By presenting the battle in Bengal as one between Mamata on one side and Modi-Shah on the other, the saffron camp has projected the former as a larger-than-life figure, a portrayal which has the potential of turning her into Modi's main competitor in 2024, predicts Amulya Ganguli.
Sudhir Bisht recalls the battle of 1984, in which UP's strongman H N Bahuguna was felled by Bollywood superstar turned political novice Amitabh Bachchan.
'There are many able, good, police officers in Bengal who are capable of handling this situation, but without Mamata Banerjee nothing moves.'
In his address to the UNGA, Khan spoke at length about India's decision to revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and criticised the government's move to put in place a communication lockdown.
Antulay's ministry is also the nodal ministry for the National Commission for Minorities, which conducted a string of inquiries, mainly into complaints of religious rights violations in non-Congress states, in 2006.
NIA officials told rediff.com that they have intimated both the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing to seek more information from Bangladesh regarding the operational capabilities of an outfit named Hizbut Tahrir, which since the past three years has been working closely with the Indian Mujahideen.
Raj said MNS would contest all elections in Maharashtra.
'The current BJP leadership believes the party's expansion across India, and thus their own survival at the top, depends on injecting communal tension into areas where it has so far been largely controlled,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
The Bharatiya Janata Party President said that it is difficult to make a guess who will win in Punjab.
In the wake of claims by former Home Secretary R K Singh, BJP on Tuesday said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde should be sacked if it is proved in an inquiry that he tried to prevent Delhi Police from taking action against an associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Under attack from rivals over the "puppy" remark, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said all forms of life are valued and worshipped in Indian culture, in an apparent bid to assuage feelings of the Muslim community.
'I am not a friend of anyone who wants to defend, justify and glorify any businessman, power drunk person or religious fanatics, fake activists, apologists of terrorists, appeasers of some, oppressors of others, pretending to be political leaders,' says Amit Mehra.
'Bangladeshi Muslims want to increase their population in India.' 'They have made colonies in India.' 'Rohingyas are doing the same.' 'This has to stop.'
Courting controversy Triamool Congress MP Idris Ali on Wednesday made a shocking allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had 'links to terrorism' which is why the attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base was executed resulting in the death of seven defence personnel.
In a bid to appease the public following the AIADMK's rout in the polls, she also restored free power to farmers.
As long as even one Indian holds aloft Ambedkar's portrait and recites the Preamble, the Republic remains alive, says Mihir S Sharma.
The Madras high court on Tuesday rejected a plea from mining giant Vedanta to order reopening of its Sterlite copper unit at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.
Terming reservations in private sector as a 'new form of slavery', Shiv Sena on Thursday said it won't serve any social cause but will appease the 'politics of vote'.
The fifth-term Lok Sabha member is the mascot of the party's Hindutva-wrapped agenda of development as the BJP makes a final push in its bid to capture power in the state
'The Ulema have come out as villains against Indian secularism, impeding the secular united resistance against violent Hindutva that is backed by ministers in the government,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Critics have dismissed the move as a political gesture by Beijing to appease the people of Hong Kong.
The Emergency greatly influenced the RSS' makeover from a fringe force in the Indian political imagination to one that could have its own man sworn in as prime minister in two decades' time. A riveting excerpt from Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil's India's First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977.
Never before in the history of the Republic has an election in the state mattered so much as it does now, observes Virendra Kapoor.
'Why does Mr Modi only attack Nehru from the Dynasty?' 'At one level, it is pure politics,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
The Pakistan Foreign Office gave no reason for Lodhi's removal in a statement late on Monday.
The vision of a 'New India' would talk about constructing a nation where the so-called appeasement of religious minorities would stop, Hinduism would be accorded "due status" and there will be one law for all citizens, including for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, reports Archis Mohan.
The BJP urged the EC to take 'suo motu cognisance' and take suitable action.
A division bench of justices Biswanath Somadder and A Mukherjee said the government's silence on the permission is 'astonishing and astounding'.
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
What Roy is planning is not known. Will he side with the BJP, which he calls 'non-communal'? Or will he float a party? Or revive the Nationalist TMC to further his political career?
'Washington is well aware that the Haqqani group was responsible for terrorist attacks on the Indian diplomatic establishments in Afghanistan.' 'But today US self-interest dictates that Sirajuddin Haqqani's mainstreaming in Afghan political life and a potential elevation eventually to a leadership role at the national level is useful and necessary, since he can deliver peace,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The prime minister has been unstoppable as he transported the BJP to colossal success on a wave of muscular nationalism, majoritarian pride and charisma.
'India should pledge that it will only target those provinces of Pakistan where nuclear weapons are located,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
State party leaders admit that Hindu consolidation by itself was not good enough to unseat Didi.
"The findings of Pew Global research are very significant. After the Modi government came to power, people's trust in the government, democracy and confidence that the nation is in the right direction has gone up drastically," the BJP chief said.
Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi on Wednesday said there was no brother or sister but only rivals in a poll battle. He comments come in the wake of Sadhu Yadav, a controversial former MP, announced that he will contest the Lok Sabha polls as an independent from the Saran seat.
'This is India, bhai. This kind of country does not exist anywhere in the world.'
BJP chief Amit Shah had set a target of winning 22 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 seats in West Bengal.
'What the Hinduisation of Muslim names by the BJP suggests is that the party's anti-Muslim outlook matches the virulence of almost any other far right outfit such as the Ku Klux Klan,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
With two years to go before West Bengal elects its next government, the BJP's internal objective is to scale down the Trinamool Congress tally from 211 to 45 seats. This amounts to an annihilation of the TMC while enabling the BJP to win a record 250 seats in the 295-member legislature, reports Radhika Ramaseshan
