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Sunday, June 16, 2024
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National Interest

What’s common between Netflix Chamkila and Trudeau’s trouble-infested Canada? They don’t get Punjab

Even in the weeks leading up to Chamkila’s assassination there were massacres every other day. To airbrush all of this is sheer intellectual cowardice if not a crime.

Frontrunner is letting the challenger define this poll campaign. Modi still hasn’t found a big theme

A theme has not yet emerged for BJP & people see lack of a contest, which makes it unexciting. For all these reasons, 2024 is turning out to be an unexpectedly theme-less election.

These 6 states are key for Modi’s ‘400 paar’ target. They’re also where Opposition can stop him

While this contest looks so predictable in large swathes of our political landscape, it is also more keenly contested than 2019 in some states.

44 years on, two things that have changed in Modi’s BJP, and one that hasn’t

As the BJP heads for a likely third successive term in power, it's fascinating to debate how true it looks to the original proposition: a party with a difference.

Opposition is fighting to limit Modi, not defeat him. And survive nuclear winter

Oppn believes revelations about electoral bonds & idea of BJP’s ‘washing machine’ is a campaign pitch with some oomph. But most Oppn leaders still look at the picture more soberly.

Modi & 600 lawyers unite to ‘protect’ judiciary, but who’s threatening it? Read between the lines

Modi's reference to the 'committed judiciary' takes us back to the 1970s, when Indira Gandhi’s government twice superseded senior judges while appointing the Chief Justice of India.

For BJP, Kejriwal is an idea whose time has come to be destroyed

The ‘idea’ Kejriwal's politics grew around was a no-holds-barred fight against corruption. That is the reason Modi govt has now tarred him and his entire party with the same paint.

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.

Modi’s not just campaigning for 3.0, he’s laying the groundwork for 4.0. Age is no bar

Leaders with ‘mileage’ believe they can overcome age and vintage. Think Xi, Biden, Trump, going ahead Erdoğan & Putin and now, we have sufficient evidence to say, Narendra Modi.

Why do political leaders defect or stay? Look beyond obvious answers of ideology, money, power

Indian politics wouldn’t be a fraction as fascinating as it is if it did not defy any idea that looks obvious or an answer that begins with ‘of course’.

On Camera

Elections showed that Manipur still has faith in democracy. Will new govt deliver?

The people of conflict-torn Manipur will have every right to feel betrayed if the new government doesn’t break its silence and show its commitment to addressing the state's issues.

Cash-strapped Karnataka hikes fuel tax by Rs 3/l, could earn Rs 2,500-3,000 cr more per yr

Move to bring down differences in commodity prices with neighbouring states, says government. Oppn, dealers blame it on welfare, Congress's guarantees.

With an eye on China, IAF expands taxi track at Leh airport, new shelters being built

Expanded taxi track is smaller than those meant for civilian operations, but is long enough for fighters & military transport aircraft to operate.

Sangh wants BJP to know it’s not dispensable. It’s a rap on the knuckles, nothing more

Occasional lovers’ tiffs have marked history of RSS-BJP relations. To think that Nagpur will bring about any change in leadership is a misreading of both its intent and its power.