'It is very hard to get the police to file a report against someone from an upper caste.' 'Things are so bad that sometimes we have to sit on a dharna with the body of a Dalit victim to get the police to file a complaint.'
While the Congress has found success in scoring over the BJP on Twitter and Facebook, it has failed to match the Sangh Parivar's finesse at utilizing WhatsApp as its primary medium to send its message across to the Karnataka electorate, reports Archis Mohan.
BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked Congress for its decision to give tickets to "tainted" leaders, saying "Adarsh candidates" including Ashok Chavan and Pawan Kumar Bansal have been "rewarded".
An expectation of tax sops in Budget, weakness of dollar and robust tax collection are adding positive sentiment
Narendra Modi has a once in a lifetime chance to change and take the RSS-BJP-VHP to a new level. Varanasi is the right place to turn the page on saffron history. By surrendering to the spirit of mystical Varanasi, Modi and his party can change the trajectory of their political journey.
'New Delhi showed itself willing -- at least for a period -- to tolerate the risk of conflict and to withstand Beijing's implicit and explicit threats.' 'But it also continued to try to cut some kind of deal with China to reduce tensions.'
Around 700 migrant workers, women and children have lost their lives in this reverse migration. But what is happening today with the migrant labour is only a continuation of the policies pursued by the Modi regime during the last six years. It is not for nothing that India was ranked the most dangerous country in the world for women in 2018 by the Thompson Reuters Foundation poll, points out Rashme Sehgal.
It is a difficult question to answer. This problem will remain with us for a very long time because we are the only major nation whose elite speaks a language that is a foreign tongue, says Aakar Patel.
As per the two party leaders, they held wide-ranging talks on the current political situation in Bihar and the NDA's strategy for contesting the 40 seats in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Amit Shah's formal leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party might have its days numbered, given the range of resentment now coming forth against him.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's forward march has slowed down. Can Arvind Kejriwal eclipse Narendra Modi in the upcoming general election? Modi, feels Praful Bidwai, may have peaked too soon and Arvind Kajriwal's politics may find new takers.
Fresh from BJP's massive electoral victory in the Lok Sabha polls, Narendra Modi today had a dig at the Opposition saying parties outside the ruling coalition may have to stitch an alliance to formally attain the status of an Opposition.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had brought in the United States style 'primaries' with much fanfare to empower grassroot leaders to fight the Lok Sabha elections.
The year 2015 was a mixed bag for the Grand Old party --with the performance in Bihar being a consolation while the the National Herald case came back to haunt its leadership.
'We demonise the Others.' 'We are constantly reminded that they are different and are an existential threat to Us.' 'The toxin of Nellie in 1983, Delhi in 1984 and Gujarat in 2002 is not yet flushed out of our body politic,' says Shreekant Sambrani.
IB sources say the arrests of top Indian Mujahideen operatives and trouble brewing within the terror group has led to the re-emergence of SIMI, who is planning a fiery attack. Vicky Nanjappa reports on this new terror threat.
'Imagine a scenario where a terror strike by Pakistan-supported jihadis causes thousands of deaths in India. India in retaliation destroys terror camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.' 'There is a clamour for revenge in Pakistan and that country begins to fuel its missiles for a nuclear strike against India and that is detected by Indian satellites.' 'No sane government in India will then wait for the nuclear bombs to fall on Delhi before launching its own strike. To be effective, this may well involve nuclear weapons.' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) says the change in the 'No First Use' pledge in the BJP manifesto is long overdue.
Using the 'tea-seller' jibe hurled at Narendra Modi by rivals to reach out to voters, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday announced the launch of a campaign that will allow people to engage with its prime ministerial candidate over a cup of tea.
BCCI's North Zone curator Sunil Chauhan overwatered the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch and then, breaching protocol, left the venue before the start of Delhi-Madhya Pradesh Ranji Trophy match on Saturday, his indiscretion leading to a delay of two and half hours.
Each 'adarsh village' should have piped drinking water, connectivity to the main road, electricity supply to all households, library, telecom and broadband connectivity including CCTVs in public areas. Emphasis will also be on e-governance, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
Narendra Modi could be in for a tough fight in Varanasi with the Congress declaring its resolve to put up a formidable candidate against the Bharatiya Janata Party's PM nominee in the Lok Sabha polls and ruling out support to the Aaam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal.
The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin will attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Delhi with an agenda to develop a plan to bring together AAPI, NGOs and the government to provide access to affordable and quality health care. Aziz Haniffa reports
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi called for a relook at the entire ambit of Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
'Stand-alone' trip to North American nation and a strong track record in Gujarat open doors to business.
The various meat bans across the country are an attempt to attack civil liberties, says civil rights activist Kavita Srivastava.
Economist S Janakarajan, in an interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com warns that without proper infrastructure, India will never be able to build a market economy.
'Modi is the first BJP leader to try to include Dalits in its fold.' 'But the rank and file of his party is backward and want to bash up Muslims and Dalits whenever they have a chance.'
The election in Bihar will never be the same, reports Aditi Phadnis
Accusing Congress of "trying to hide in the bunker of secularism", Narendra Modi on Sunday said that it was fighting for its survival with even a 100-seat mark in the new Lok Sabha appearing "an uphill task for it".
'It would be a folly on our part to believe that the KKK or its Indian version exists only as some dedicated organisation. Rather, the Indian KKK, much like the American counterpart, exists as a fragmented and amorphous collection of independent groups and individuals,' says Shehzad Poonawalla.
'They must take the bull of conservatism within their own ranks by its horns as much as they need to speak out against the fallacies of the non-Hindutva (or 'Muslim-friendly') political forces as well,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
A clean sweep for the BJP and the emergence of the AAP do not look good for the Congress, which now faces a serious leadership crisis, says Bharat Bhushan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi on Friday morning the first time after assuming charge, where he is likely to firm up plans for its development.
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.
It was a manic Monday in Varanasi. The voting day lived up to the hype created by the campaigning here. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday jointly sounded the party's bugle for 2014 Lok Sabha elections from this eastern Uttar Pradesh hub, ill-famed as a home and haven for several terrorists.
Or for that matter scared of anybody in India if they follow the principles of Islam sincerely in spirit, asks BJP supporter Haji Akhil Shaikh in this conversation with Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.
Monday's surprise meeting is an admission by the Bharatiya Janata Party that their purported strategy of hoping to ride the popular 'Modi wave' in a Tamil Nadu without Jaya and a bed-ridden Karunanidhi does not have much chance of success, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Is Shivraj Singh Chouhan paying the price of being in the wrong camp? Aditi Phadnis and Shashikant Trivedi find out.
'It is precisely because of the apprehensions about Lalu's revival that the upper castes have started re-thinking their electoral preferences. Out of confusion, they are simply deciding to vote for winnable candidates from their respective castes of any of the three parties -- the BJP, JD-U or RJD. This is what has considerably neutralised the NaMo wave in Bihar and resulted in Nitin Gadkari's remark that "Caste is in the DNA of Biharis". This is why Giriraj Singh, the BJP candidate from Nawada, made provocative statements,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
