By Rajinder Puri | Delhi
Never has so much partisan passion been spent on a general election campaign. But readers are advised to read the following facts unemotionally and with detachment and then decide whether it is worth losing too much sleep over election result.
It is common knowledge that the closest confidant of Sonia Gandhi and her most powerful adviser in the party is Ahmed Patel. What are . Patel’s relations with fellow Gujarati Narendra Modi? In the last Rajya Sabha election Modi chose not to put up a candidate against Patel to allow him uncontested entry into parliament. Patel reciprocated to help the Gujarat government by interceding with the Union cabinet in order to lift the duty on import of cotton badly needed by the state government.
By M H Ahssan | INNLIVE
Who is more dangerous for India – Arvind Kejriwal or Narendra Modi? This is a question that India needs to answer. But a recent article titled ‘Arvind Kejriwal: The Most Dangerous Man In Indian Politics’ has ventured to supply a one-sided answer to this question. The title is as catchy as it is misleading if not subversive.
The ensuing ‘analysis’ is sadly not borne out by facts but relies on obfuscation and rhetoric. The tragic outcome is that many pertinent facts have been buried beneath the rubble of unsubstantiated allegations and sinister accusations. On the whole the article is an anti-Kejriwal diatribe disguised as an intellectual treatise.
While conferring on Modi the respectable halo of a “firebrand Hindu nationalist”, the writer goes on to indulge in pure speculation and sweeping generalizations about Kejriwal and other AAP leaders.
By Sadanand Mihir | INNLIVE
SPECIAL REPORT Not rabble-rousing but deliverance through governance is what Kejriwal should be aiming at and for that he must steer clear of populist overtones that his 49-day rule as Delhi chief minister came to symbolise.
For many Indians, their country’s most exciting politician is neither the firebrand Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi nor the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty scion Rahul Gandhi, but Arvind Kejriwal, a mustachioed, bespectacled former tax inspector whom most people had barely heard of just three years ago.
By Sridhar Shah | INNLIVE
BREAKING Hate speeches show no signs of stopping this election season. After Azam Khan, Giriraj Singh, and Amit Shah, now Vishwa Hindu Parishad president Pravin Togadia has also reportedly jumped on the bandwagon by telling people to clear Muslims from areas where a majority of the residents were Hindus. Togadia had joined a VHP and Bajrang Dal street protest outside a house purchased by a Muslim businessman in Bhavnagar, Rajkot where he urged protesters to storm the house.
By Niloufer Khan | INNLIVE
SPECIAL REPORT Fatehpur Sikri, the must-see stopover for tourists driving from Agra to Jaipur via Bharatpur, is in the news, and it has little to do with the proposed new attractions at the famous Mughal-era monument. Even as the campaign cacophony reaches the crescendo here, the voters have a lot to discuss beyond politics.
Bollywood star power is in ample display here, courtesy the irrepressible Amar Singh who is contesting on a Rashtriya Lok Dal ticket from the seat this time. Never the one to shy away from flaunting his connections with the high and the mighty and the glamorous, the former Samajwadi Party leader has roped in a number of former and current Bollywood personalities to spice up his campaign.
By M H Ahssan | INNLIVE
ANALYSIS Will the Modi overkill prove counterproductive for the BJP in Bihar? The mood on the ground offers a hint of that. It appears that the Muslim votes are getting sharply polarised against him while Hindu votes have not consolidated enough in his favour to give his party a resounding victory in the battleground state.
Let's begin at beginning. The BJP's campaign in the state has been all about Modi. The party's prime ministerial candidate has visited the state six times ever since the general elections were announced. While canvassing for party candidates he has made himself the sole talking point, reducing the candidates to irrelevance in the process.
By Sameera Aziz | Jeddah
WEEKEND FEATURE A mother recently told me that her daughter asked for almost Saudi Riyals 9,000 for her private graduation party so they could finish their high school after couple of months. When I told her that my daughter had not brought it up yet, the mother said, she will ask you soon “and you know, we have to give them the money otherwise, they will be ashamed in front of their friends.”
I said, “I personally don’t support the idea of spending such a large amount of money just for a private graduation party because their school is already organizing a good party and have taken amount for it as well….But I know that if my daughter wants the amount, her father will give it to her”. The mother replied, “Yes this is a modern and high class Saudis ‘culture’ to have a lashing private graduation party….. So you should not interfere and let your daughter attend the party”.
By Mahesh Mahtolia | Delhi
Voting for close to 220 seats is over. Many political luminaries have had their ballots cast in their respective constituencies. The contest is still far from over. Who will win the polls? Will any party get a majority or are we to be consigned to the dark days of 1990's with a Third Front Government. The thought sends a shudder down the spine. Most regional parties have however been able to have their say at the Centre be it in the NDA or UPA governments. Either by way of TDP or Mamata Banerjee or CPM.
They have been able to hold to ransom key government initiatives which would have made a lot of difference to the people.
