Nothing is going to dramatically open up on May 3. There will be too many ifs and buts and terms and conditions and guidelines in leading one's life in various zones, reveals Sheela Bhatt.
'What the interview with Modi told me was that now he is open to granting interviews.' 'And in this connection let me offer our credentials for being considered in this election season,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Embarrassment apart, it is a reminder to the Narendra Modi government that it is in acute minority in the Upper House
'The BJP has the torch and with that same torch, the BJP is trying to light up its house in Bihar.' 'The BJP is trying to burn Nitish Kumar's house with that torch.'
In the couple of hours that you spend in the riot-hit city you find it is not the BJP that is asking for the votes of an excited section of Hindus, but it is the people who are clinging to Narendra Modi. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports on the sentiment on the ground in Muzaffarnagar, whose Hindu-Muslim fracture is a long way from being mended.
Over lunch, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley breaks down his Budget. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports.
'We should not worry too much about Indian capabilities, both military and otherwise.'
In order to implement big ticket ideas which are likely to come via the Budget of 2015, Modi needs better political talent around him, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
The letter, to be written by the NDA's Bihari leaders, will mention that Modi was not talking about 'Bihar's DNA' but he was pointing towards the 'political DNA' of Nitish Kumar. The letter will also ask a few uncomfortable questions to the Bihar chief minister. Sheela Bhatt reports.
'During disengagement, you don't find violence.' 'And that, too, the killing of a commanding officer.' 'This indicates that this is more serious than previous incidents.'
'The BJP has done the Uri surgical strikes, handled the Dokalam crisis and the Balakot strikes.' 'So if there is a de-escalation only at the diplomatic level and not resolving this issue of a colonel being killed, then it translates into public anger.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a strict religious fast, has had several high profile engagements on the second day of his United States visit.
Jailed Gujarat police officer D G Vanzara is believed to have shot of a letter to the Gujarat home ministry put off by his guru Asaram Bapu's arrest in a rape case. Sheela Bhatt reports
'Look at the impropriety of the Anti-Corruption Bureau giving Ajit Pawar a clean chit!'
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has started preparing the ground to rescue Indians who are expected to be deported from Saudi Arabia as it goes ahead with its new job law, Nitaqat. Sheela Bhatt reports
'If the Ram Mandir is made, it is because of the collective strength of our country.'
'The BJP is the most progressive force within Hinduism today.'
Just months before the deadly gas leak in Bhopal killed 15,000 people, journalist Rajkumar Keswani -- who passed into the ages on Friday, May 21, 2021 -- had warned that the 'city stood on the edge of a volcano'.
But the ways of the Congress high command are never so simple. It behaves as a State by itself, reports Sheela Bhatt from New Delhi's Talkatora stadium after witnessing how the clamour was kept up to name Rahul Gandhi as the Congress PM candidate.
'And this mirror imaging is the most dangerous thing because it leads to tremendous misunderstandings.'
The President asked many questions on the treasure found in the temple, however, he wasn't shown the actual treasure since it's sealed under a Supreme Court order. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com, who accompanied the President, reports from Thiruvananthapuram.
'Kejriwal took political steps and micro level care at every level not to allow the consolidation of Hindu votes behind the BJP,' observes Sheela Bhatt, the distinguished political commentator.
'In our country, there is a lot of checks and balances, the figures cannot go wrong.' 'Because they are being checked by not only the governments, but by doctors themselves.'
Sheela Bhatt recounts the tension, suspense and disruptions during P Chidambaram's interim budget in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
'The theme of death seems to be a theme about which many of us, raised in Western societies, have almost completely removed from consciousness; it represents a theme that is suddenly and forcefully resurging now.' 'And for some, this is scary and destabilising.'
Sheela Bhatt narrates the behind-the-scenes action in the Delhi headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat that finally forced the religious sect's compliance with the coronavirus shutdown.
New Delhi's Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan hospital is the ground zero of COVID-19 treatment in India. It's an exclusive Covid-dedicated hospital with 2,000 beds. Nowhere in India are so many coronavirus patients being treated under one roof.
Barack Obama is expected to ask for India's support to create a global coalition against ISIS when he meets Narendra Modi on Monday. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports from New York.
'It has been a phenomenal effort at all levels of the government.' 'People were working 15-16 hour shifts in the central government, in the state governments, in the districts....'
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt speaks with Vishwanath Chaturvedi, a petitioner in the disproportionate assets case against Samajwadi Party supreme Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family who says that the CBI may shut the case prematurely
'Don't panic. Believe in yourself.' 'This is a preventable illness. Only you can prevent it.'
It's a mandate of young India, for young India, by young India, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com in her 43rd and concluding column on Indian Elections 2014.
'I am not minimising either the seriousness or the complex nature of the current situation.' 'Naturally, we have to do what it takes to secure our borders.' 'We are talking to the Chinese, both through military channels and diplomatic ones.'
'In fact, they work in tandem.' 'When it comes to finding a solution, this must be predicated on honouring all agreements and understandings.' 'And not attempting to alter the status quo unilaterally.'
A Congress MP reveals to Sheela Bhatt the Congress plan to protect the Speaker and home minister and muscle through the tabling of the Telangana bill in Parliament.
'The young generation will find its own Mandela when they fight and struggle for a just society,' says Tridip Suhrud, director, Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad.
Weakened by two fierce political opponents and the army in Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's United Nations speech was to address his domestic audience.
'If the mandis were not working in Delhi, or the onion market in Nashik got affected, or there were disruptions because of unloading or loading in any sector in south India, we intervened.'
'"The end" depends on two things.' 'Either you develop a vaccine which is effective or if you have a drug, you can terminate this infection very quickly.' 'Otherwise, you have to depend on herd immunity.' 'I think it should happen earlier. Far earlier, than we can imagine or achieve 'herd immunity'.'
'Some people chose to describe it as the Pakistan army's permanent presence, as if it's another Kargil. The reports were highly exaggerated.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, who is travelling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his two-nation trip to Brunei and Indonesia, reports.
'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.
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