Sukanya Verma looks at the recent spate of book-to-screen adaptations.
She looked into the depths of Kashi's soul.
The SP's bid to dent the BJP's formidable social equation is playing out in a big way in the Poorvanchal or eastern region of Uttar Pradesh as the ruling party is working overtime to keep its caste equation unharmed.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, meeting activists held during protests against the amended Citizenship Act and accusing the government of acting against the Constitution.
'Philosophy, politics and practicality cross paths in Mohalla Assi's ambitious premise.' 'Except it is directed in such an unwieldy fashion that instead of rich satire, what emerges is a lumbering flab of incoherence and opinion glut,' notes Sukanya Verma.
'If things don't work on the ground and they continue moving at this pace, it will vanish.'
Krishna chants gained more currency when Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav invoked the deity.
Hitting back at the Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit's Hindutva is merely on paper and finds mention just in speeches, while it was his party men who faced bullets and lathis during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
If not now, when, asks Virendra Kapoor.
'If Mayawati had performed better, then the BJP would have had a much tougher time to win UP.' 'The present gap in number of seats between the BJP and SP would have got reduced.'
'Hindus bathe with lakhs of people, but these Hindutvawadis were standing alone in the Ganges. Even Rajnath Singh and Yogi Adityanath did not find a place'
The Bharatiya Janata Party faces an uphill task of repeating its performance of the last assembly election of winning 53 out of 58 constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh where polling will be held in the first phase on February 10.
The poll results will depend much on whether the caste and community coalition worked out by Akhilesh can withstand the onslaught of the Hindutva forces who have increased their efforts to polarise the electorate on communal lines.
The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'There are too many competent people better suited and poised to take on Modi. The Gandhis are not among them,' argues Harishchandra.
'The wish is that 2022, if not bring us into happier times, at least sees some easing of the pain,' hopes Aakar Patel.
Modi was addressing a rally after laying the foundation stone of 594-km-long Ganga Expressway in this Uttar Pradesh district.
'A Muslim is lynched somewhere, and you forward the video of the lynching through WhatsApp.' 'So, you participate in that lynching without actually doing it. You endorse it without being a party to it.'
The concept of 'fairness by rulers' is deeply ingrained in Indians and any weakening of this dents the legitimacy of the ruler, warns military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Addressing a gathering of priests and devotees, he said the redevelopment of centres of faith in India shows the country's growing pride in its ancient saints and philosophers like Adi Guru Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda.
Indian comic book character Chacha Chaudhary has been declared as the mascot of the government's Namami Gange Programme with an aim of bringing behavioural change among children towards the Ganga and other rivers.
Dwivedi, son of BJP's district unit president of Allahabad Ramraksha Dwivedi, had reportedly announced a reward of Rs 1 crore for chopping off the tongue of Owaisi and called the AIMIM chief a 'traitor' who has no right to live in India.
Among other sportspersons, KT Irfan, PU Chitra, 19 other athletes test negative while the health of one positive athlete being monitored at SAI Bengaluru.
Priyanka Gandhi and other leaders, including Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, waved at the large crowd as the procession wound its way through Varanasi's roads.
The Indian Premier League match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Ahmedabad on Monday has been rescheduled after two KKR members test positive for COVID-19.
'Both Modi and Yogi are contesting this election together.' 'Both bring their individual strengths to BJP in UP.'
A small step in this direction was taken with making triple talaq a punishable offence in the last Parliament session. But UCC is difficult to implement, reports Archis Mohan.
Modi launched the membership drive of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party from his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi on Saturday, noting that it will further connect people from all walks of life with the saffron party.
'That would be very bad for them and suicidal for both the Gandhis and the Congress party.'
'Akhilesh did politics like Rabi and Kharif crop which come once a year. Politics is not seasonal, you have to harvest your field all through the year and only then you get a good crop' Political analyst lists 12 reasons why Akhilesh Yadav lost the UP elections.
Ameen Sayani made a rare appearance as did Pyarelal.
'There is a famous saying here that 'the way to Delhi passes through Lucknow'.' 'If the BJP loses UP in 2022, Modi's premiership in 2024 will be in doldrums.'
Heavy fog engulfed parts of Delhi with the minimum temperature settling at a notch below normal.
'Outside the core voter base of upper caste Hindus, there is a large section unhappy with the performance of the BJP.'
'Talwar se zyada dhaar chalane wale ki soch mein honi chahiye,' says the strategy-savvy Bajirao in Bajirao Mastani. Only if director Sanjay Leela Bansali had listened, says Sukanya Verma.
'From the very start, PM Modi was insistent that visiting foreign leaders should be exposed to an India beyond its capital.' 'Through these experiences, he felt that the full Indian narrative would be much better understood across the world,' explains External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. A riveting excerpt from Bluekraft Digital Foundation's Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attributed the impressive show by his party to the "alert voters" who he said rejected the 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) of opposition parties.
Rather than watching Aamayum Muyalum, the DVDs of Priyadarshan's old films would be a better option.
'It is important to understand that when it comes to setting examples of truth, honesty and ethical conduct, leaders need to be true to their principles or values 100 per cent of the time.'
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