'He depended too much on assurances given by sadhus and sants. He may not be culpable, but he was wholly responsible for December 6, 1992.' 'While Manmohan Singh came to reforms out of conviction, Rao came to reforms out of compulsion. If the compulsion had not been there, I don't know how he would have responded.'
The passage of the Bankruptcy Code could set the stage for other important legislation that may see India undergo more economic change than all governments combined since the reforms implemented by P V Narasimha Rao in 1991-93, says Ben Merton.
'Didi' became the real 'Dada' as she got past the post, on a wheelchair and a foot in cast, a souvenir from the Nandigram battle against former protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari.
Patel's closeness to the Gandhi family was undeniable. But unlike others, he resisted the temptation to use it to leverage personal business, says Aditi Phadnis.
'Those who are talking of adopting the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh policy must understand now that what was a reform then is no longer a reform now,' argues Sukumar Mukhopadhyay who was associated with the 1991 economic reforms.
The Andhra Pradesh Raj Bhavan sex scandal and the paternity suit a love child filed against Tiwari dogged him in his 80s.
India's most powerful prime minister in five decades gets publicly admonished -- if gently -- by the US vice-president. The question is, would this make him reflect on how and why, or which ones of his government and party's missteps exposed his flank like this? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'Congress is being increasingly seen to be standing with Pakistan as Tharoor's statement was not an isolated incident'
Any defeat for the BJP now would imply that anti-incumbency against Modi has set in, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'A rag-tag coalition is more insecure and hence, more inclined to reform,' argues Devangshu Datta.
Pranab recalled how she once stormed out of a meeting, leaving him feeling "humiliated and insulted".
Rahul Khullar's guiding credo was that a civil servant must never lose sight of his client: The little guy. The evil men are those who are decision-makers but abdicate their responsibility of taking decisions, leading people to lose confidence in public institutions.
If and when India and Pakistan bilateral talks take place any issues concerning Jammu and Kashmir will not be on the table. Any future talks with Pakistan will be only about PoK, tactically or otherwise.
'It is like an island of excellence'.
You aren't dealing with a normal, civilised, law. The NDPS Act, in its preconditions for bail, and insistence on evidence of innocence rather than guilt, is worse than UAPA. Imagine yourself or your child at the other end of this, observes Shekhar Gupta.
US-India defence cooperation must not adversely affect the India-Russia interface, which has its own strategic meaning and content, asserts Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Driven by hardship, adventurous souls mortgage their homesteads in Punjab or Haryana, pawn the family jewellery and borrow heavily to satisfy the greed of the criminal traffickers who organise their trips, points out Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
On Wednesday, Bengal's own daughter she firmly pitched herself as, was sworn in as the chief minister of the turbulent state for the third successive term amid raging fires of political violence and a rampaging pandemic.
'Without doubt, Narasimha Rao confronted huge challenges. Yet, in the very brief period I saw him at the closest of quarters, I have to say that he was simply magnificent. A lifetime of circumspection gave way to courage.'
The Babri Masjid Action Committee meeting was held against the backdrop of the apex court recently asking parties involved to sit together and arrive at a consensus on the issue, which has been dragging on for decades.
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.
"Let them hear us, we are prepared. But we are not ready for out-of-court settlement," Jilani said.
The Gandhi family will now get 'Z+' security by the Central Reserve Police Force on an all-India basis.
'Since the two successive drubbings of the Congress have rung the alarm bells about the party's future, the need to chart a new course cannot be delayed any further,' says Amulya Ganguli.
A slow and ineffective response to allegations of scams under the erstwhile United Progressive Alliace government strengthened anti-Congress impressions in the minds of voters, which resulted in the party's poor show in the Lok Sabha polls, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Thursday.
Ambassador Venu Rajamony, who served as press secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee during his tenure, salutes the statesman and political legend, who passed into the ages on Monday.
In 2010, Ratan Tata had spoken of how he had to abandon plans to launch an airline because he refused to pay bribes to secure the necessary approvals.
'Given that the RGF is a family-controlled trust, why would the Congress defend it every time someone accuses it of wrong-doing?' asks Virendra Kapoor.
On December 10, Kissinger began to encourage the Chinese to take action against India: 'If the People's Republic were to consider the situation on the Indian subcontinent a threat to security, and if it took measures to protect its security, the US would oppose efforts of others to interfere with the People's Republic.' On the 50th anniversary of India's greatest military victory, Claude Arpi recalls how the US suggested that China intervene militarily on Pakistan's side.
There is a need for tax reforms in the country in a bolder way, Singh said.
Trump can afford to say that COVID-19 is a 'China virus', but we can't expect Modi to say that aloud while his actions may speak louder, says Rup Narayan Das.
Born on November 3, 1933 at Challakere in Chitradurga, Sharief had an illustrious political career spanning 50 years.
'Modi has not lacked courage in the political sphere. It is time he showed it in the economic sphere as well.' 'To do this, he needs to shed the simple-minded nostrums about economic growth and swadeshi that he learnt in the Sangh Parivar,' suggests Virendra Kapoor.
Indian elections are won and lost on 'negative' imageries and campaigns - but not certainly on 'negativity' as a political trait and electoral creed, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Agri reforms need to go beyond the limited concerns of these three laws in improving agriculture productivity in cereal and crop diversification and production patterns.'
'E Ahamed will be sorely missed as a decent and wise man who made the best use of his political career and personal abilities for the good of the nation,' remembers Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
By pegging the exact area of the Babri Masjid site at 0.313 acres, and not the original 2.77 acres, the government hopes to be in line with the court ruling in the 1994 Ismail Faruqui case which mentions return of land to original claimants once the exact area needed for acquisition is determined, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Singh made these comments at the launch of Mukherjee's book -- The coalition years.
'Some of his decisions were not so good, but his intentions were always guided by a deep national interest.'
The Emergency came as a surprise to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who saw an atmosphere of fear in the country during which there were many "arbitrary arrests and detentions", says a new book on him by his daughter.
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