According to political analysts, Mayawati's social engineering to unite the lower castes with the upper ones seems to have backfired.
Though the list of superstitious beliefs is long, often dissolving distinctions of class, caste, religion and education, Karnataka's anti-superstition bill is seen as a big step ahead.
'Gandhi was ambivalent about the RSS; the Sangh, for their part, actively distrusted him.'
'His success confirms that the infirm 132-year-old party can still get to its feet if it allows regional leaders to come to the fore,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
'People have simply chosen to twist my words. They are abusing me and my family. If our Hindu culture forbids beef meat, does the same culture give you the right to abuse me and my family just because I have an opinion that you don't agree with? Is that our culture?' Rishi Kapoor makes his stand clear.
'It is the regional parties and their leaders who are the ones we have to watch.'
'The time has come to incorporate Indian sociology into economic policy.' 'The first step in that direction would be to listen to economists trained in India and not just the US and the UK, argues T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Senior officers admit the BJP's revival, and the mainstreaming of the Hindutva narrative that has accompanied this political shift, have complicated communal relations within the army.
Ramping up his attack against the prime minister, the Congress chief questioned the prime minister's silence on rising fuel prices, the Rafale jet deal and issues such as farmer suicides, atrocities against women and unemployment.
'Modi's advent has made the mass of Indians realise that there was absolutely nothing wrong or objectionable in proclaiming nationalism as the masthead of the polity and Hinduism as its centerpiece,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'Modiji's programmes are efficient and with foresight, and needed for the country.' 'I also like his way of functioning. So, in whatever way I can, I would like to contribute.'
A nation that aspires to be a superpower and wants to join the ranks of global leaders in knowledge, science and technology should declare an all out war on ills like superstition and black magic at all levels, says Dinesh C Sharma.
Or for that matter scared of anybody in India if they follow the principles of Islam sincerely in spirit, asks BJP supporter Haji Akhil Shaikh in this conversation with Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.
'Anything that is anti-growth is demonised because growth is the biggest religion.' 'Growth is synonymous with progress. In fact, it is the opposite.' 'Exponential growth is cancer.'
Aseem Chhabra lists the movies that taught him about the Idea of India.
'Insulting the law, instigating violence, living ostentatiously and preaching godliness?' 'This vulgar hypocrisy needs peoples' rejection and a revolt.' 'If people can't speak out, then it will be a hypocrisy that they expect the government to act and speak for them,' says Tarun Vijay.
India-Israel relations are at a crossroads. Simply chanting old hackneyed mantras on terrorism, secularism, democracy, et al, won't suffice. There is danger of stagnation setting in, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'This is the first time when you see the story of the Azad Hind Fauj through the eyes of the soldiers.'
'It is not that he has not committed any mistakes; he has.' 'But people were willing to forgive you if you were honest.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday demanded a statement from the prime minister on media reports about the government's 'decision' to allow an American company to install a nuclear reactor diluting the provisions of Nuclear Liability Bill.
Newly-appointed chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit and state chief Raj Babbar came out all guns blazing against the SP, BSP and BJP.
While corruption destroys the moral fibre of a nation, its society and people, secularism as espoused in this country is cynical secularism, a sham perpetrated during election time and communalism is a spectre, a bogey raised by these great champions of Indian secularism to secure and perpetuate their vote bank, says Maneck Davar.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati termed the expansion of the Union council of ministers as a drama and said giving representation to a couple of leaders from the deprived sections will not ameliorate the lot of those communities.
'Imran and his government have obviously agreed to be subservient to the military establishment.' 'How can we expect him to take a stand on anything?'
After launching a book on experiences of Naidu during his first year as vice president of India and chairman of Rajya Sabha, Modi said he always provides visionary leadership whenever he gets a responsibility.
'How better can we depict the Mughal heritage?'
'The BJP had ruled earlier too, but nothing of this sort happened then... I don't say the government is behind the attacks, but they don't do anything to stop the attacks.' 'The prime minister has to tell the perpetrators that it is not in the interest of the government that such incidents happen.' 'When somebody says all Indians are Hindus, responsible people should ask him to stop and assure the country that this is not the opinion of the government. But it is not happening and it is quite unfortunate,' Cardinal Baselios Cleemis tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
'I want to know, how can any God become impure if woman enters the temple?'
'They are not affected by ISIS' sentiment of avenging the suffering of the global ummah.' 'They have a huge ummah of their own in India, a huge Muslim population.' 'And because of that, they have to take into consideration the political and social conditions of Muslims in India.' 'They have to express themselves in a more political way and not through terrorism.'
'Our great Indian nationalists are rousing passions against their own people, not against another nation. Our fraud nationalists go after their own citizens for their religion, or for their views. Their concern and their passion is the enemy within. That is not love of nation or love of anything else. It is hatred and it is bitterness,' says Aakar Patel.
'And if you think this is alarmist nonsense, you are helping it happen,' says Mitali Saran.
''This chief minister is so obstinate that he is ready to use the police to attain his goal.' 'Had he been more mature rather than obstinate, Kerala would not have reached a boiling point.'
'There is a design of fundamentalists that the north east must become an Islamic country.'
'To treat a Hindu fleeing persecution and certain death in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan on par with a Muslim voluntarily sneaking into India for economic reasons or otherwise is callously cruel, blatantly perverse and grossly unjust.' 'The concept of equality cannot be invoked to perpetuate a historical wrong that needs to be righted,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
In a virtual no-man's land ever since India became independent in 1947, more than 9,500 persons living in 51 enclaves in Coochbehar district are exercising their franchise for the first time on May 5.
Trinamool Congress described it as "Black Monday" and a dark day for the country's constitution, the idea of India, and the Rajya Sabha
'If Mr Modi and Mr Shah have made a poisonous, polarising campaign their brahmastra for 2019, Mamata Banerjee is showing them its limitations,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Jose Mourinho felt ashamed by racist fans who pushed a black passenger off a metro train in Paris and he hopes the victim will accept an invitation to watch a game at Stamford Bridge to prove such behaviour was not a reflection of the real Chelsea.
Leela may carry the buzz that it deals with a controversial subject, but there is nothing objectionable in the film, says Paresh C Palicha.
Speculation over Justice Gogoi's appointment as the next CJI arose after the court's four most senior judges, including Justice Gogoi, called a press conference in January and criticised Justice Misra on various issues.
