'There are no jobs, the economy is slowing down, but the BJP is more concerned with issues like triple talaq, anti-Romeo squads and the beef ban.'
Though it has been accused of politicising the army action and its critics have also referred to the growing violence in Kashmir under its tenure to question the effectiveness of its policies, the saffron party believes that the surgical strikes continue to have resonance on the ground and can help it build a positive narrative in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
The first prime minister to visit this Maoist hotbed in three decades, Narendra Modi on Saturday asked Naxals to abjure gun and allow peace so that the macabre drama of death will end to pave the way for development.
In his annual Vijayadashmi address, the RSS chief also spoke about "urban maoism", the Sabarimala row and the need to strengthen the country's borders.
Tribal rights activist Soni Sori, who was attacked with an acid-like chemical in Chhattisgarh last month, has said that the condition of her face is reflective of the fight in Naxal-hit Bastar area.
'The Naxalite strategy is to periodically attack police forces to provoke a reaction.' 'Once the security forces over-react and cause suffering to innocents by high-handed actions, the people will be alienated and support the revolution.' 'This appears to be the Naxalites' strategy and hence, their recent brutal killings of policemen,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'In Bastar, as in Delhi, being branded 'anti-national' in the eyes of the government now seems to have acquired new meaning,' says Aakar Patel.
'If the nub of India's sensitivity over the Chinese presence in Doklam is the enhanced threat to the Siliguri Corridor, a vital link to the northeast, does it serve the national purpose to have the districts along it, and then much of the tribal northeast, in turmoil?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'The Maoists want the tribals to boycott the election while the police think the election is a farce and do not want to risk going deeper in the conflict zone.' 'Newton (played with sincerity and deep felt passion by Rajkummar Rao) wants to make sure that the locals cast their vote, a right given to them by the Constitution.'
'How can we be silent when we see millions of Adivasis being displaced? Do we have a choice whether to speak or not?' 'My treatment this time was worse. Last time at least they didn't deny me medicines; those bought from outside were given to me. This time, even medicines bought at my expense were not given to me.'
Reaching out to youths in Naxal-hit areas, the Centre on Friday launched a placement linked skill development scheme targeting 50,000 rural men and women, mostly tribals, in 24 worst affected districts.
"South Asian studies" academics in the US would do well to introspect how they wittingly or unwittingly become part of Pakistan's proxy war in wielding influence over academics and policy, says Sankrant Sanu.
'Ludicrous they might be, but they are not without threats -- much like letters that appear suddenly in homes of those opposing the government.' 'One must exercise some caution before believing in them,' says Uttaran Das Gupta.
The bench suggested that the hearing be adjourned "sine die" (adjournment of proceedings with no date of resumption).
Citing lack of evidence, the Patna high court on Friday acquitted 14 people for the massacre of 16 people over land dispute in a village in Bihar's Khagaria district in 2009, a police official said.
Paresh C Palicha wonders why Malgudi Days has so many subplots when the main idea itself was good enough for a film.
'Criticism that Amnesty is interested in those in favour of independence for Kashmir is unfounded.'
Recently, the Bombay high court had set aside the lower court's order allowing extension of time to police to file its probe report against the rights activists in the violence case.
Varavara Rao reached home in Hyderabad on Thursday morning, while activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, were sent to Mumbai by road.
Security forces say Naxals have amassed nearly Rs 1,500 crore through extortion, kidnapping, looting and the narcotics trade.
N Sathiya Moorthy goes back in time to dig up three cases that may not have any citation in legal text-books or lawyers' ready-reckoners quoted before courts but which may still have a bearing on the current case against the arrested activists.
'There is simply no evidence of any new or clear policy direction in internal security, and mounting evidence of policy incoherence.' 'Worse, the promise of giving the common man -- and, more importantly, woman -- a greater sense of security has been utterly belied. Indeed, with an escalation of communal posturing and rhetoric, there is a broader sense of uncertainty,' says Ajai Sahni.
'We are known political activists, so the police put our names in.'
Shah said the BJP-led government had only brought an amendment to the law which was enacted by thr Congress and whose provisions were later made stringent.
An SIT officer probing the murder case said the investigation is in final stage and a chargesheet will be filed in two months.
'As casualties go, Maoism has been exacting a heavy price, and with a sickening regularity.' 'Yet, it is the other threat that hog all the limelight, the headlines and the TV studio debates,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'The Congress should have accepted our demands.' 'Gone are the days when it could decide how many crumbs to throw at us.' 'Now, we make the demands.'
A blast in New Jaipaiguri in West Bengal has killed four persons and injured seven. The police and the Intelligence Bureau are suspecting the involvement of the dreaded Inter-Services Intelligence funded, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation. The powerful bomb was planted on a cycle.
The contrived controversy over the so-called blockade of the India-Nepal border has obscured the perilous path on which the current ruling elite in Nepal are taking the country towards.
'The UPA was never soft on Pakistan, terrorists and even China, but Sonia Gandhi's Congress rightly earned a "soft" image on issues of hard national interest, leaving the field open for Modi to take it and wrap it around with his implicit Hindutva,' says Shekhar Gupta.
All Naxal-affected states demonstrate police as well as governance incapacities. Odd occasions of success and temporary dip in Naxal violence notwithstanding, the states have utterly failed to dominate and make their presence felt over areas under the extremist domination, says Bibhu Prasad Routray.
Terrorists and insurgents are getting "public support" in some parts of the country and unless this is stopped, India will continue to get hit by acts of terrorism.
'Pakistan's capacity to carry a normal relationship with India doesn't exist.' 'The relationship with Pakistan is less important than several others.'
China's major economic problem has been that its heartland is an agricultural region with about one-third of the arable land per person as the rest of the world.
'There is an observable difference between Nepalis and Lankans and the rest of us.' 'It would serve us well to understand where this difference comes from and, if it is something that is better in some way, how it is that we can access it,' says Aakar Patel.
'Is Xi's China stable?'
'No one can say whether the regime will fall all at once or if its leaders are devising a new solid and competitive -- anything but democratic -- model.' A fascinating excerpt from Francois Bougon's Inside The Mind of Xi Jinping.
'They know it can embarrass them, as this surely isn't 1962.' 'They also know the moment they fire the first shot, all insecure powers in their front-yard, Australia to Japan and all the way westwards to India, will be brought together overnight, not something the deputy superpower wants,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'People are beaten at the slightest provocation, paraded completely naked and then tortured. Did you know the number of prison deaths is the highest in Maharashtra? The one year I was in jail, 98 prisoners died.' 'The judges did warn the jail authorities, but they didn't care. They even violated the high court's order regarding my treatment. One judge asked my lawyer: "Can I go and implement my orders there?"' Professor G N Saibaba, who is 90 per cent handicapped, speaks of his ordeal in a Nagpur jail after being arrested for protesting against the Centre's anti-Naxal and anti-Adivasi campaign.
Why Dalit leaders cross over to the BJP
It is well-known, and the Brooks-Bhagat report vouches for it, that the real failure for the 1962 debacle against China was not military, but political, says Ram Madhav.
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