Not only is Modi's India not the shining land of dynamism and prosperity that he promised -- though it may be that, for some people, in a few years from now -- but socially it has the positively regressive tendencies that were entirely predictable.
Last year, he was the BJP's darling. Today, Arnab Goswami is a hated figure for the Modi bhakts. What changed?
There is a leader in every man waiting for the right moment. The Aam Admi Party has found it and is already ready with its list for the Lok Sabha. The challenge is enormous but the future beckons the way it had never, before, feels sociologist Shiv Vishvanathan.
'While Modi is undoubtedly the star of the show, the online sphere has found in Modi the champion to re-engineer what it means to support the right.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to ride high with rock star gigs abroad and no challengers within or outside the party at home. With international oil prices dipping to unforeseen lows and inflation declining sharply, a perked-up economy provides the perfect backdrop as he strides the national and international stage.
Newly-elected CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury speaks to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.
The party needs to fight competition not by acting like others, but by finding a strong narrative of its own.
In a candid conversation Indrani Mitra, educationist Sunanda Sanyal explains why many intellectuals like him are disillusioned with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Several former colleagues say Kejriwal is undemocratic. But his loyalists stand stoutly behind him
'Whenever a new film of his releases, he uses politics to hype his film.' 'Her party can manage for a short period without Jayalalithaa as the chief minister but if her absence is for a long term, the AIADMK will start crumbling and disintegrating.' 'What keeps the DMK going despite its corrupt image is it is a democratic party in comparison to the AIADMK... Also, many social welfare measures in Tamil Nadu were brought in by the DMK. So they do have a place in the political scene despite corruption.' Gnani Sankaran, the well-known political analyst, discusses the fallout of Jayalalithaa's conviction on Tamil Nadu politics with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
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.
According to community leaders, Rajnath Singh has filled party posts with Thakurs and pushed Brahmins to the margins. Archis Mohan reports
'When he first came to office, my belief is that the PM's reading of the landscape was that, with a vanquished Congress and fragmented Opposition, he was looking at least at two terms in office. This reading perhaps allows for a more cautious, gradual approach.' 'It was only a matter of time before the government was forced to come face-to-face with a serious corruption scandal. This is not a commentary on the BJP, but a statement about India's political economy.' 'There is growing concern about the government's commitment to freedom of expression, religious tolerance, and an independent civil society. Thus far, the positive movement on strategic and economic matters has crowded out these concerns, but they are lingering beneath the surface.'
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'I was at a very senior position in the CBI and what happens is, hints are dropped for you to act upon. But then it depends upon your conscience, to do it or otherwise.' 'I know the rank and file of the CBI, they will bounce back; it is the leadership which has failed.'
Though Indians were no strangers to scams, spectrum loss was beyond their wildest imagination.
'The BJP has latched on to the idea of nationalism, but the nationalism they advocate is not nationalism as we have understood it since the time of the freedom movement.' 'This is not secular nationalism, it is Hindu nationalism.' 'It is a form of nationalism that is exclusionary and it tends to conflate national interest with the government.' 'So, if you disagree with the government, for example, on surgical strikes or demonetisation, you are anti-national or holder of black money.'
A European-led boycott of FIFA or the World Cup is unrealistic.
'Children should be brought up connected to our culture and should be introduced to characters from our mythologies. What is this Baa Baa Black Sheep?'
'Godse is no more, but the mindset which gave birth to such distorted philosophy is unfortunately still with us.'
Veteran journalist Coomi Kapoor, whose book came out recently, speaks to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com about Independent India's darkest phase.
'The Left's decline is now a reality, both nationally and in West Bengal.'Behind it lie: Ideological rigidity and confusion, outdated party programmes... a socially conservative upper-caste leadership,' says Praful Bidwai.
'Communal tension and violent mobs have been part of our country, whichever government is in power. What has happened since the BJP came into power is that individuals or group activities asserting Hindutva have become louder, more aggressive.' 'Now we are finding ourselves in a country where reasoning and thinking have no place, the power lies with the goons.' 'I find any ban, whether on what we write, what we eat, how we dress etc, absolutely abominable. They have no place in a democracy.' Shashi Deshpande on why she joined the writers' protest against the growing intolerance in India.
'Swaraj Samvad sees itself in the role of a watchdog in Delhi,' Professor Anand Kumar tells Rediff.com.
'We all expected Modi with the majority to tame the bureaucracy, but it is the bureaucracy that tamed him.'
'While the government must be relentless in its efforts to curb unruly elements to ensure secular harmony and protect its goal of national development,it must not lose the moral high ground by giving in to the antics of the anti-nationalist lobby.' 'They must be countered and relegated to the dustbin of history,' says Vivek Gumaste.
Leading think tank discusses a likely Narendra Modi government and America's engagement with the man US once scorned. Aziz Haniffa reports
'A plausible American tactic,' Rajeev Srinivasan suspects, 'would be to try and prevent the BJP and Modi from coming to power by splitting the anti-Congress vote using the AAP, and in case that fails, to follow up with a Plan B to make India ungovernable, to create mass conflict through their agents.'
'The biggest lacuna in this agreement is it is called 'full civil nuclear cooperation agreement.' Actually, it is anything but full.'
'Earlier India as part of the Third World fought for the rights of the Palestinians. But oddly the defeat of the Congress and the decline of the Nehruvian imagination has altered such perceptions. The new middle class expresses an open sympathy for Israel, contending that Jews like many Hindus has been misunderstood,' says Shiv Visvanathan.
'Politicians are thick-skinned. Nothing affects them. NOTHING. Not the newspapers. Not bad publicity. They don't care about the common man's woes. The fact that humour affects them is damn good.'
The nomination would put Yellen on course to be the first woman to lead the institution.
Aadhaar-related schemes and the Aadhaar Act exist on the assumption that Right to Privacy is not a Fundamental Right.
Our generation got independence too easy, we take our freedom too lightly, we treat our country and environment like toilet paper and take the easy way out because we have no sense of pride or self worth except when it is an India-Pakistan match. We need to be broken more so that we may rise, says film director Suparn Verma.
The 67-year-old hasn't only received a clear-cut mandate for an unprecedented fourth term but also done it on his own. From distributing tickets to planning party campaigns to chalking out strategies for the present and the future, the chief minister had played a stellar role throughout, and emerged successful in his endeavour. Bikash Mohapatra reports
'The blood that runs in the veins of our family can never be anti-national.' 'They called Kanhaiya a traitor for questioning the Indian Army. Do they know that our cousin was killed by militants in Manipur while serving with the CRPF?' Archana Masih/Rediff.com travelled to the land of Lal Salam, Lal Sitara and comrades to find out what moulded India's most talked about student leader, Kanhaiya Kunar.
Gujarat Lokayukta Justice R A Mehta's resignation letter is a stinging indictment of the Narendra Modi government's obstructionist attitude towards a constitutional watchdog.
'If Indira Gandhi's Emergency proved anything at all, it established that India would be governed, to the extent it can be governed, democratically or not at all,' says Inder Malhotra.
