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5 days ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Gowhar Geelani |Vaishna Roy
The Centre’s sudden announcement on April 30 to conduct a caste census seems to have thrown poll-bound Bihar’s politics into turmoil. Coming just six months before the Assembly election, the move will force all parties to recalibrate their strategies.
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5 days ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Gowhar Geelani |Vaishna Roy
The Union government’s decision to include caste enumeration in the next census marks a significant departure from the BJP’s earlier dithering and the RSS’s caution on the issue. It is a move with far-reaching ramifications for the polity.
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6 days ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Gowhar Geelani |Vaishna Roy
Dear readers,What’s in a name? An alarming lot, apparently, especially if you live in New India, where non-partisan critique is becoming an unaffordable luxury. Find fault not with a military operation, but merely with its name, and you’re branded a traitor. If your shop is named after a city in Pakistan, no amount of historical vindication will stop the mob. Take the case of the now-notorious Karachi Bakery.
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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Ilangovan Rajasekaran |Vaishna Roy
Dear readers,Remember Rooh Afza? That deep pink, very sweet, rose-flavoured drink that most of us grew up drinking? Come summer and Rooh Afza would be measured into glasses, water and ice added, and become a beloved thirst quencher across homes. Just like Rasna or Kissan Squash in later years. It was not branded colas but these squashes that ruled the roost. Mind you, Roof Afza divided opinion too—some people hated it for its syrupy sweetness.
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1 month ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Meena Kandasamy |Vaishna Roy
Dear readers,Signs of an internal rift have emerged within the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) over the contentious Waqf Bill. The party’s MPs voted differently in the Rajya Sabha: Sasmit Patra supported the Bill, Muzibulla Khan opposed it, and Debashish Samantaray abstained. Party patriarch Naveen Patnaik was reportedly caught unawares. This split voting pattern was unusual for the BJD, which has long functioned under Patnaik’s firm command and earned a reputation for party discipline.
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1 month ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Divya Gandhi |Vaishna Roy
Dear readers,Three days ago, when Shashi Tharoor—Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram since 2009—once again praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this time for the government’s COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy, the social media rumour mill spun into overdrive. Was the four-term MP finally ready to jump ship and join the BJP? Then came Thursday.
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1 month ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Divya Gandhi |Vaishna Roy
Facing mounting criticism from minority communities over the controversial Waqf (Amendment) Bill being pushed by the Centre, the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) partners in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh now find themselves entangled in yet another controversy—this time over the Uttar Pradesh administration’s order prohibiting namaz on roads and rooftops. The pressure is palpable.
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1 month ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Divya Gandhi |Vaishna Roy
Dear readers,Shuffling through the headlines this week, two items caught my attention. One was the Centre’s notification of a 25 per cent hike in salaries and pensions for Members of Parliament. The other? A viral video of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar attempting to strike up a conversation—and making some inexplicable hand gestures—while the national anthem was being played.
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1 month ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Divya Gandhi |Vaishna Roy
In the Union Budget 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the corridor in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, would be developed into a world-class pilgrimage and tourism site, modelled on the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor of Varanasi.
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1 month ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Anand Mishra |Vaishna Roy
Dalit politics in Uttar Pradesh, the State that sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, is at a crossroads. At least four major players have emerged to lay claim to 22-23 per cent of Scheduled Caste votes after the seemingly terminal decline of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
