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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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National Interest

Pakistanis voted against their army for the first time. The democracy is both dead and alive

This is the first time in its history that Pakistan’s people have risen to vote against Army & defeat it. If this isn’t a win for democracy, how would you describe it?

3 blunders by Indira, Rajiv, Vajpayee, Advani that changed Indian politics & here’s the worst

Indira Gandhi targeting RSS during Emergency & legitimising it, Rajiv giving up mandate in 1989, and Vajpayee, Advani advancing general elections – these errors changed the course of India’s politics.

This BJP govt is easy to understand. If you read what Modi, Shah, Nadda read when they were young

The key difference between BJP & Congress governments is that ideology guided Congress's policies, never governed them, while BJP's commitment to ideology is almost fundamentalist.

Ayodhya wasn’t Republic’s end. BJP’s challengers can learn from Indira’s fall, Modi’s rise

Legatees of political forces Indira Gandhi locked up during Emergency are now redefining some of India's foundational principles. They can be challenged, just as she was in the 1970s.

Gaza to Pakistan, political Islam is at its strongest and weakest. Depends how you look at it

This is not an argument about Islam, the faith. This is about political Islam, where the faith is the state religion, defines a nation and/or maintains its mostly unelected leaders in power.

Congress just blew a Ram-given opportunity. It chose chronic confusion over national mood

Congress refusal to attend Ram temple inauguration triggers questions, including one on its post-1996 ideology in face of today's electoral politics. Could it have joined celebrations with Hindu majority while also criticising Modi, BJP, RSS?

Why 5 political upsets in India, from 1967 to 2014, hold lessons for struggling INDIA alliance

Smarter opposition leaders could pick an issue with emotional potential & conjure up a campaign pitch, a line, to convince a large enough body of voters that it mattered to them.

DDA turned into Delhi Destruction Authority & why we applaud the market taking revenge

A DDA flat was a privilege in a city where almost nobody could build anything. Its inventory of unsold flats now exceeds 40,000 at a value of Rs 18,000 crore, and it's still building more.

2024 isn’t about north vs south. See BJP’s limitations & do the maths

India’s political geographies display BJP’s strengths & vulnerabilities. Nobody understands this better than BJP and it is because of this hard-headed realism that it keeps winning.

There’s a straight line from Modi govt misreading Punjab farmers’ protests to the Pannun saga

Situation calls for bringing focus back on Punjab. Working with credible political forces, even adversaries, would serve national interest better than fighting in New York courtrooms.

On Camera

Move over Ed Sheeran, Rihanna. The only pop star India wants more of is Diljit Dosanjh

Sheeran’s concert in Mumbai on Saturday was a roaring success. But the most viral moment was when Dosanjh joined him, and brought the house down.

Complaints to RBI ombudsman up 68% in FY23, banks biggest cause for customer grievances

Data shows large public sector banks received highest number of complaints in absolute terms, but fared better than several private banks when looked at on complaints-per-branch basis.

Tiger Triumph-24 — India-US tri-services exercise to boost coordination begins

The exercise will be simulated to undertake HADR operations in a ‘friendly island nation’, where troops will execute amphibious landing ops.

CAA comes not with a bang, but with a whimper. Without NRC, it will fade into academic debate

For BJP, CAA was strategic move that did not quite work out because those it would benefit could’ve been accommodated under existing laws, and new entrants would remain excluded.