs 1,200 crore, and the management is giving only Rs 52 crore.'
Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf does a comparative analysis of suicide numbers released by the NCRB. Data: Hemantkumar Shivsaran/Rediff.com.
'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.'
'Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal are the two people who have been marked and punished'
'Many BJP MLAs and ministers tell us the police does not listen to them.'
'The right wing has worked for 70-80 years at the grass roots before it burst onto social media.' 'Social media is an extension of its formidable work in society.' 'If you think you can fight them on social media, forget it. You can't.'
'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.'
Where did the rasgulla originate from? Is the dish originally from Odisha or West Bengal?
'Javed Ahmed was no mastermind of the riots, and this is not mentioned in the FIR against him either.'
'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.'
'They killed one Gauri, but now there will be lakhs of people who will continue to do Gauri's work.'
'A political party taking the law into its hands is objectionable, especially in the context of the 2002 incidents in Gujarat.'
'There was outside intervention which is what led to the initial violence.' 'Once the violence started, there was a brutal lathi-charge by the police.'
'They also think that if all opposition parties rally behind him, then 2024 will be Rahul versus Modi and that will be advantage BJP'
The classic Marathi movie Simhasan would be an interesting watch today as it draws a parallels to the current political turmoil in Maharashtra.
