Syed Firdaus Ashraf covers national politics, and sometimes movies too -- a truly wide arc! You can e-mail the author at firdausa@rediff.co.in
'Modi will do himself a favour if he starts studying about Mahatma Gandhi.' 'I feel pity that we have a PM who has no idea of our own history.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com tried to buy a house on his recent visit to Srinagar.
'This is total fraud. You are showing me the slip of my vote but not counting it so this is fraud.'
'If you post on social media on an issue like power cuts in Tral, the police will come to your home and tell you to remove your social media post.' 'If you don't, then the local police threaten you that they will book you under PSA.' 'This is happening all the time in Kashmir.'
'No Indian politician has been killed in India for upholding the Constitution except for Kashmiri mainstream politicians.' 'Yet they call us terrorist or militant.'
'There is a huge wait in Kashmir for compassion from the prime minister of India.'
'Whether she is in power or not, she always makes it a point to visit us. This is her best quality as a leader.'
'An entire operation was running systematically prior to the revoking of Article 370.'
'These statements which you are telling me were never uttered from mosques on that day.' 'And if this had happened, I would have got the report as the chief secretary of J&K.'
'Sheikh Abdullah ruled the state with secular values. Post 1953, when he was sacked, corruption took over governance.'
Shaheed Maqbool Sherwani changed the course of Indian history forever, but himself lies forgotten in the town he saved.
'I have faced 18 hours of darkness daily all my life.'
'The Congress backstabbed us and the BJP frontstabbed us.' 'This is the only difference between the two parties.'
It's a different Srinagar from what Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf encountered 24 years ago. Tourists throng the Kashmir Valley post-Article 370, azaadi appears dead, and everyone says one man is responsible for this change, so what if his poster is nowhere to be seen.
'Rahul Gandhi never gets firsthand information. He does not know what is good or bad going on in the party.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com does a deep dive into four elections when Narendra Modi resorted to anti-Muslim fervour and points out that Hindu-Muslim politics does not necessarily mean victory for the BJP.
'The BJP will not win a single seat in Punjab.'
'One needs to understand what kind of means the BJP use to bring other party leaders in their party.' 'They are unscrupulous politicians and money plays an important role.'
'Congress leaders who are making strategy for the Congress to win elections have not even won a class monitor elections.' 'When you have not contested school monitor elections, what will you know about the ground reality?'
'...It is important for you to take a stand.' 'It is a sin to remain silent when the basic structure of the Constitution is being attacked.'
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