'Only on two occasions has the RSS thrown itself completely on the side of the BJP.' 'In 1977 in the wake of the Emergency. And in 2014 with Modi.' 'Now, I've been told that this is not going to happen in 2019.'
The BJP sees investments, both foreign and domestic, as their pathways to political power and not the construction of the Ram temple or a nationwide ban on beef. It will have no option but to let commerce prevail over religious sentiments, says Amulya Ganguli.
'The government is sincerely working on employment generation. Unfortunately, they are depending on these people from Harvard. Their wrong policies are killing jobs. The government has to come out of the Western framework on which they depend upon a lot.'
States are apprehensive of losing their rights to raise revenue during emergencies.
'The disquiet in the Sangh is, of course, over demonetisation.' 'But more than that, it is about the growing centralisation in the running of the government and party,'
Sangh affiliates believe the government's apparent anti-poor message led to their loss
'Challenges will come but we will stay the course. No big step can be taken if one is afraid of criticism. We will not flinch from criticism,' says Railways Minister Piyush Goyal.
Coal workers across the country have resumed work after a two-day strike and promised to make up for an estimated 1 million tonne production loss, as the government assured that state-run behemoth Coal India will not be privatised and employees' interests would be paramount.
'She must first change the Rules of Business 1961 that makes the defence secretary and not the defence minister responsible for the defence of the country!' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd.)
Labour unions, with a history of hostility towards management, are pushing back on Coal India's plans, fearing modernization and outsourcing will hit jobs.
'On December 5, the government called unions for pre-Budget consultations.' '12 trade unions were called and the time allotted was one hour which means 5 minutes for each union.' 'We were asked to present our views in about four minutes.' 'That itself is a reflection of how serious the government is about workers' demands.'
10 central trade unions have called a nationwide shutdown against 'anti-worker policies' of the central government. Apart from being successful in Bengal, Kerala and NE states, the bandh has also got support from Cong leader Rahul Gandhi and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Over 75 per cent of India's daily coal output has been hit as the five-day strike by workers of state-run miners entered the second day on Wednesday, raising fears of disruption in power supplies.
Rajasthan has taken the lead on structural reforms which could help India attract business and employ a fast-growing workforce.
The MP CM failed to reach a compromise, even after launching a fast.
The RSS on Sunday said it has not abandoned its commitment to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and sought speeding up of the case proceedings in the Supreme Court.
Trade union leaders claimed that the strike would be even bigger than the one last year as the number of striking workers is expected to swell to 18 crore
'The rate of interest from the EPF is still attractive compared to the rates on fixed deposits, National Savings Scheme, Public Provident Fund...'
'With this amendment, permanent employees will cease to exist.' 'The government should give a human touch and human face to labour reforms.' 'Ideas like survival of the fittest, might is right, etc, are rules of the jungle.' 'They cannot give new terms like hire and fire to jungle law.'
'You cannot treat workers like beggars.'
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Friday said its stance on Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir has not changed, even as it termed as "teething problems" the friction between BJP and PDP in the state stressing that the "novel experiment" should be given time to succeed.
Workers' attitude is changing and they want to work more and demand more wages. They want more productivity.
'The animosity in the BJP against Swamy continued for a good more than thirty years.' 'It was only after herculean efforts by a reconstituted and more just RSS, that Swamy was finally inducted into the BJP in 2013.'
Recently, when TCS laid off a handful of employees, prominent trade unions rushed to offer their support to workers who had lost their jobs.
Ten trade unions to go on strike to protest against changes in labour laws
Congress leader Sachin Pilot, who was recently appointed the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief, says people are disenchanted with the Vasundhara Raje government.
Aditi Phadnis and Archis Mohan take a state by state takedown of the party's chances in the poll-bound states.
Pawan Kumar, organising secretary of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), tells Aditi Phadnis it will join forces with other trade unions if necessary to oppose the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) provisions in the Union Budget.
'Karna is the greatest warrior in the Mahabharata -- in fact, Arjuna is a nobody in front of Karna.' 'But Arjuna had a better advisor in Krishna than Karna.' 'Karna failed because he listened to the wrong advice given by Salya.' 'It just shows wrong advisors can land even the mighty in trouble.'
Upon implementation of the 7th Pay Commission the expected yearly burden on the central exchequer will be more than Rs 100,000 crore. Central government employees will get on an average a 24 per cent pay hike. Still, the unions aren't happy.
On the first anniversary of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, Sangh Parivar affiliates say they are annoyed with the ruling dispensation but can't live without it either
'Will people who buy iPhones stop buying iPhones to help swadeshi models?' 'There should be some advantage for the consumer to make them buy a Made in India product.' 'Patriotism and nationalism are good words, but in business, it won't work.'
The former finance minister also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the words he chose to attack his predecessor Manmohan Singh, saying he should remember that the Chair he sat on was used by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and even Atal Bihari Vajpayee and hence he should use right language.
Ten trade unions with a combined membership of 15 crore workers in public and private sector, including banks and insurance companies, are on a nationwide strike to protest against changes in the labour laws.
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