The title alludes to Socrates willingly drinking poisonous hemlock as his punishment after he was convicted of corrupting the minds of the young and impiety in ancient Athens.
'If Rahul Gandhi's authority was absolute, he could have picked his man.' 'Compare this with the ease with which outsiders like Adityanath, Khattar and Fadnavis were picked.'
'The world's economy is booming and growing at 3%. But even in this environment, India's growth has declined.' 'This is because of the deliberate slowing down induced by eccentric actions like demonetisation,' argues Aakar Patel.
The Queen has retired, the bosses have left, long live the prince as king, says Shiv Visvanathan.
'What hurts people most is dynastic impulses and corruption under a family-ruled Congress party -- and Nehru has borne the brunt of it... I cannot be blinded by how the Nehru family has functioned but just as Gandhi can't be judged by his descendents, why should Nehru?' asks political scientist Ashutosh Varshney.
Ladoos, band, bajaa and chants took over California after NaMo supporters stepped out to celebrate his victory.
From corruption to communalism, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Rs 70 lakh Hublot watch to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, the electoral potboiler had it all.
Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi talks about the Bihar polls with M I Khan/Rediff.com
Cashless transactions need ubiquitous connectivity, which we don't have. And connectivity needs political and administrative convergence, says Shyam Ponappa.
At a rally on the occasion of the BJP's 38th Foundation Day, the BJP president expressed confidence that his party would win the 2019 polls, "not by giving hollow assurances but on the basis of work done by the Modi government".
The jobless armies of youthful India are getting angrier and desperate, warns Shekhar Gupta.
'I am not surprised that hubris brought Chanda Kochhar down. It would appear that as a person she thought she could do no wrong and as a leader she considered herself above what her company demanded of others in terms of financial probity and honesty. That, my friends, is NOT a good way for a leader to feel,' says S Muraleedharan, former managing director, BNP Paribas.
'You can fight to win leadership of a party, yet join party rivals to win a general election in the US. The fact that dissent is not rebellion is not really appreciated in India, where we are used to the 'High Command' culture,' says T V R Shenoy.
'Knowing him personally, I can safely say that the usually soft-spoken, qualified medical doctor would not have said what he was 'caught' saying if only he had realised that he was stepping on a political landmine across the emotional LoC, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
'The man stood alone, fought alone.' 'Some of those battles appeared Quixotic at times.' 'Ultimately, it was he who won though it may have seemed as if a Sancho Panza was fighting a relentless battle against the windmill.' N Sathiya Moorthy salutes the fearless editor who has passed into the ages.
Behind the BJP's astounding electoral success is a small army of dedicated lieutenants marshalled by Amit Shah.
This will be 'an Uddhav Thackeray government controlled by a remote now held by Sharad Pawar.'
India's freedom, its rambling but working Constitution, its parliamentary democracy, its lumbering administrative machinery all have many a father, but its greatest claim to fame, especially today, that of being a modern state, is due to but one person: Its first and longest-serving prime minister, Nehru, says Shreekant Sambrani.
"Crores of Muslim women had always demanded that triple talaq should be banned, as it is also banned in Islamic countries," he said.
'Where he used to sit bored, sulky and fiddling with his cell phone in the Lok Sabha (and was often missing during key debates) he is now noisy, aggressive and ready to lead his flock into the well of the House,' says Sunil Sethi.
'I say Modi was India's last chance.' 'Because the kind of work this government has done -- I'm talking about physical delivery -- is fantastic, like no time in our history.'
What Shekhar Gupta would have really liked to know from Pranabda: Why did Sonia prefer Dr Singh to him as PM? Why did he deny finance first, why did he accept it 5 years later, and why did he make such a mess of it? How did he force Sonia to nominate him for President and not Hamid Ansari? And how does he justify that most toxic legacy -- the Vodafone tax amendment?
With GDP down by 2 per cent, while 99 per cent of banned notes make way back to the banking system, whom did demonetisation benefit?
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.
We suffered worse political degradation during the Emergency. But we emerged resurgent and vigorous because the spirit was not broken. This time around, we face an imminent threat to it, says Shreekant Sambrani
Sunday's results may be a bitter pill that the Congress has to swallow -- that its future cannot be hitched to Rahul unless he can resonate with the people, feels Saroj Nagi.
Ravindra Shukla picks out his best option.
'The general idea is to unite all the anti-Modi parties into an alliance, to dent the PM's image as a vote-winner, and then stymie him in Parliament -- particularly in the Rajya Sabha -- in order to ruin his credentials as a reformer,' says T V R Shenoy.
'The partnership of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi has made their biggest mistake. They have been very successful for their party in the last two years, but this batting pair has made the biggest political mistake of their life so far, which is calling Kejriwal a chor. It will backfire on them.'
'This term -- "Nehru-Gandhi" family -- is a misnomer. Nehru was not a dynast; he did not even name his successor... The big mistake she made was to push forward Rahul Gandhi who is a dead loss as a leader,' says Nayantara Sahgal, whom Sonia Gandhi calls 'Tara Masi.'
Popular Telugu film star Pavan Kalyan launched his Jana Sena party with a 'call to the nation' to 'wipe out' the Congress party on Friday.
Amethi's member of Parliament failed to use his first formal television interview to reach out to the people in general and the electorate in particular ahead of the crucial elections in which the Congress has already been written off by opinion polls and surveys. He did little to change that impression by failing to exploit the platform provided to him.
Upping the ante against the Congress, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused it of pursuing a "divide and rule" policy by fanning tensions between Hindus and Muslims.
When you completely lack leadership qualities and have a problem facing the media, it isn't hard to see why Rahul Gandhi gets the bad press he does. In sum, he doesn't have it in him what it takes to be a great leader. Period, says Virendra Kapoor.
The Union government has no 'Buy India' policy, but has a 'Buy Air India' policy.
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.
'The AIADMK has no Number Two, frankly it does not even have a Number Hundred and Two. There is the Numero Uno, and there is everybody else -- a point that was made very clear when Jayalalithaa made her ministers take the oath of office in unison on May 23. What, after all, was the point of having them do so individually when they lack individuality?'
'Nitish Kumar's government will be at stake. The JD-U is working with a very thin majority, which is a borrowed majority. With just two seats Nitish Kumar has no moral right to stay on,' says Professor Prabhat Ghosh.
'Fighting Meira Kumar is not a daunting task at all. I hope to give her a very tough fight... Bihar is one state where my Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has challenged Narendra Modi's candidature. As a challenge he should have contested from Bihar and proved Nitish Kumar wrong,' says Dr K P Ramaiah, an IAS officer till a few months ago, now fighting his first election from Sasaram, Bihar.
The 10-year UPA rule came under sharp attack in the BJP's National Council meeting in on Saturday, which unveiled the new government's future plans and policy prescription in domestic and foreign affairs arena in a political resolution, which hailed the "strong and able" leadership of Narendra Modi.
