These creators are independent individuals on social media who cannot be licensed or regulated in the way that news channels can. That is why the government is moving to gain control over them.

BJP's voters assume there is some grand strategy or at least some basic philosophy behind 'Modinomics' and that this will show in the budget. Alas, this is not so.

As the 240-seater prime minister attempts to moderate his image of hardline hero, he has made room for others to elbow in, and that is what is happening. And that is what will continue to happen from inside the BJP.

India is an unusual nation where propagation of religion is both a fundamental right and a criminal offence.

Despite the pro-establishment media largely dependent on the revenue from the government, the revenues of India's six listed news media companies have not risen in the last decade.

The shift from collective Cabinet responsibility to one individual has ended and the shift back has begun.

The largest component of the ideology, what is called Hindutva, is quite vague. What does it mean and what is it intended to achieve?

India has been repeatedly told of concerns about the lack of diversity in the NHRC, and asked to have a “pluralistic balance in its composition and staff” by ensuring the representation of a diverse Indian society including, but not limited to religious or ethnic minorities.

Not a single one of the politicians in jail is a convict. They are merely accused by the BJP that they have done something wrong.

As we elect MPs for the next five years, let us look at many of the laws and amendments that we have been given in the previous decade.

Mani Shankar Aiyar's book on the former prime minister provides something of a history of that period. However, the author should have included a section on the massacre of Sikhs in 1984.

The Prime Minister of India fled the field when his people needed the government most.

Mobs can now deny Muslims prayer spaces granted to them by the state, and the state will withdraw its permission, among other discriminatory incidents. Because this mindset has been made acceptable, it will continue to spread.

It shows the utter contempt that the Central government has for the Opposition and for democracy, the disregard it has for the judiciary and the extent to which it can go to secure its own interests over those of the country.

The CAA is here. But what do we know of the Narendra Modi government's plans with the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens?

There are no indices anywhere in the world, including in nations we consider as friends and allies, which suggest that Indians have become more free and India less authoritarian since 2014. There is no objective defence.

Fraternity can come only when we stand up for each other.

The episode reveals that when a strong executive decides it wants something, even something that is dangerous and unconstitutional, there is little resistance from within to stop it.

Under international human rights law, states must ensure that evictions only occur in exceptional circumstances, require full justification and the provision of adequate legal safeguards. None of that here in New India, of course.

If we look at the manifestoes of the BJP/Jan Sangh, which were published a few years ago, readers may be surprised to find little or no continuity in the way that the party thinks. On critical issues, it has reversed its position with no explanation for the changes.