From the Aadhaar verdict to #MeToo's arrival in the country to the entry into the Sabarimala temple -- India had a newsworthy 2018. As we step into 2019, these are the top moments from the year gone by.
'Seems more than half of the 'desh' remained untouched by his 'samajik ekta ka andolan',' points out Jyoti Punwani.
Claiming that that the law is a rejection of secularism, the Kerala CM said his govt will question its validity on all platforms.
'This is possibly a long drawn battle and if the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party are together in this long battle, a new political picture will emerge in the country.' 'In this battle if we have to sacrifice or give up anything, we are ready.' 'We have to remain cautious against the BJP's attempts to break our unity.' 'We want this alliance to stay.'
Dr Behera speaks about how the nationwide positive reaction to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir indicates that the very idea of India is changing. From a diverse, multicultural entity, could India be becoming a place where assimilation is more important than accommodation?
'Afzal Guru was convicted of supporting the attack on India's Parliament. The Supreme Court said "the collective conscience of society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded" to Guru.' 'Till we can think up similar justifications for hanging non-Muslims, I do not think we can delink terrorism from religion in our minds,' argues Aakar Patel.
'A one party-State, with only one kind of Indian,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
'The reason I call Dadri a landmark turning point in our politics is the relatively muted response of the self-styled secular forces.' 'Top leaders of the Congress haven't even taken a padyatra to the village, just a 40 minute drive from Delhi. Lalu, Nitish, Mamata, all claimants to the secular vote, are afraid of messing with an issue involving the cow.' 'Holiness of the cow has now become as multi-partisan an issue as hostility to Pakistan,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'Jignesh Mevani has many strengths: Youth, articulation, fearlessness, proficiency with social media, political and ideological flexibility.' 'Also focus, as in targeting the BJP as the one and only enemy for now and using that justification to align with the rest,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'It is clear that economic policy and reform under this administration will always be afterthoughts, something to be carried out only when no other political concern intervenes -- when, in other words, the government feels safe and comfortable enough to take a moderate risk,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
'From his persistent fuelling of pan-Hindu nationalism to pandering to narrow Gujarati chauvinism, Rambo rides again, using fair means and foul -- and often foul -- to gain the battleground,' says Sunil Sethi.
He said RSS men were planted in each ministry.
The Congress president questioned the government over unfulfilled promises and questioned the Rafale deal.
'There is no future for the Shiv Sena under Uddhavji's leadership.'
He tried to control damage by tweeting later that his remarks had been distorted and he had no intention of hurting religious sentiments.
'You cannot win an election without putting together a massive war chest.' 'It is impossible to put a war chest together, without giving and taking favours from India Inc, with a large dose of extortion thrown in,' says Devangshu Datta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to a joint meeting of the United States Congress will be an opportunity to energise efforts to improve bilateral ties, top American lawmakers from across the political divide have said.
'As a person who has seen the treasure, I am worried about its safety.'
He also accused Pakistan of wanting to destabilise and weaken India through terrorism.
One teenager died in police firing last May. Another teenager is paralysed waist down. Both families have been ignored by the political establishment, including the AIMIM.
In an address that was telecast live on national broadcaster Doordarshan, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday patted the Narendra Modi government for initiatives on national security, economy and international relations in a short period of four months.
Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite Indian films of 2021.
"Nobody can do injustice to Ayodhya," he said, adding that the holy city is identified by Lord Ram.
'What we are today witnessing is the final act of the Pakistani army trying to retain its turf,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'In the hands of a majoritarian government, with utter contempt for the cultural plurality and diversity of our great nation, the pipe dream of making Hindi the sole official language takes on nightmarish proportions.'
Faceless Ambedkarite groups from across the country are running BSP's election war rooms, writes Archis Mohan.
'The rise of IS and intolerant Wahabism are the real dangers to Indian democracy and pluralism, not the RSS,' says Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay.
Some within the BJP see Amit Shah's entry into the Rajya Sabha as the party's succession plan for 2025 when Narendra Modi turns 75.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to appoint Hindutva hardliner Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister has drawn an avalanche of reactions from opposition parties.
Religious freedom in India was on a "negative trajectory" in 2015 as religious tolerance "deteriorated" and religious freedom violations "increased", a United States report on international religious freedom said
'India could become the newest Asian tiger under Modi's dynamic leadership. Modi could become the Nehru of the 21st century, and re-establish a new Tryst with Destiny, by stating once and for all that Mera Bharat Mahaan is and will always be a truly secular and inclusive democracy in the best spirit of Bharatiya-tva,' says Ram Kelkar, offering an NRI view of the Modi triumph.
No new ideas, please, we are Indian. Seventeen years into the 21st century, we are still fixated by the ideas of the 20th century.
The man behind Aligarh Muslim University 200 years on.
Rediff.com lists a few instances when BJP leaders and ministers shot their mouth off.
Thanks to the indefatigable perseverance of Congressman Joe Crowley, New York Democrat and a long-time and time-tested friend of India and the Indian American community, the United States Congress will celebrate it's first-ever Congressional Diwali celebration on October 29 at 6 pm at the Rayburn House Building foyer on the first floor.
''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.'
Generations of Indians don't quite grasp that there would barely be an India had it not been for the Sardar whose steadfastness and guile stitched together that which had been united only in philosophy and spirituality and sometimes not even then -- for thousands of years. A fascinating excerpt from Hindol Sengupta's The Man Who Saved India, Sardar Patel and His Idea of India.
An insistence on only one language will inevitably be resented as a form of imperialism and resisted.
'The EC seems to have killed the joy of elections by stretching it interminably.' 'Imagine watching Andhadhun in a six-hour format and you will get the point,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
