'What we see here is puppetry. The string is with the BJP.' 'All the puppets here are dancing to the direction the BJP pulls the strings.'
Seventy-six is not an age to be plowing a lonely furrow in the heartless electoral fields of India, especially in Rajasthan, given the heat in summer, but Jaswant Singh, the expelled Bharatiya Janata Party veteran, is not exactly alone, says Rediff.com's Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
In Chhattisgarh, the Satnami sect voted for its own candidates in 21 constituencies, leaving the Congress trailing the Bharatiya Janata Party in its own strongholds. R Krishna Das evaluates the role the Satnami community played in the Congress loss and BJP victory in a tightly fought election.
'The danger today is that out of sheer fatigue and exasperation, the US might cut loose and exit from Afghanistan leaving it to the region to cope with the debris, which it is ill-equipped to handle,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
On that day, Sheikh Abdullah, political anchor of J&K's accession with the Indian Union, was unceremoniously removed from power and put behind bars; causing a tectonic emotional breach and setting off disastrous fault lines between Srinagar and New Delhi and its effects continue to this day, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
Civil nuclear projects in the country would be subject to Indian laws including on issues of civil liability, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon said on Friday dismissing reports of attempts to dilute the liability clause in contracts proposed with United States firms.
Exactly 50 years ago, the first Indian team, led by Manmohan Singh Kohli, reached the summit of Mount Everest. As Kohli and his team are felicitated to mark the anniversary, he reminisces on the event that continues to inspire generations of Indian mountaineers. Payal Mohanka reports
'The government says it is trying to improve the institute, but its latest appointments say otherwise.'
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is an extremely frustrating film, feels Paloma Sharma.
A Ganesh Nadar and Saisuresh Sivaswamy, on the campaign trail with H Vasanthakumar, the Congress's businessman candidate in Tamil Nadu.
In recent years India-Japan relations have acquired rich economic content and strategic intents. Although the bilateral trade at $18 billion between the two countries is not very impressive and leaves much to be desired, the economic engagement between the two countries is both qualitatively and quantitatively noteworthy. India-Japan defence cooperation, however, has generated a lot interest among the strategic community in the context of rise of China. There has been a lot of speculation about India-Japan strategic partnership to hedge China, says Rup Narayan Das.
'Jignesh Mevani has many strengths: Youth, articulation, fearlessness, proficiency with social media, political and ideological flexibility.' 'Also focus, as in targeting the BJP as the one and only enemy for now and using that justification to align with the rest,' says Shekhar Gupta.
On the second day of his Japan tour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited two prominent ancient Buddhist temples in Kyoto -- Toji and Kinkakuji -- offering prayers and mingling with the common people and tourists.
'This letter is not a complaint, it's more indignation, because we do not like being used as political tools by people of various parties.'
Yogi Adityanath on Monday completed 100 days in office as Uttar Pradesh chief minister but it was a low-key anniversary with no big event to showcase the achievements of the government.
The last rites will be conducted in Mandala in Madhya Pradesh, according to his wishes.
Here's the latest from the inauguration day of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.
'The meanness of the board statement apart, it nowhere answers the most fundamental and damaging aspects of the deteriorating work culture among top company executives to which Narayana Murthy had been repeatedly drawing attention,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
One year later, Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar travels to Ilavarasan's village, and finds out that cast culture still prevails at its worst in Tamil Nadu
'We are happy China has failed to disrupt the Kalachakra Puja by its repressive measures in Tibet; many Tibetans have come to attend the Puja.'
As thousands of protesting farmers marched into Mumbai on Sunday, Hemant Waje walked along with them. This is his account.
'Here in Delhi, the Modi government is supposedly looking at 'options' to hit back at Pakistan in any whichever way it can, while in Washington, the Obama administration is looking for ways to strengthen US military cooperation with Pakistan,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Images from the matches played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, in Wimbledon, London, on Monday.
From banking reform to financial reconstruction, the bullet train, Navi Mumbai airport, choosing a new medium fighter aircraft to be made in India... time is running out for Modi. How could a leader as energetic and astute as Modi have left it for so late, asks Shekhar Gupta.
Janakrosh, hunkar and khabardar rallies will be brought out by the Communist Party of India, Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist Party of India-(Marxist-Leninist) in Patna in the next few days. M I Khan reports
Saratchandra wrote when India was under British raj, but his concerns were contemporary.
'Nehru's hegemonic politics has been responsible for many ills, which undoubtedly includes Kashmir'
'I am angry because this ever happened.' 'I am sad because it's painful to think what they must be going through.' 'I am glad we've fought hard to break through such cruel tradition.' 'But it burns my blood to think we're still holding on to regressive culture that is stemmed from preserving this so-called honour,' says Sukanya Verma.
'There is perhaps a need to pay heed to L K Advani's belief about an Emergency re-run,' says Amulya Ganguli.
No one expects Nigeria to win, but by now everyone knows that shirt...
'Policy was more in line with the expectations.'
Kashmir was indeed in need of a messiah that summer; 70 per cent of its population aged below 31 were up in arms against the Indian State. Every nook and corner of the land brought forth stories of youngsters with crushed bodies and an unfaltering spirit.
Just as Billa-Ranga had become symbols of everything that was wrong with the system many years ago, Nestle is now portrayed as the wickedest of the wicked. Every known food crime in India is now attributed to Nestle including deliberately increasing the level of lead in their noodles, as well as deliberately destroying the health of millions. That's not only unfair, it's downright idiotic, says Rajeev Srinivasan.
'It is a travesty that I have to prove my commitment to Gandhi and to this country.'
Both the parties had been banking heavily on the internal feud in the first family of the state
If something stands out in the one year since Jayalalithaa's passing, it would be her famed leadership qualities and her ability to reach out to the party and the people above the second line, and also the state administration, to the exclusion of all the rest. Only Indira Gandhi had achieved it all in her time, and no other leader, possibly excepting Prime Modi Modi, could hold a candle to that, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'The more I lived in India, the more I realised that America was my home too.'
Five days after deadly attacks in Paris, which claimed 129 lives, details are emerging about the identities of the men who carried out the attacks
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