A Mahabharata is being played out in Maharashtra even before Election Day. For the BJP Shiv Sena alliance, it’s all about kaun banega mukhya mantri. The saffron alliance knows its in pole position to capture power, but wants something more: it wants the kursi of the chief minister.
Indian voters have a knack of surprising political pundits. Just a few weeks ago, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah could do no wrong; now, after a series of byelection reverses, the Modi-Shah duo is being blamed for losing the Midas touch. Neither is the euphoria nor the harsh criticism valid: No two elections are the same and the extreme responses that accompany every election result are perhaps uncalled for.
It appears that the nay-sayers have won the Scotland referendum: Scotland will remain a part of Great Britain after a long and contentious debate. There is no place in the world quite as pretty as the Scottish countryside.
My grandmother always says, once an Amdavadi, always an Amdavadi! I was born in Ahmedabad, a city which for me will always be associated with wonderful childhood memories.
The BJP is beset with a familiar Indian trait of never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Till Narendra Modi came along and used every available opportunity to catapult himself on the national centre stage. And yet, even a Modi-led BJP can commit harakiri.
I have met Deepika Padukone just once: it was the CNN IBN Indian of the year awards last year when she won the special achievement prize for having acted in a series of hit films. She cried on that occasion on receiving the award from her father, the legendary badminton player Prakash Padukone.
This November, I complete 26 years in journalism: it’s been quite a journey and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else (actually I might, if I could only have been good enough to play cricket for India!). I was trained to be a lawyer but my heart was always in current affairs and writing.
The Indian army has always been reviled in the Kashmir valley. The army has been accused of human rights violations, of fake encounters, of oppression and being a symbol of an Indian state which most Kashmiri Muslims see as ‘occupying’ their land. And yet, today it is the men in uniform who have saved hundreds of lives
It is now almost seven months since Delhi hasn’t had an elected government. Arvind Kejriwal’s act of political harakiri in February 2014 pushed the Lieutenant Governor into the spotlight. Under the constitution, the LG has to make every possible effort to see if a government can be formed
