Zadie Smith would no more support Barack Obama

Any artist who aligns themselves with a politician is making a category error, because what politicians do is not on a human scale, it is on a geopolitical scale. Individual humans are being killed by anonymous planes in the air, and artists should be interested in individual humans. I would no more give support to Obama than I would to David Cameron — the decisions they have to make are not conceivable to me.’

Vinod Mehta on Narendra Modi's current status

Mr Modi is something of a loose cannon. If handed over unfettered power, there is no certainty in which direction he willfire. Besides, he has no record of forgiving and forgetting his real or perceived enemies. Happily, now there is a check. And it is Lal Krishna Advani. When he wields his recently acquired power, Mr Modi will need to constantly look over his shoulder to see what Mr Advani and his troublesome acolytes are doing; what ‘black mischief’ they are up to. This must be a source of great irritation for the new, decisive, strong leader who had assumed that since he had acquired absolute power, no one would question, much less dispute, his diktat. Well, an 85-year-old man is there to do the questioning and the disputing. And he is not going away.