'When my mom saw my performance in Dhoka, she loved it.' 'She said, "I don't know why I stopped you for so many years. Ab jaa beta, jee le apni zindagi".'
The Election Commission Wednesday directed the leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to refrain from making speeches on religious and communal lines, and opposition Congress from potentially divisive statements on the socioeconomic composition of the armed forces.
The fate of 189 candidates, including 15 women nominees, will be decided in the first phase of the polling in Chatra, Gumla, Bishunpur, Lohardaga, Manika, Latehar, Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chhatarpur, Hussainabad, Garhwa and Bhawanathpur.
Mammootty is towering as the unflinching enigma that prevents Bramayugam from being a middling genre exercise, observes Arjun Menon.
The state government had issued the order with the avowed objective of having a casteless society, the bench said.
'People think Sonia, Rahul and Dr Singh are honest people. They are not burdened by ideology,' says sociologist Dipankar Gupta.
'Not even in my wildest dreams did I think I would write a book one day.'
A court in Delhi has acquitted two accused in a 2020 northeast Delhi riots case, saying the possibility of the only eyewitness being a "fictitious person" cannot be ruled out.
'It is an existential crisis. We cannot recover lost ground through social media. We need to forge alliances and reshape our ideological contours.'
In UP, the BJP focused carefully on the sub-caste divisions within the Dalits and also gave a large number of tickets to SC candidates from sub-castes.
Any move of the present government to appease the Marathas may boomerang. Eknath Shinde is a worried man with the agitation not having an easy solution, notes Ramesh Menon.
The 2012 assembly election in Uttar Pradesh will go down as one of the most regressive elections fought on caste identity, reports Sheela Bhatt.
Google is also working with the Election Commission of India to enable people to easily discover critical voting information on its search platform -- like, how to register and how to vote -- in both English and Hindi.
Collecting caste-based data will be a major challenge, but it would have to be delinked from the census, to prevent respondents from misrepresenting facts, says Amitabh Kundu
'I will never look down upon television. But do I want to do it again? I don't think so.'
Those who continue to think that the 2024 election will see the BJP pursuing a more militant line are being alarmist, argues Rajeev Mantri. The BJP, Mantri believes, is not about to shoot itself in the foot. If anything, he says, the BJP may be more inclined to push a harder secularism.
A revealing excerpt from Rahul Shivshankar and Siddhartha Talya's book, Modi & India: 2024 and the Battle for Bharat.
If Marathas get blanket Kunbi OBC certificates, there will be no separate identity of the Maratha community in Maharashtra, state minister and senior OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal said on Wednesday amid the quota row.
Tamil Nadu's ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday sought a review of the November 7 verdict of the Supreme Court which upheld 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in educational institutions and government jobs that excluded the poor among the SC/ST/OBC categories, contending that it "legitimises discrimination".
France showcased its cultural diversity, spirit of revolution, impeccable craftsmanship, and architectural heritage in a riveting opening ceremony for the 33rd Olympic Games.
The bench said it would be difficult for the poll panel to mobilise manpower for uploading the voter turnout data on its website.
In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the state government has alleged that Kappan is the office secretary of Popular Front of India and was using a 'journalist cover' by showing identity card of a Kerela-based newspaper which was closed in 2018.
Vijay has a lot of young and middle-aged women fans, but as voters, they are possibly now with the DMK, or remain with the AIADMK. Recapturing this constituency would have helped Vijay's political launch and the GOAT script and dialogues could have gone a long way in helping out. But the kind of script and screenplay and the unusually and equally unnecessary long run-time (3 hours, 3 minutes) that GOAT offers takes the film experience over the heads of those that are not familiar with secret agents and uranium theft in Tamil cinema, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Vishwaguru who addressed the maximum rallies and boasted of being blessed with divine energy, who promised guarantees in his own name, turned out finally not invincible, points out Jyoti Punwani.
Where do Vijay and his TVK expect to get their votes from? Vijay has a huge fan following among women, but will they automatically become his voters like they had done for MGR's AIADMK, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the coming days, unless Modi tones down the communal spiel, it will be clear that anxiety continues to drive his mind and clouds his judgment, observes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Narendra D Modi and his party campaigned in these elections uncharacteristically without any big ideas. Of course, winning each election at all costs could be a big idea as well, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'The chances of The Shameless passing through the censorship board in India are slim to none.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he wants the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance to win 400 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to ensure the Congress does not bring back Article 370 in Kashmir and put a 'Babri lock' on the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Jehanabad: Of Love And War authentically captures Bihar's political skullduggery and caste violence, observes Deepa Gahlot.
'We have to make people aware that the Constitution belongs to us.' 'We are the people who decide who will govern on our behalf.'
'I don't think there will be any problem for Hindus to accept Adityanath as the leader, since they have already chosen Modi.'
'It was the Supreme Court's order (recommending changes in the SC/ST Act).' 'Isn't it wrong not to accept even the court's order?' 'Are you bigger than every institution?'
Issues and personality may not play as big a part as the caste of the candidate in Bihar's 7 parliamentary constituencies that go to the polls on Thursday.
The biggest challenge will be to convert his regime into a coalition of minds. But given the fact that he is instinctively an authoritarian leader and supporter of the hard Hindutva line, the survival of his government will depend on his ability to balance between his heart and mind, between instinct and pragmatism, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
'Destabilising the Yediyurappa government is not a cakewalk.' 'If he is destabilised, then the BJP will have problems in Karnataka.'
It would be unfair to accommodate Gauri's incredible journey in six episodes, but the makers have done justice by casting Sushmita Sen. She adds a touch of elegance and reform in some of the most challenging scenes, applauds Divya Nair.
'A marriage is not an event for 'song and dance' and 'wining and dining' or an occasion to demand and exchange dowry and gifts by undue pressure leading to possible initiation of criminal proceedings thereafter'
With no apparent wave on the ground or pressing everyday issues, that's what it boils down for voters as Rajasthan readies for assembly polls this week.
This is the first time that third gender figures in the state electoral roll.
'Make no mistake. Bihar remains one of India's most backward, poor, violent, caste-riven states. Its social and economic indicators (per capita income, literacy, life expectancy, child and maternal mortality, etc) would place it among the bottom of sub-Saharan African countries.'
