Narendra Modi seems to prefer that Hindu strongman image remain tucked in reserve, to only come when called; life's been more complicated.
Haryana and Punjab remained on high alert with officials warning that violent miscreants will be shot at sight.
'It is best that an amicable solution to the dispute is found outside the precincts of the courts of law,' says former Union home secretary Dr Madhav Godbole.
The world must hang its head in shame for being a mute spectator to the 'cultural holocaust' in Tibet, says Major General Mrinal Suman (retd).
If the fight against black money seems half hearted, the same is not the case with gau raksha, says Subir Roy.
'If one observes a common man passing a church or gurdwara or dargah, he instinctively bows his head. It is this prevalence of polytheism that has ensured that monotheists and minorities flourish in India. This may sound preposterous in wake of the recent communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar. But it must be understood that in a county of over one billion people that was at worst an aberration,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'There is a problem with the rise of a popular view that sees Kashmir through the prism of the larger, chronic Hindu-Muslim tensions.' 'By redefining the Kashmir problem simplistically in Hindu-Muslim terms could end up keeping Kashmir but losing most Kashmiris,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The Middle East's power house is about to get a new ruler who is only 31 and he may lead Saudi Arabia for decades, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Describing America as India's "natural global partner", Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in New York on Friday on a five-day visit to the US, holding out an assurance that India is "open and friendly" for business and innovations.
Senior officers admit the BJP's revival, and the mainstreaming of the Hindutva narrative that has accompanied this political shift, have complicated communal relations within the army.
Before the Supreme Court struck down Sec 66A of the IT Act, it was used with devastating effect against anyone posting critical comments online.
After last week's acquittal of 16 policemen, pointedly accused of the cold-blooded murder of 42 Muslims in Meerut in 1987, this mohalla in Meerut is still scarred by the past but willing to move on
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 13 images.
'It is time for all Indians to understand the truth that led to a 10-year long bloodbath in Punjab and not attempt to glorify the terrorists under the garb of human rights violations or scratch old wounds,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd), on the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
'The test of true secularism in India is when a girl in your family decides to marry someone from another religion. If you accept her decision happily, then you are truly secular. If you don't, it means your secularism is fake,' argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje breaks her silence.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday turned emotional as he paid his last respects to Pramukh Swami, the religious head of the Swaminarayan sect, saying he has lost a fatherly figure.
'Whether it is the One Belt One Road project or building relationships in the Indian Ocean Region -- supposedly our area of concern -- the Chinese are seriously outpacing us,' points out Vice-Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
After Narendra Modi's exit from state politics, the BJP and Hindutva forces are falling back on communal politics, says Vinay Umarji
When he was chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was able to blunt inter-regional and inter-communal tensions which Farooq and Omar Abdullah could not do. Whether he can repeat it with the BJP by his side would have to be seen, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
The burning of a Dalit house has put Sunpedh on tenterhooks, and overenthusiastic politicians and activists aren't helping matters.
'One can understand this prejudice in the minds of policemen against Muslims, without accepting it. But what tilts the balance disproportionately is the police's blind eye to offences committed in the name of the majority.' says Jyoti Punwani.
'Communalism and communal riots happened in India only during and due to colonialism. Pre-colonial India didn't have this problem of communal conflicts and religious strife.'
Imagine being a part of a country, but being discriminated against by the majority community and atrocities being committed against you by the state. This is the deplorable conditions that the Rohingyas of Myanmar live in where they are cut off from their livelihoods and sources of income, unable to access markets, hospitals and schools, and have little or no access to relief aid. In order to understand the situation and the genesis of the tragedy unfolding, Rediff.com's Archana Masih speaks to Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations' Chef de Cabinet (Chief of Staff), who had served a long stint with the UN in New York on the issue.
"Whether we are back or away, if they put Kashmiri Pandits in isolation, they will never see peace in Kashmir."
'The Pakistani military has encouraged and supported terrorist organisations, especially in Kashmir, as a means of waging proxy war against the Indian military and the country's superior economic resources.' 'The evidence is irrefutable with the recent killing of 46 paramilitary troops being just the latest example.'
The focus on non-issues like 'love jihad' has dragged radicals like Vijaykant Chauhan from the fringes to the mainstream in Uttar Pradesh
Nothing, according to Deepak Lal. He argues that the contemporary attempts to control immigration in the US and UK are not nativist.
The 'love jihad" controversy, an issue the Bharatiya Janata Party sought to exploit during the assembly by-elections in western Uttar Pradesh last month, took a new turn with a 22-year-old local woman going back on her statement that she was gang-raped and forcibly converted to Islam.
'Hindu voters in coastal Karnataka lean more towards Hindutva than Hinduism which explains why the Siddaramaiah government's perception as anti-Hindu worked wonders for the BJP in coastal Karnataka.'
'The secretary asked if I would give in writing that I would not slaughter goats inside the building compound during Bakri Eid.' Syed Firdaus Ashraf highlights the travails of a non-vegetarian family in a predominantly vegetarian housing society in Mumbai.
'I do not require validation from a hostile media. My conscience is clear.'
'During his visit to Vietnam on September 3 -- the first visit by an Indian prime minister in 15 years -- Modi will notice the widespread anti-China sentiment in that country.'
Indian-Americans can make a "significant difference" in helping first ever woman United States presidential candidate Hillary Clinton break the ultimate glass ceiling.
Four days after a scuffle between intoxicated young men on Diwali night in Trilokpuri's Block 20 spiralled into a diffused communal riot that resulted in scores of injuries, dozens of arrests, and the incineration of at least one Muslim-owned shop, the violence appears to have abated but tension and suspicion persist.
'Godse is no more, but the mindset which gave birth to such distorted philosophy is unfortunately still with us.'
'Attempts at long-term rapprochement have been rather feeble from both sides. The primary cause of the lack of progress is that these efforts do not appear to have the support of the Pakistan army,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The court case in India against Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus was in a way initiated in Atlanta, Georgia, by a group of Indian-American businessmen including Dhiru Shah, who have been fighting against several controversial books on Hinduism by Western thinkers and professors in recent years.
'Look at Mr Modi. He is a part of this new middle class.' 'India has never before seen this kind of social mobility, certainly not since medieval times.' 'As a result, India's entrenched elite, which is a class of people with a strong sense of entitlement, is being tamed,' Sanjeev Sanyal tells Shyamal Majumdar and Arup Roychoudhury.
