'The BJP can kill two birds with one stone by wresting back control of the message; and the steps are fairly obvious. Once the media is neutral, there is a level playing field,' argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
With all its ups and downs, 2015 is now concluding. And the New Year will bring new expectations to all of us. So tell us your expectations from 2016:
The Delhi police, which drew flak after December 16 gang rape but was redeemed by court's praise for its probe, on Friday said the verdict will be a deterrent and will uphold common man's belief in criminal justice system.
'It is not that he has not committed any mistakes; he has.' 'But people were willing to forgive you if you were honest.'
'Rather than an outcome of 'pro-incumbency', the exit poll results betray a completely lackadaisical approach of the Opposition parties.' 'While a new kind of politics was on display for the past five years, they were still mired in their old-style methods which will cost them the election,' predicts Utkarsh Mishra.
Stinking politics will only sink the party which practices it, feels Vikas Khanna
'To be complimented for a fantastic performance after just viewing the trailer! This never happened to me before.' 'If you have given a party a mandate for five years, stop blaming it for everything under the sun.' 'My kind of films do not make stars. Now we, the actors, after years of struggle, have created a parallel industry where we have made a name for ourselves. But stars we are not nor can we be.' 'For a boy coming from a remote village of Bihar at the Indo-Nepal border where no transport was available to commute to the nearest town, even coming to Delhi and then Mumbai and finally watching himself on the silver screen was a huge thing!'
'People have a certain perception about my political leanings -- and rightly so.' 'But I am an actor first, and then an activist.' 'And I am not an accidental actor.' 'There was no way I was going to be dishonest with my acting,' Anupam Kher tells Veenu Sandhu.
Masaan co-writer Varun Grover talks about the film.
'The prime minister has merely paid lip service condemning these crimes instead of launching a massive crackdown against such brutalities,' argues Professor Mohammad Sajjad.
Manoj Bajpayee confides in Rediff.com's Ronjita Kulkarni about his 'long journey filled with rejection, betrayal, misery, failures and disillusionment.'
No matter how much the likes of Modi brag about cleaning up politics, the goondas and the godfathers will flourish until India can deliver justice to its poor and the system can work to the benefit of ordinary Indians, says Vir Sanghvi.
'Kaala's sin is not that it is presented as a mouthpiece for its director Pa Ranjith's political viewpoints, but that it makes a travesty of them.' 'Ranjith turns Marx into merchandise, all the while functioning as a hired hand for Brand Rajinikanth,' points out Sreehari Nair.
There is nothing the young Purvanchali wants more desperately than to escape to a place with less hopelessness, and some opportunity, discovers Shekhar Gupta.
The State is trying to curb the students movements, therefore, there are suspicions against some of the Subramanian report on education's recommendations, says Mohammad Sajjad.
There is something about Anurag Kashyap that puts the cinema watchdogs on alert, says Veenu Sandhu.
Why the prime minister's legacy will depend on how he governs, not the number of state elections he fights as personality contests, says Shekhar Gupta.
'Poverty-stricken and drought-affected families in Bundelkhand and Marathawada are selling their children for as little as a few hundred rupees.'
Following her spat, 'Aunty National' Irani took to Facebook to speak out against her detractors. Here's the Facebook post in response to her critics which Rediff.com represents verbatim:
The elections in two eastern Indian states were keenly observed in Bangladesh for two major contentious issues, writes Prakash Bhandari from Dhaka.
Do you have an interesting love story that you want to share? Write to us!
'Even the mafia has certain ethics and follow certain rules, but Abu Salem was so ruthless, so inhuman, there was no ethics at all. He had no basic humanity in him.' India's foremost crime writer S Hussain Zaidi on the dreaded gangster.
'Anu Malik has great respect for lyrics and lyrics writers. He has worked with big important people through the '80s and the '90s -- everyone from Gulzar and Majrooh Sultanpuri. He treated me with great respect.' 'I don't think the AIB controversy will affect any comedian who can think right and straight, who is clear about his comedy and politics.'
'I had been to a village in Haryana. One woman who had four daughters-in-law and three daughters, told me that she had to be awake the whole night to take each of them, one by one to the fields.' 'I am not saying all rapes are because of lack of toilets. 20 to 30 percent of rape cases happen because of the lack of toilets.' Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, founder, Sulabh International, on how India should go about building toilets for all its people in this exclusive interview with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
'It is a retrogressive Act. It actually criminalises a child who needs care and protection.' 'I am sure the Delhi teenage rapist, if given the right process and input, would have reformed himself. Even now, if he is supported he will evolve himself.'
BJP President Amit Shah -- arguably the second most powerful politician in the nation -- granted a rare television interview to the Network 18 group of news channels. Rediff.com's Rajesh Alva checks out what the BJP boss said in this word cloud assessment of the interview.
India pacer Shantakumaran Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals team mate Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were on Sunday cleared of charges by a Delhi court in the spot-fixing and betting scandal in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League in 2013. A flashback of the events that unfolded in the episode.
What is going on?! How can an amazing country like India face such highs and lows? Where do these brutes come from? Who are these people who are hijacking the goodness of this country? Who create them? Did we? Can someone please tell me what went wrong with India.
It is not in the Lok Sabha, where the BJP has a clear majority, but the Rajya Sabha that the Opposition has ganged up to checkmate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious plans.
As the year 2014 draws to an end, we at Rediff.com take to look at some of the ridiculous remarks made by some blundering politicos.
'The AAP is likely to take root in some metropolises -- although it won't be easy to replicate the small-scale Delhi model with equal intensity or cadre-strength in a large state,' says Praful Bidwai.
"They call me the Class 10 vice-chancellor," he says as his thin lips flirt with a smile. You almost feel that the tall man of spare build is being facetious. And then you see that his deep set eyes are not twinkling. There is a sense of the combative in them.
Transcript of the political resolution adopted by the Bharatiya Janata Party in its national executive meeting in Panaji, Goa on Sunday.