News and Views

Almost all exit polls have predicted a BJP-led NDA sweep of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But, each poll predicts a different number, and by a fairly wide margin. On this edition of Chunav Tracker, Sanjay Pugalia explains why the landslide victory predictions for the NDA might need a closer look. On 23 May, the day of reckoning, who will form the next government? Listen to the podcast for the whol...

The incumbent BJP-led NDA is facing a tougher-than-expected contest in the ongoing parliamentary elections. While this has rightly been traced to its overall disappointing performance in power, particularly on the economic front, it would also appear that at least two political calls made early in its tenure – both by the BJP – have now come back to haunt the NDA. The first was the BJP’s decision...

It is learnt that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is likely to be withdrawn from all districts of Assam in the near future or as early as Aug 2019. The whole of Assam was declared disturbed on 27 Nov 1990 at the peak of the ULFA movement. Last year, the central government had specifically empowered the state of Assam to recommend the continuation or revocation of the ‘disturbed areas’...

The constituency that symbolises this battle against the Akalis, Congress and BJP is Khadoor Sahib. Interestingly, Khadoor Sahib is the only Lok Sabha seat that covers all the three regions in Punjab: six of its assembly segments are in the Majha region, two in Doaba and one in Malwa. Challenging the Congress and the Akalis here is Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra of the Punjabi Ekta Party. Khalra has ex...

A recent Bloomberg NEF report states that only about 6.6 percent of the total vehicles sold in the country would be electric by 2030. That's a far cry from the planned 100 percent electrification by 2030 that the Indian government wanted. In fact, by 2025, while two-wheelers and three-wheelers may see more electrification, cars will still be few and far between. Learn more about your ad choices. V...

One must hand it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is a leader who knows how to do things ‘differently’ — and leave the people of the country gob-smacked by his startling moves. On Friday, 17 May, Mr Modi came out with one more zinger. He did a press conference without actually doing one. For more podcasts from The Quint, check out our Podcasts section. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Will President Donald Trump’s campaign of ‘maximum pressure’ against Iran, stumble into war by accident, miscalculation, or misreading of signals? The similarities to the 2003 build-up against Iraq, which led to the most unnecessary and destructive war, are eerie. And at least one key actor – US National Security Adviser John Bolton – is a common factor. Bolton, who also worked in the George W Bus...

“Dinosaurs became extinct because they refused to change with the times. And that’s what has happened to the Communist Party of India (CPI) in (Bihar’s) Jehanabad and Nalanda. They (CPI) were ruling these districts in the 1980s and early 1990s but were dogmatic and refused to accept new social realities,” says comrade Ambika, the district secretary of Jehanabad’s CPI. Another comrade adds, “If Beg...

Former Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Friday, 17 May, said that his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi would have forgiven BJP leader Pragya Singh Thakur for hailing his assassin Nathuram Godse as “deshbhakt.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s routine for some of our 50-plus superstars to romance women half their age on screen. We had to accept this fact grudgingly. With time and some criticism, even if the male hero’s abdicated the “college lover boy” image, the machismo and star aura still ensured that while they kept getting older the women opposite them kept getting younger. So when De De Pyaar De trailer came out, where Ajay D...

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According to The Economic Times, “serious differences” have emerged between Indigo promoters Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal, over the expansion and long-term strategy of the country’s largest airline. Consequently, the two parties have engaged law firms to resolve the differences in the shareholders clause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections are coming to a close, and with that one of the most hard-fought political battles in recent memory. How will India’s future look like after 23 May? Rahul Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress, speaks to Raghav Bahl, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Quint and Sanjay Pugalia, Editorial Director of The Quint. Gandhi speaks about Congress’ failure to establi...

The BJP may well have shot itself in the foot in Bengal, courtesy a pliant Election Commission. The EC played into Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s hands with its openly partisan decision to curtail the campaign for the final phase in the state by a day, but only after Narendra Modi completes his scheduled rallies. Mamata has been on a roll since. She’s invoked Bengali pride. She’s lashed out at N...

Anti-incumbency is a mild word to describe the public sentiment in Punjab as it goes to vote in the Lok Sabha elections on 19 May. There is resentment against the political class at every level – from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to local leaders across party lines. Candidates from almost every party have been heckled during the campaign – Union Minister...

In a first, the Election Commission invoked article 324 and announced that campaigning for the last 9 seats in West Bengal will end on 16 May, 10 pm, a day before the scheduled deadline. The state is set to go to polls on 19 May, the seventh and last phase of elections. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee called the decision “unethical” and accused the EC of working for Modi. She said the timing of the...

“Hinduism has an infinite capacity, almost incredible capacity, to survive and endure the outrages committed on it by its followers… Hinduism has always been an admixture of foreign goodness and indigenous debasement.” This quote by Nirad C Chaudhury, one of the most irreverent yet incisive critics of all things Indian, is very apt and useful if you want to understand the current outrage over acto...

With just one phase of voting left, nine seats in West Bengal will vote on 19 May. But before this can happen, violence has gripped the last days of campaigning in the state. Tensions peaked after unknown elements defaced a statue of Bengali writer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar on 14 May. The TMC and BJP have blamed each other for the incident. Meanwhile, tensions are at an all-time high in the state....

West Bengal is emerging as the main battlefield in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The vandalism of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s statue, allegedly by BJP cadres taking part in party president Amit Shah’s roadshow on Tuesday, has given West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee exactly what she wanted: an opportunity to hit the streets and invoke Bengali nationalism against the BJP. Learn...

Days after a 51-year-old businessman was stabbed to death, allegedly for resisting youths who passed lewd remarks at his daughter in West Delhi, his family told The Quint that the matter should not be made communal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 52 days of intense cricket in the Indian Premier League, what are the issues that crept up in the World Cup-bound Indian team? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kangana Ranaut was the harbinger of the much-needed change in Bollywood; the feminist icon that the industry had been looking for. But something’s changed in the last year or so. It seems like our icon has clay feet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new financial year has gotten off to a dismal start, with overall passenger car sales declining 19.93 percent in April 2019 compared to the same month a year ago, according to data from SIAM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How the order directing Priyanka Sharma to apologise for her Facebook post sharing a meme about Mamata Banerjee violates fundamental rights jurisprudence and the rule of law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the 2019 Lok Sabha elections result in a hung parliament, what is going to be the role of the Ms and the Ns? Sanjay Pugalia analyzes the signals MK Stalin, Mamata, Mayawati and Nitish Kumar are sending across, on today's episode of the Chunav Tracker podcast. Listen to the podcast for the complete analysis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices