Will it be home or defence for Amit Shah?
Four decades of federal evolution made India more secure, but coronavirus is reversing that. Modi's central government has tasted power again and is unlikely to give it up, notes Shekhar Gupta.
India has too many small companies and this is inefficient. It should instead have only a handful of very large players running its economy and these giants can then compete with the world, observes Aakar Patel.
'Star campaigner' to address election meetings in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, MP, Rajasthan.
'If you think this is a kind of spiritual experience, you will fall into a trap of your own.' 'Why are the people dying, why is the prime minister not thinking about it?'
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
'This pandemic has given him a new platform to perform,' says a member of the government. 'He should feel lucky that he has got an opportunity now to demonstrate to the world his original talent.' 'He needs a visionary script to perform.' Sheela Bhatt reports on the politics of the pandemic.
The PM's visit would signal a strong intent towards making sure India becomes a beneficiary as vaccines become a massively traded commodity in the coming years.
'Quiet back channel advice will probably be rendered by Saudi Arabia to India that international perception on both issues does not favour India and that it should be prudent to look inwards and introspect on where the failing has been,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'They were only chanting one slogan, "Ghar jaana hai (we want to go home)".'
150 BJP elected local representatives in Beed resign in protest against Pritam Munde's exclusion from the Union ministry.
Modi seems to have an innate faith in his capabilities to handle the myriad challenges confronting the nation and would rather manage the affairs of the nation as a CEO would of a large industrial-business empire, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Iran's decision to keep India out and welcome China to the scene is a huge strategic setback for India, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
'A country cannot be run on lines that everyone should be in agreement and those who disagree should be silenced.' 'If this is how they look at democracy, then I can only wish good luck to the future of parliamentary democracy in India.'
'He has a gift none of his eight predecessors, from Manmohan Singh to Rajiv Gandhi, had: Being able to speak directly and convincingly to a large enough section of Indians who will take his word for gospel,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
'It is our right to protest and draw the attention of this government, which is sleeping and appears blind, as it has failed to see the pain and struggle of the jobless youth.'
Our precipitous decline is being noticed and recorded abroad with alarm. It is strange that within India we are carrying on as if it is business as usual, observes Aakar Patel.
How Modi retrieves the situation and how he enlists new allies in the next two years will show if the BJP is fighting fit, report Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
'I would like to express my anger at the way party affairs have been handled by some people.'
Autorickshaw drivers and families from Kalyan reveal how the lockdown has rendered them jobless and deprived them of bare necessities.
Ambrose D'Mello, the Independent candidate from Bengaluru South, has been on maun vrat for 15 years. He does not own a house, does not wear footwear and sells books to earn a living.
'A national government will help us to harness the totality of national resources to fight the war against the coronavirus most effectively,' state Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'And Sir, you are at fault if they don't like you. 'You don't boast of your government's efforts to be the first one to bring in thousands of Indians back home without thinking for a second about their race, religion, language, orientation, or even citizenship,' says Sarang, a reader of Rediff.com.
Power is held to effect change. Modi has shown himself incapable of affecting it in the positive sense. On the economy, on the border, on employment, on the epidemic, observes Aakar Patel.
'Anyone can string together a few alliterative words, but are they a substitute for serious thought?' 'And do they make for a strategy or plan for coherent action?' asks T N Ninan.
'The PM says he believes in discussion and debate, then why are discussions and debates not being allowed in Parliament?'
'If the Russian forces do capture Kyiv and set up some sort of provisional government, they might run into an insurgency, for which the geography is just right, it could prove costly for them.' 'In that event, the whole exercise could turn out to be counter-productive -- and costly in both foreign policy and domestic terms.'
The high table might have yielded relief at personal levels, but its political implications look forbidding at this point in time, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
'There will be very strong interest in cooperating with India under any future American administration, but on the margins India will need to be careful not to tip its hand regarding the election.'
'I didn't know exactly how to move from a world of gray back into a world of vibrant colour, but one day I figured out one simple thing I could do: I could stop hiding and re-engage with life.'
For the first time in seven years the prime minister finds himself at his most vulnerable, observes Virendra Kapoor.
'During the Emergency, it boiled down to two people: Mrs Gandhi and her younger son.' 'But today, the cancer is spreading all over.'
Had India agreed to join the trade pact, Indian markets would have been flooded with cheap Chinese products.
'100 per cent, the BJP will form the government in Madhya Pradesh and Shivraj Singh Chouhanji will be once again chief minister.'
'He can at least invite them for tea in small groups once a month on Sundays.' 'If nothing else, he will have the pleasure of ruining their weekend,' suggests T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
'If the Modi government doesn't act now, it will demoralise and hurt the people who voted in hope of a better times,' argues former BJP MP Tarun Vijay.
Who took the decision for the prime minister, the nation's single most popular leader, to take the road route when they should have already known about the farmers' protests and also the grave risks involved, when and how, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Who are these people on the streets?' 'They are youth and students who were hoodwinked, bluffed by Modi for the last seven years, with a promise of 2 crore jobs every year.' 'And Mamata sings the same tune.' 'But the youth can see that as long as there is Mamata or Modi, there is no hope.'
'The return of India to its own civilisational values can never endanger freedoms as pluralism is the bedrock of our culture,' assert Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
If he doesn't win next year, it will set back the party's prospects in 2024. If he wins, it will be seen as his win as much as the BJP high command's, points out Shekhar Gupta.
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