TN’s new deal for the mini bus needs key tweaks
After more than two decades of regulatory confusion, the Tamil Nadu government has come out with a draft new Comprehensive Mini Bus Scheme, 2024, to provide public transport connectivity in the far corners of the State. There is...
Here’s why Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is being fielded in Wayanad
The Left maybe miffed by the decision to field Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Wayanad. The exit of Rahul Gandhi, the scion of Nehru family, from the Wayanad Lok Sabha Constituency in the post-poll scenario after winning two constituencies, has triggered a controversy over...
Arundhati Roy: How Modi 3.0 may well be more virulent
Two days since the news of sanction to prosecute Arundhati Roy broke, many are crying their hearts out. But the allies of the government are silent. Evidently because the writer is sought to be prosecuted over her comments on Kashmir, even the newly energized Congress...
Pinarayi effect: Kerala’s CPM citadels see saffron surge
Is Kerala chief minister and party supremo Pinarayi Vijayan triggering an internal protest vote? Kerala elections are often marked by small swings in votes leading to big changes in outcomes. So the Left getting only one seat in 2024 was not a rare occurrence. But...
Decoding election results 2024
Decoding election results 2024 in today's world can be hazardous. Electoral democracy is a stretch, one can say perhaps, given the rulers we have been seeing the world over. Especially now, when someone like Vladimir Putin would like his country to be seen as a...
BJP base in Karnataka is intact. Candidate selection was key
The BJP roller coaster ride in Karnataka politics has taken one more nosedive in the current elections. The state has been returning the same BJP MPs since 2009 mostly, indicating that the party has overdone the selection and overdepended on the sitting MPs. Recurring...
Tamils prefer Edappadi to Modi, Shah, Annamalai combined
The AIADMK under Edappadi Palaniswami should have disappeared by now and gotten swallowed by the BJP. But the AIADMK is just not going away. The AIADMK voter base is refusing to switch to the BJP, by and large. 2024 was a parliamentary election in which the issues...
How Modi avoided India Shining by not being Vajpayee
So the BJP and Modi were indeed afraid of India Shining redux and determined to not let history repeat itself. In the normal course, this election would have resulted in a defeat of the BJP and regime change. But the shenanigans the government unleashed ensured the...
South the new trendsetter in Dalit politics, says Mumbai scholar
While noting that Maharashtra has always been the trendsetter in Dalit politics for the nation, Mrudul Nile, professor of politics at University of Mumbai and columnist, says going forward the south will take the lead in Dalit politics. Below is a Q&A with him...
Sanskari folks are often the least cultured
Sanskari is a Hindi word meaning cultured, well-mannered, but in general implying orthodox. It is sought to be applied more to women though. The world over of course women are supposed to be the guardian angels of racial purity and miscegenation is a horrifying...
A wayfinding challenge: Namma Metro Majestic to Bengaluru City station
Wayfinding is part of global travel culture but in India it poses a serious challenge. Even in the era of national job mobility and a post-COVID tourism wave, governments don’t make it easy for people to find public places and essential facilities even in the biggest...
Polarization – where are we headed?
Just a day after he vehemently denied he ever did communal politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went back to his old refrain, alleging in a Maharashtra rally that the Congress during its previous rule had wanted to allocate 15 per cent of the government budget for...
Shiv Sena: A brahmin starts a party of goons and his son turns mellow
What if the brahmins of Mylapore and Triplicane suddenly start a party that goes around terrorizing Telugus, Malayalis and north Indian labourers of Chennai? And an iyer or iyengar, for that matter, who has been working in a newspaper puts together a group of rowdies...
Savukku Shankar: Once a soaring idealist . . .
Savukku Shankar, the social-media influencer, is in the limelight yet again. But behind bars now, on flimsy and even imaginary charges and attacked while in custody. His lawyers apprehend the draconian Goondas Act could be invoked against him. It is rather problematic...
Revanna Scandal: Minimal impact on Karnataka’s second phase voting
The second phase of the election for 14 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka are over and the state has recorded a robust 69. 17 per cent voting on an average with Shivamogga topping with 79 per cent voting in the state. The lowest in the second phase being in Kalburgi...
The real Rae Bareli choice: Incompetence vs brutality
As far as Amethi and Rae Bareli are concerned, the BJP does have a point. Ideally speaking the entire clan should be booted out of UP. The condition of their so-called pocket boroughs is pathetic. Visited the region not long ago and found even motorable roads almost...
Sleaze video scandal rocks election landscape in Karnataka
As the second phase of general elections in 2024 looms closer, the political arena in Karnataka is ablaze with controversy following the emergence of hundreds of sleaze videos allegedly involving MP candidate Prajwal Revanna from the powerful political family of...
Is the BJP scared of India Shining redux?
India Shining, the nation may be, but the BJP's election campaigns still take no prisoners. Anything goes is their style and substance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attacks on the opposition may seem stretched but they are deliberate. From saying Muslims, who have...
