'Mr Kejriwal has played it cool in distancing himself from Delhi's hotspots, adroitly pandering to the BJP's Hindu vote.' 'He neither visited the scene of JNU violence nor has he dropped by at Shaheen Bagh,' notes Sunil Sethi.
'The BJP has shown signs lately of returning to its trader mindset.' 'Several strong emotions get meshed in this: Nationalism, protectionism, mercantilism, and arrogance,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
'Jockeying for that position has possibly started at this time.'
The challenge will be to force the officials of his government to own this vision.
Cricket Association of Bihar president Aditya Verma has asked the ICC to clarify on the claims made by controversial former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi that two leading Indian cricketers and a West Indian player had been bribed by an Indian real estate tycoon.
Only a leader with sufficient moral authority with voters can pull off such experiments, notes T N Ninan.
Change will have to begin with Mr Modi, who by all accounts has shown little active interest in macro-economic issues, preferring instead to focus on the effective implementation of projects and programmes, points out T N Ninan.
Modi is not being consistent with his past record of caution.' 'Has something changed in the way Modi does things?'
'We know each other for quite some time.' 'He could provide stability to the country for five years.' 'But he could not provide confidence to the countrymen that he is our leader.'
'The speech shone a spotlight on both the promise and the challenges of the Narendra Modi era,' says Ram Kelkar. 'The single-minded focus which Mr Modi displayed on issues of good governance and empowering the private sector and individual enterprise.'
'Right now, politics is operating in a state of suspended animation. That works to Modi's advantage.'
'There is economic danger: Not inflation, but a slowdown that feeds an employment crisis,' says T N Ninan.
Instead, increases in foreign-direct-investment levels; and reforms to make labour, land and capital more mobile.
The winds of nationalism laden with religion will now yield to those of concern over the stalled economy, unemployment, and a general malaise and unhappiness, predicts Shekhar Gupta.
'In India people want progress, development, they don't want politicians to hamper progress. If that is what Mr Modi has done, that is what will happen. If this is not true, why would the people of Gujarat, which is such a progressive, developed society, vote for Mr Modi?' asks Devang Nanavati.
'Every seat the Congress gets above 100 will keep pushing the Modi-Shah BJP lower in the dangerous sub-200 zone,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
'There was a lot of resentment against the BJP which has not translated into votes, this is surprising.'
'Mr Modi has inherited a system that taxes businessmen and fritters the money away over ministries.'
'Brand Kejriwal-AAP have a long way to go even if they win another Delhi election...'
'It is a force nobody can ignore, not even Mr Modi, because it will keep punching above its weight,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
The five-day extradition trial of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi will begin from May 11 in a part-remote setting, a UK court has ordered. Modi is fighting his extradition to India over the nearly USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case.
The record of other prime ministers too shows how much can change when a prime minister is faced with the two-year challenge, says T N Ninan.
'Air India's privatisation is acceptable as long as its control does not pass on to a foreign entity,' says A K Bhattacharya.
'In AAP, those who are in charge of a particular state provide information to Arvind Kejriwal. 'In the BJP, several organisations convey what is happening on the ground to the top leadership.' 'There are so many channels through which issues are being understood.'
Overt displays of physical machismo is the stamp of the strongman and it's a symptom that manifests itself in direct proportion to their sense of insecurity, says Kanika Datta.
Around 40% of India Inc feels that Modi govt's biggest weakness in the last 6 months has been its slow pace of economic reforms.
'There's nothing in the 2019 campaign air, the chunavi hawa that tells you it's a wave election, for anyone,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
It may well be possible to defeat Modi. But nobody seems to know how, points out Vir Sanghvi.
'The two NSAs, who have been mandated to address mutual concerns on terrorism, will need to devise credible and irreversible measures to see that the likes of Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar do not ever get a free hand to run riot again,' says Ambassador G Parthasarathy, India's former high commissioner in Pakistan.
'If anything, he is a fiscal hawk.' 'He has avoided fiscal profligacy completely for the past four years.' 'The fiscal deficits since 2014 are clear proof of this.' 'The point is not that it is not 3 per cent yet; it is that it is not 6, 7 or 8 per cent, which it could easily have been.' 'For this he needs to be congratulated.' 'He has recognised it no longer pays to spend other people's money to win elections,' points out T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'You can see the essential contours of his new Pakistan strategy. Rather than keep engaging with or humouring them, he'd rather work on taking their four biggest supporters -- the US, China, the UAE and later Saudi Arabia -- away from them.' 'In his calculation,' says Shekhar Gupta, 'with the total support of all four of these, Pakistan will be forced to moderate its policies.'
Take Rediff.com's Pulse of the Nation poll and let India know what you think of Mr Modi and his government.
'We are seeing an era where only what Modi wishes is going to happen.' 'A clear message has now been sent to others that if this fate could befall on Nitin Gadkari, then just think what could happen to lesser mortals.'
'Both reflect prejudice and short-sightedness peculiar to Mr Modi's way of thinking.'
'Since the rise of the Modi-Shah paradigm, the BJP has followed a simple formula.' 'Sweep the Hindi heartland and the two big Western states, and you can rule India with a majority by just adding some little bits on the platter from here and there,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
Indian business has many legitimate grievances against the political class for not delivering an optimal business environment.
'The most important thing to do is to stop taxing citizens so brutally,' recommends T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Several of Modi's actions reflect political courage.
When BJP leaders, including Mr Modi's number two, Amit Shah, use the pandemic to launch an assault on state governments run by opposition parties, or to topple them, they are exploiting a grave crisis in cynical political self-interest, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The British media on Tuesday acknowledged that suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi realised Twenty20's potential in a huge and growing Indian market but said his downfall will not be mourned.
'She has just one objective. To win the next election. Nothing else matters.'
