'There was an overt campaign and there was a covert campaign. The overt campaign may be development, government, and all this nonsense. But the covert campaign, which Mr Amit Shah was doing, was far more important with the help of RSS cadres. This has been an RSS election. From day one I have been saying, this is not Congress versus the BJP, this is Congress versus the RSS,' says Jairam Ramesh, one of the key strategists of the Congress party.
Rarely have we seen such intoxication over power, which ignores the cries of those dying, notes Jyoti Punwani.
With the Bahujan Samaj Party keeping out and the Congress being in the fray only for namesake, Saturday's bye-election for 11 state assembly constituencies and for one Lok Sabha seat will determine the supremacy between Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'I do not think it's possible for the winners and losers to shake hands and go back to regular business at the end of this.' 'It seems visceral, personal and nasty at a depth we have not plumbed before,' says Aakar Patel.
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The UP government, if it manages to remain in power now, must take immediate steps to ensure that no violence takes place as the country gears up for the elections. Action has to be taken to prevent this, not just through the law and order machinery, but through a secular campaign in which all non-communal political parties participate, says Seema Mustafa.
'Modi knows he will fail if he does not afford Muslims, Christians or even other backward Hindu classes the opportunities and means to improve the quality of their lives. Prosperous and educated people are less prone to rioting,' says Maneck Davar.
'Hindu voters in coastal Karnataka lean more towards Hindutva than Hinduism which explains why the Siddaramaiah government's perception as anti-Hindu worked wonders for the BJP in coastal Karnataka.'
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Thursday launched a frontal attack on Bharatiya Janata Party's PM candidate Narendra Modi saying the country will be "ruined" due to spike in communal riots if he is voted to power.
'The PM should have spoken out much earlier and I would urge him to act, since speaking is not enough.' 'What we are demanding is action.' 'Immediate orders have to be issued by state governments to officials that such incidents should not happen.'
He, however, was quick to add that though "it is an internal matter of the BJP, but so far as country or ideology is concerned, there is no question of tolerating such things."
The DMK has Stalin and Stalin alone as the key campaigner. The rest of them all, including half-sister Kanimozhi, are tied down to their own constituencies while those like party treasurer and former minister S Duraimurugan, to those of their children's constituencies.
'What is proposed is that we tax payers pay Rs 1,000 per month to selected JanDhan accounts of poor families.' 'I am sure there are at least 10 crore Indians for whom Rs 1,000 is no big deal.'
The scale and nature of Modi's election victory mean the higher tiers of the Sangh Parivar feel no need for restraint, says Sreenivasan Jain
The Election Commission on Friday rejected Arvind Kejriwal's contention on distribution of pamphlets appealing to Muslims to vote for Aam Aadmi Party during Delhi polls, holding that it amounted to model code violation and cautioned him to be careful in future poll campaigns.
The term of the 243-member Bihar legislative assembly comes to an end on November 29.
PM has been regularly seeking people's inputs through mygov.in and his app, to assess the mood of the nation.
The apex court lashed out at the law enforcing agencies for allowing the 'instigators of violence' to get away and said they should act as per law without waiting for somebody's nod.
The party's most important electoral challenge lies in whether it can meet the aspirations of the youth who were drawn by the promise of gainful work.
A two-day meet of Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo began in New Delhi on Sunday amid attempts to bring all non-Congress, non-BJP parties on a common platform ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The 'Shatrughan Sinha of the South' plunges into politics.
Asked if he considers himself as a front-runner for the chief minister's post in case the Congress wins the elections, Scindia said he does not want to answer hypothetical questions.
Voicing concern over incidents of intolerance, including the killing of Kannada thinker M M Kalburgi, a group of scientists has petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee, urging him to initiate "suitable actions".
'There is core BJP support on the Hindutva line. It will continue.' 'Along with that, the BJP is ready to play the OBCs trifurcation card to its benefit.' 'If you see the post-Kairana result, the BJP spokespersons and IT cell have already begun talking about Hindu unity against Muslim unity, Ram vs Allah.'
He was unanimously elected the new general secretary of the party.
While Yechury feels CPI-M should unite with others to fight the 'growing danger of fascistic forces', Karat camp says it should fight the BJP, but not have any leaning towards the Congress or other opposition parties.
Amid raging controversy over the lynching of a man in Uttar Pradesh earlier this week over rumours that his family stored and consumed beef, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Saturday asked people to shun beef for it was not good for health and caused many diseases.
A Goan youth who had allegedly posted comments against Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi on his Facebook account during the Lok Sabha election campaign, is likely to face arrest after a local court rejected his anticipatory bail plea in Panaji on Friday.
The RJD chief said, "Bihar mandate is a big slap on the Narendra Modi government. PM Modi wanted to fool people of Bihar but they understood his nefarious designs."
While the Congress leadership will undertake the mandatory introspection exercise to pinpoint the reasons for the debacle, Anita Katyal offers five factors which led to the humiliating rout.
'I will not say that the AIMIM is a 'B' team of the BJP. But due to the AIMIM, the BJP benefits for sure'
The publishing house faced massive backlash online on Friday after an advertisement of the book launch on Saturday with Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra as a guest of honour did the rounds on social media.
The AIADMK's staying power is not in question, but it has to regain the winning streak. That will require its leaders and leadership to re-wire themselves, to be able to re-think situations in ways different from what they had been accustomed to, suggests Sathiya Moorthy.
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Expressing desire to bring about permanent solution to the Kashmir issue, the government on Monday said it is willing to have any dialogue under the ambit of 'insaniyat' (humanity) to address the problem and favours good relations with Pakistan.
Members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union and the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment had disrupted the film's screening, alleging a hate campaign was being propagated in its guise.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre as one being 'run' by RSS, social activist Teesta Setalvad on Saturday alleged that issues such as 'Sanskritisation' were part of a process to change India into a Hindu state.
Congress will fight against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and not BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections as the Sangh is now in control of the saffron party, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday.
'The BJP will get the lion's share of the Opposition vote. I would give the Congress-Left around 15 per cent.'
Shashi Tharoor speaks to Shobha Warrier on the controversy over his article seen as praising Narendra Modi and what the future holds for the Congress and Rahul Gandhi.
Thousands of students, school teachers and government employees created history of sorts in Muzaffarnagar as they formed a 120-km long human chain to spread word on the importance of vote in a democracy.
'In the first elections, Hindutva forces got only 6% of the votes and won only 10 seats.' 'It was a great defeat for them.' 'They have held that grouse against Nehru since then.'
