'A class antagonism of rich versus poor took the colouring of a communal confrontation,' says Sunil Sethi.
In the first secretary-level appointments by the Narendra Modi government, Rakesh Garg was on Sunday named the new telecom secretary while Jugal Kishore Mohapatra is to be secretary in the fertilizers ministry.
What does one deduce from this silence? That the minorities in the BJP era have been muted, perhaps even coercively, asks Sajad Ahmad Dar.
When Prime Minister Modi travelled to the US last year Home Minister Rajnath Singh was officially put in charge of the government. But the BJP's national executive in Bengaluru made it clear who now matters in the party and in what order. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports
'Favourable treatment to selected areas has been a pattern throughout the state.'
'A change of government will bring about a lot of changes because everything is frozen for the last two years. So, the frozen energies of India will be released.' Swadeshi Jagran Manch convenor Swaminathan Gurumurthy discusses the Modi phenomenon with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has made it abundantly clear that he would contest against Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi.
'People are angry.' 'First notebandi, then GST, now losses on the farm have ruined us.'
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Modi has plenty of opportunities to test out his strategy. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott will visit India this month, and Modi will fly to Washington towards the end of September for a summit with US President Barack Obama.
A policy-related problem that urgently needs to be redressed is the 'miniaturisation' of projects.
Initiated move to privatise Air India, but reports on poverty and cast census remained unfinished
The Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Aadhar card could bring electoral dividends to the government as it tries to hard to woo the poor, reports Renu Mittal
'Am I wrong in presuming that UP is being seen as a new laboratory of communal politics like one has seen in Gujarat,' asks Ashutosh.
While so-called 'cow protectors' have indulged in widespread vigilantism under the garb of protection of cattle, there has been little effort to save them from the real threat to their survival -- urban garbage, open dumps and apathy of cow owners.
It, however, lags other states on crucial parameters such as health care and rural poverty.
Amit Shah's sustained campaigning against slaughterhouses has unnerved UP's leather and meat export industry.
'If an election could be won only by canvassing then the AAP candidate will easily win. In canvassing they have let all the parties behind. They have met every voter in the villages many times and they have come from so far.' A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com travels to the rural hinterland of Varanasi and finds that only the BJP and AAP are active here.
'Rather than 'consolidate' the Hindu majority votes, as the BJP-RSS combine has been known and wont to try, this time round PM Modi has himself taken the party to the next step, by seeking to create a new divide within the majority community, a la V P Singh in his time.'
Airports and hotels are among the smartest buildings.
'It is the regional parties and their leaders who are the ones we have to watch.'
"India has become the fastest growing major economy in the world. Despite the global slowdown, we have registered excellent growth. Today, India is a bright spot in the global economy. We are seen as the engine of global growth," he said.
Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are over. Another set of state elections is due in 2018. Here's an assessment of the next round of the electoral challenge and how it could change India's political equations.
Union HRD minister says women in the country are not told what to wear, whom to meet and where to go.
'Will the Statue of Unity and Tent City Narmada have as much of a transformational effect on the local economy as the salt desert/Tent City Dhordo did is something that only time can tell,' says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar wants the Modi government and BJP to reap the profit of the surgical strikes. But electoral history suggests a political party's ability to exploit military successes for poll gains has a mixed record.
'Water is not an economic resource, but we treat water as an economic resource meant for the benefit of human beings.' 'Water is more of a life source than an economic resource.'
With crucial assembly elections round the corner in four states, Congress leaders are currently debating whether to project chief ministerial candidates in the poll-bound states.
The rising price of pulses has become a hot issue during the Bihar assembly polls.
'The BJP is not the party it was 10 years ago. It has changed. It is emerging like the Congress.' 'Sometimes, I feel the BJP has taken the Congress' space.' 'Its politics is also resembling the Congress.'
There are many firsts in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha speech which constitute the cardinal elements of a strategy which has all the potential to serve as the mainspring of the polity for the rest of the century, says B S Raghavan.
'Modi should not feel shy of proclaiming as the meaning of secularism regard for all religions in proportion to their numbers in tune with the spirit of democracy and adopting it as State policy,' says B S Raghavan.
No conversation about Indian art is complete without mention of Madhvi Parekh
'At a time when sports leagues are often smothered by the allure of spurious glamour, it is easy to forget what makes them so exciting in the first place: The sport itself.' 'At its core, the PKL has a fast-paced, engaging sport working for it.' 'Simply put, kabaddi, with its end-to-end action and oscillating fortunes, is almost never dull to watch,' says Dhruv Munjal.
Ajit Mishra, Vice President, Research, Religare Broking, answers readers' queries on stocks they own or want to buy.
L K Advani's observation on Narendra Modi, an attempt to cut the BJP's prime ministerial nominee down to size, billing him a mere event manager like Vijay Raaz in Mira Nair's film Monsoon Wedding, speaks volumes about their differences... In the coming days, the Congress and BJP may lock horns over the AgustaWestland chopper deal. In an Italian court, Guido Haschke, one of the accused middlemen who allegedly bribed the Indian side, has sought a plea bargain to reduce his jail term if convicted. On or around April 11, we will know how much Haschke is ready to reveal. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt detects which way the political wind is blowing these days.
Following the Supreme Court ruling against liquor being sold within 500 metres of state and national highways, the infamous Indian jugaad is in play once again. Veenu Sandhu, Nikita Puri, Ranjita Ganesan & Avishek Rakshit find out how India is coping.
Having made farmer suicides a campaign issue, Modi and the BJP should have no complaints in now having to live with it, says Aakar Patel.
Indian cities will go down like a pack of cards if hit by a powerful earthquake, seismologists tell Rashme Sehgal.
Congress campaign seeking to paint the ruling party as anti-poor and anti-farmer seems to have unnerved the BJP, feels T N Ninan.
'Our priority cannot be better cities. Since real change is not possible, we must satisfy ourselves with a change in name,' says Aakar Patel.
