Modi-Shah BJP has resurrected dangers and the enemy from the past and built a scary jingoism. It's a great diversionary tactic but history shows it never ends well, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Why is an NRI banker with an MBA from MIT canvassing votes in Madurai?
'You may be an MP or an MLA; when we go to Bengal, we go as cadre.'
Modi and Shah can't afford to lose any of the 24 per cent Dalit vote of 2014, says Shekhar Gupta.
On a day when her companion of close to a quarter century was anointed her successor, Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits J Jayalalithaa's memorial on Marina Beach two months after her death.
Let national interest alone be Narendra Modi's guiding principle, says Virendra Kapoor. No personal agendas, no divisive ideas and ideologies, no crony capitalist interests.
'Secularism is associated either with corruption, malgovernance or minority votes.' 'That allows the BJP to construct its own majority vote.' 'It will remain a feature of electoral contests, but it is not the only reason for the BJP's success.'
'Do you know there is a 500 page report prepared by an inquiry committee headed by myself? When I placed the report in Parliament, have you heard any single Opposition leader give a notice for discussion? Why are they not demanding a discussion in Parliament on the report? They could have established that there was a scam. Today, a Parliament Committee report is as good as a Parliament report and this report says the 2G scam is no scam. Our government is suffering because of the media hype on these scams,' Congress MP P C Chacko tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
'Modi has been successful in convincing people that from a social point of view, he is closest to Indian citizens. His is a victory of Indian-ness.'
What is the road ahead for Rahul Gandhi? Shehzad Poonawalla offers a blueprint.
Here's the full text of President's address with a word cloud.
The incidence of more crimes across Tamil Nadu is threatening to make law and order an inevitable poll issue in the state-wide local bodies elections due only months from now, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress candidate from Kankavli constituency in Maharashtra Nitesh Rane said he has earned his candidature for the legislative assembly elections through his work and not because he is the son of former chief minister Narayan Rane.
'With the victory in Maharashtra and Haryana, the question which needs to be asked is why the government was reluctant to share names of these people, because there is a possibility that they may have been funding the BJP's election campaign.'
'Imran Khan might actually get some initial leeway from the generals to pursue better ties with India -- but not beyond a point.'
Rahul feels collective decisions taken with his mother and sister helped the party in the December assembly elections. Hence, he wants to follow the same strategy for the Lok Sabha election, too.
The PM also took a swipe at 79-year-old Gogoi who had called the assembly election as a direct fight between him and Modi, saying he can only pay his respects to the elderly leader.
India is celebrating one of its biggest festivals commemorating the victory of good over evil. In Bihar, which is in the middle of its biggest election campaign, festivities are in full swing. Archana Masih set out to capture the mood on the street of small town India and discovered some things that one no longer finds.
'Initially, most people willingly stood for hours in queues to withdraw cash because they believed that after 50 days, black money would come out, some big men would be punished and perhaps jailed. Again, nothing happened.' 'Now the talk is that small people have been punished while the rich and the powerful have got away.' 'The RSS is not going out of its way to counter the view. Let the BJP explain.'
While accepting the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday night, Biden said in Delaware that "united we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America."
'Amethi people will not leave the Gandhi parivar even if they do not meet them.'
'The youth have given New Delhi a chance. Now it is up to the policy-makers in Delhi to respect their political choices.'
'Almost deified by enough Indians now, never mind his politics and, worse, economics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'If Modi were to be elected, he would be part of a coalition government, and within that he would have to take this minority into account. Muslims cannot relate to the idea of Hindu nationalism. Although it is presented as a pan-Indian idea, it appears to them to be exclusive.'
"We are the people, especially in the Kashmir Valley, who upheld the tricolour high over the years at the cost of thousands of our workers who were martyred," Mufti told reporters in Jammu at the end of her five-day visit to Jammu -- her first after release from over one-year-long detention under the Pubic Safety Act (PSA).
Dar was appointed as a daily wage employee in the state Health Department and has been on election duty since Wednesday.
'Had Muslims been a vote bank, they wouldn't be in the condition they are now,' Asaduddin Owaisi tells Jyoti Punwani.
'Modi's more than dozen interviews are helping him fine-tune the rough edges of his campaign. He is trying to influence floating voters, undecided voters, non-committal and caste-neutral voters into deciding whether to go for the Lotus or not. These could have been Congress voters, but its divided house, torn between the old guard and Rahul Gandhi, seems to have got completely confused.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt lists what the Congress did wrong to find itself in such a sorry mess today.
'It is not that he has not committed any mistakes; he has.' 'But people were willing to forgive you if you were honest.'
The Ram Sene chief is likely to dent the Hindutva vote bank in BJP's 18-year-old bastion in Karnataka, turn the tide in favour of the Congress. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The question wafting in the winds over the Vaigai riverbed is, has Karunanidhi's disgraced son accepted his fate? A Ganesh Nadar and Saisuresh Sivaswamy find out.
The final pre-poll survey done by Comres for the Independent newspaper gives the Tories a 10-point lead over the Labour party.
MIM workers tried to shoo the complaining woman and her silent husband away, but Owaisi insisted that she be heard. As he turned to leave, he told her: "Good that you spoke up. Keep doing that.
The UK's employment minister and British Prime Minister David Cameron's Indian Diaspora Champion has been a very vocal supporter of Brexit in the June 23 referendum, leading to a disparaging remark about her name by a trade union chief in favour of remaining within the economic bloc.
During her three-day visit, Priyanka will cover a distance of 100-km by boat in Ganga from Prayagraj to Varanasi.
Harris, 54, would beat Trump most handily -- by a 10-point margin -- if the election were held now, according to an online poll carried out by Axios.
'Gujarat poll results have boosted the morale of Congress workers, not only in Gujarat but all over India'
Budapest ended its bid to host the 2024 Olympics on Wednesday, citing a lack of unity after a political movement opposing the move collected more than a quarter of a million signatures to force a referendum on the issue.
In Gujarat, Amit Shah's tactic of spiriting away Congress leaders and MLAs is jocularly called 'shop-and-buy votes'. Although haemorrhaging the Congress is a vital aspect of his election blueprint, an aide said, "Amitbhai wants to win on our strengths and not by weakening the Congress."
It was not very easy to leave the family which I built for 20 years but then I got a very warm welcome from the Thackeray family.
