It's time India re-visited its Western alliances for the attitude and approach that the West reserves for the nation when it comes to security cooperation of the kind that they might not have visualised outside of China, India's bug-bear, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
'When you watch Freedom At Midnight, I want you to feel like you are sitting on a ticking time bomb.'
'Even if the BJP does not come to power, the system has changed.'
'One is happy. The moment one starts criticising the BJP, ED, IT and CBI comes to one's house.'
If the party's members aren't sure what it stands for, see no path to wealth or power, and endure control by a dynasty, which, almighty as it is within the party, cannot get them the votes, they are likely to explore options, notes Shekhar Gupta.
'BJP and RSS may have differences over minor issues but their hearts long for one common aim -- that of A Hindu Rashtra.' 'And this time to prove this point the RSS has prepared to help BJP win this election with all its might.'
Noting that elections will be held in four states, she urged party leaders to sustain the momentum and goodwill that had been generated for the party in the Lok Sabha elections.
India on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced withdrawing its high commissioner and other 'targeted' officials from Canada after strongly dismissing Ottawa's allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a major downturn in already frosty ties between the two nations.
Turning tables on Congress and left thinkers, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday accused them of practising "ideological intolerance" towards the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and trying to project India as an intolerant society through structured and organised propaganda.
Former West Bengal chief minister and a front-ranking Marxist leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will go down in the country's history as a pragmatic communist who kept aside his ideological convictions to woo capital for the industrialisation of his state.
Will January 22 mark a point of no return for our Constitutional secularism? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'Naseer does not have the sense of humour that Om Puri has. 'Also Om has a great deal of compassion as a human being. Naseer was too focused on his own self.' A fascinating excerpt from Sangeeta Datta's book, Shyam Benegal.
If Indira Gandhi hadn't targeted the RSS, Narendra Modi wouldn't be sitting pretty with his second majority and looking at a third, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday mocked Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray for "handing over the remote control" of the party to the Congress as he took poll battle to Mumbai with less than a week left for voting in Maharashtra.
'They are attacking my wife; they are attacking our 13-month-old daughter. They are saying that I do drugs.' 'I'm giving an open challenge to Mr Nawab Malik and Ms Sana Malik let's go to the labs and let's do the medical test of our family and your family.'
Calling Canada's behaviour 'the pits', India's recalled high commissioner Sanjay Verma says India was backstabbed and treated in a most unprofessional manner by a country that is supposed to be a friendly democracy.
Over the years, India has enjoyed bipartisan support in the US and this asset must be kept intact and nurtured through across the board political and civil society engagement, suggests former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who took oath as minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet on Sunday, weathered political storms and intra-party bickering before he could successfully establish himself as a firebrand BJP leader in Telangana.
Occasional lovers' tiffs have marked the history of RSS-BJP relations. To think that Nagpur will bring about any change in leadership is a misreading of both its intent and its power, points out Shekhar Gupta.
"When it comes to the Canadian matter, we have made clear that the allegations are extremely serious and they need to be taken seriously. We wanted to see the government of India cooperate with Canada in its investigation. Obviously, they have not chosen that path," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at his daily news conference.
If the BJP has to work as a junior partner of Vijay's TVK, then either the party will have to change the state leader, or the latter should change himself. Incidentally, ever since Vijay started talking politics and elections, the pro-BJP/Hindutva social media had stopped dragging his name into any non-existing issue.' In particular, they have stopped referring to him by his Christian name, 'Joseph Vijay', observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'That was my mistake.' 'Gautam Adani was not involved in forming the Maharashtra government.' 'Adani was not there in the meeting.' 'The meeting was at his guest house and we were sitting in his guest house.'
Crucial reforms in Muslim personal law, especially laws related to inheritance and adoption, need to be initiated forthwith; historically speaking, without the State's backing, hardly has any reform taken place or allowed to prevail, asserts Mohammad Sajjad.
Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Congress of twisting facts and distorting his comments on B.R. Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha, saying the opposition party launched a malicious campaign after a parliamentary discussion "established" the Congress as being "anti-Ambedkar and anti-reservation." Shah defended his remarks, stating his address was clear and without confusion, and that his party would explore all legal options against the Congress for misrepresenting his comments. He also accused the Congress of insulting V.D. Savarkar, crushing constitutional values by imposing Emergency, and humiliating soldiers who laid down their lives.
Gandhi's remarks come amid repeated attacks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the Congress manifesto bears a 'Muslim League imprint'.
'If she manages to throw out people, go for surgical operations, clean up her image, she will be victorious.'
'If they don't make Ajit Pawar chief minister, what can he do?'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday took a dig at the culture of dynastic politics and appeared to target Congress by taking a veiled swipe at Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra who is embroiled in controversies over his land deals.
'If there is a push towards a Marxist oriented government it will be dangerous.' 'We have seen this in Nepal and Myanmar and it will be a concern for India if it is surrounded by countries with such political dispensations.'
'If, as happened in Baramulla during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the youth in the Valley get triggered enough to jump into the wider fray, the end result would be difficult to predict, especially as the state's post-August 5, 2019 political format remains substantially fragmented and foggy,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Ever since, he has remained Thiruvananthapuram preferred MP, winning four elections on the trot, including the closely fought battle with Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajeev Chandrasekhar in 2024. This could well be his swansong from the capital segment.
The daily said the DMK president, in his address at the 'Mupperum Vizha' on June 15 in Coimbatore, "stood tall by dedicating the victory to the DMK cadres, workers of parties of the INDIA bloc and all the leaders" of the alliance parties.
Malayalee From India is trapped within its self-serving corniness and refuses to break free in the process, observes Arjun Menon.
Te Congress slammed the Centre's order, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to politicise employees on an ideological basis.
Entertainers can be good politicians if they treat the citizens as the audience, and treat their job like a live show, and work hard to make sure the audience likes them, asserts Sandeep Goyal.
'They know that if they do not tie up with the Congress, then the minorities will move to the Congress.'
ASJ Chander Jit Singh underscored he would first consider the issue of jurisdiction and whether or not to transfer the case to a special court meant to try lawmakers, considering Rashid was now an MP.
Kharge also hit back at the BJP for criticising his party colleague Rahul Gandhi over a copy of the Constitution with a red cover. He showed a picture of PM Modi gifting a similar copy to former president Ramnath Kovind.
The outcome may determine whether Macron's centrist coalition retains power or if France faces a period of political cohabitation with the far-right National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen.
No single individual, institution, or action is to blame for this. The BJP is responding in kind -- definitely not without checking with its government. And they wait for Mr Trump, notes Shekhar Gupta.
