The Congress dithers and the BJP calculates as the Thackeray cousins weigh their next move as civic polls loom. Politics in Maharashtra has long been a study in timing - the art of knowing when to provoke, when to retreat, and when to deploy the nuisance value of allies and adversaries. For decades, the Congress excelled at this game. In Maharashtra, this mastery produced a delicate choreography with Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. Often derided as the Congress’s ‘B-team,’ o

Uneven growth, swelling giveaways and rising debts are testing the foundations of India’s fiscal federalism. Income gaps, swelling welfare commitments and uneven revenue growth are reshaping India’s state finances. The country’s federal compact, once defined by shared revenues and coordinated investment, is now marked by diverging fortunes between richer and poorer states, widening rural-urban divides and a rising appetite for politically seductive cash transfers. These shift

Two decades after being held hostage by Maoist violence, Bihar’s hinterland is scripting a quiet revolution of faith and civic renewal in the ongoing Assembly polls. When dawn broke over the misty hills of Bhimbandh in Munger district during the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections on November 6, long queues began to form outside makeshift polling stations. In the pale light, 81-year-old Vishundeo Singh pressed a button on the electronic voting machine, his trembling f

Maharashtra’s local body polls will decide not just who governs its towns but which parties will dominate its politics in the future. The announcement by Maharashtra’s State Election Commission of the schedule for the long-delayed local body polls saw the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign machinery in full swing. The party activated its committees and immediately mobilized its workers in stark contrast to the reactive strategies of its rivals. The opposition - an

The 2025 Assembly election will test whether Bihar’s voters are ready to trade nostalgia for accountability and whether its leaders can transform rhetoric into results. As Bihar enters one of its most hotly contested Assembly elections in recent memory, the state finds itself at a crossroads between legacy and change. The familiar equations of caste, crime and charisma still shape its politics, but something subtler and more consequential is underway. From Patna’s buzzing tea

The ghosts of ‘Jungle Raj’ loom large over the 2025 Bihar Assembly election, testing whether Nitish Kumar’s promise of good governance can outlast the memory of chaos. As Bihar goes to the polls on November 6, an old fault line has reopened with familiar ferocity. Once again, the state’s political debate revolves around the twin poles of crime and governance. On one side stand Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, touting two decades of ‘sushasan’ (goo

Scarred by decades of political assassinations and caste wars, Bihar’s democracy still awaits the triumph of law over muscle.   As Bihar heads into a key Assembly election on November 6, the choice before its voters runs deeper than the selection of a new government. It is a reckoning with the State’s own political soul - whether power will remain hostage to muscle, money and fear, or whether Bihar can finally reclaim governance through law, reason, and reform. Few Indian sta

Mumbai : The united Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Opposition parties managed a formidable show at a ‘Satya-cha Morcha’ protest march, with top leaders daring the election authorities on the alleged widespread discrepancies in voter-lists, ahead of the civic polls, on Saturday.   The massive march saw top MVA bigwigs like Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Balasaheb Thorat, Jayant P. Patil walking shoulder-to-shoulder with party leaders, workers and the ordinary c

Mumbai: In a rare and striking display of unity, the Opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance and several other political parties are gearing up for a major protest against the perceived ‘vote-chori’ in Mumbai on Saturday. The demonstration will seek to highlight what they describe as “glaring irregularities” in the state’s voter lists ahead of the upcoming civic body elections that prevents a level playing field in the polls. According to MVA leaders, this will be

Mumbai: The tragic death of Rohit Arya, who was killed by police during a tense hostage standoff in Powai on Thursday, has forcefully thrown a light on a sprawling financial crisis that has pushed thousands of government contractors in Maharashtra to the brink of ruin and desperation. Arya’s final, extreme act, driven by what he claimed were years of unpaid government dues and denied credit for a state project, tragically mirrors the widespread economic despair gripping the s

The latest agitation has given Maharashtra’s embattled Opposition a common cause, but it remains to be seen whether it sparks a movement or fizzles out. When this edition of ‘The Perfect Voice’ reaches readers, both the public and the media will be gearing up to cover the ‘Satyacha Morcha’ led by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Predictably, the spotlight will be on Raj Thackeray, who appears to be playing his cards with calcula

As the Grand Alliance woos voters with lavish promises, its manifesto risks bankrupting a state already running on fiscal thin air.   With barely a week left as Bihar plunges into a key Assembly poll, the opposition Mahagathbandhan or the ‘Grand Alliance’ composed of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress, the Left parties and Vikashsheel Insaan Party (VIP), released its election manifesto titled ‘Tejashwi Pran’ (which translates as ‘Tejashwi’s Pledge’). And that is par

India as a nation has always been deeply engaged in conversations aroundcricket, politics, andentertainment. These three subjects dominate socialdiscussions and have often intersected over the years. Many prominent figuresfrom the entertainment industry and the world of cricket have found themselves involved in the political arena at different points in time. From yesteryears’ stars likeAmitabh Bachchan,Sunil Dutt, Nargis, Vyjayanthimala, Raj Babbar, VinodKhanna, Rajesh Khann

The grand old party’s opportunism and the rivalries of Bihar’s backward-class leaders have long entrenched a culture of political instability in the state. Satish Prasad Singh was Bihar’s first OBC Chief Minister for just five days before his government was toppled. The politics of Bihar has always been characterized by alliances and realignments, with the Congress party playing a particularly active role. This political manoeuvring often proved detrimental to the stability o

Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj is redrawing the political map of India’s most restless State. In Bihar, politics is not a spectator sport but a way of life. “We Biharis never stop opening the twin doors of railways and politics,” a young man from Bihari working at a Pune restaurant quipped to me. He may not own a smartphone, but he can recite the electoral arithmetic of his constituency with ease. Few other states live and breathe politics with such intensity. From the socialis

Maharashtra today stands as a beacon of progress, stability, and inclusive growth, owing much to the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. From eradicating Naxalism in the state’s most challenging regions to positioning Maharashtra as a global investment destination, Fadnavis has demonstrated a rare combination of security acumen, administrative excellence, and developmental foresight. His governance model has turned once-troubled districts into thriving c

Prohibition’s future in Bihar may depend on whether the State can evolve from rigid idealism to pragmatic reform. When Nitish Kumar enforced complete prohibition in Bihar in 2016, it was presented not merely as policy, but as a moral crusade. The Chief Minister cast it as part of a Gandhian vision of social reform — a move to curb domestic violence, protect women, and wean society from intoxication. Nearly a decade on, as Bihar heads into a crucial assembly election, that exp

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod’ slogan may have united Maharashtra’s bickering opposition, but slogans seldom clean up democracy’s paperwork. Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod  (“Thief of Votes, Vacate the Chair”) is Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s latest attempt to distil outrage into rhyme. In Maharashtra, the phrase has found a tentative audience. Congress workers have taken it to rallies, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leaders have repeated it at press meets, and even

The ticket distribution for the upcoming 2025 Bihar Assembly elections reveals a democracy in decay, where caste, cash and chaos have replaced merit and public service. The violence and chaos surrounding ticket distribution for the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections are not new. They are merely the latest act in a decades-long political drama. Today, ticket allocation is no longer a matter of political merit or ideological conviction. It has become a theatre of caste, factionalism

Part 3: A century since their founding, the RSS has built a vast national network while the Communists, once courted by Congress, have slid into political irrelevance by crumbling under the weight of their own dogma. Third RSS sarsanghchalak Balasaheb Deoras addresses a rally. The relationship between the Communists and the Congress always swung between “love and hate.” Until 1942, the communists worked from within the Congress. Many communist leaders held office at various