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Friday, May 3, 2024
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National Interest

Let them eat communalism: Yogi’s poll pitch may work but heartland’s jobless fury endangers India

While UP’s unemployed are angry, Yogi’s call for a choice between Jinnah and Sardar Patel, more than seven decades after they both died, is the new ‘let them eat cake’.

Modi vs non-BJP CMs: When most popular isn’t all-powerful & why Centre-state ties will worsen

Modi’s inability to win many states, and the huge popularity his rivals enjoy there, is pushing Indian politics in a more robustly federal direction.

Read my lips, I’m hurting, says Pakistan’s National Security Policy. What it means for India

The new policy is mostly chaff, but it reveals the most inward-looking Pakistan in 3 decades. It needs breathing space, and is realising loss of stature and friendship with US.

PM Modi’s security failed in Punjab. Waste no time on conspiracies, it’s colossal incompetence

Politicians, especially those in power, are most endangered & protected people. They’ll only be safe if their security can say no, like IAF saying it wouldn’t fly in that weather.

What is Modi-Shah BJP’s ideology? You’re wrong if you say Right wing, because it’s Hindu Left

Modi-Shah BJP government is Right only on religion and nationalism. The rest is as Left as the Congress or any other.

How boorish treatment of Kohli by Ganguly’s BCCI takes Indian cricket back to an inglorious past

Ganguly is BCCI chief, Dravid is coach, Laxman heads NCA. And Kohli, all-conquering (in Tests) captain, is now in firing line. It’s hard to decipher, and infuriating for fans.

Nagaland massacre shows AFSPA is a deadly addiction. Does Modi govt have the courage to kick it?

Much of the Northeast doesn't need a tough law such as AFSPA. No government will dare repeal it, but it can at least be imposed very selectively.

Yes, UPA’s dead. But here’s what Mamata, PK are saying about Congress & why that’s right too

Even in its second successive annihilation by BJP, Congress retained a solid block of 20% votes. That’s why all of BJP’s victims want the Congress at the core of their challenge.

What farm laws retreat by Modi govt tells us about ruling India like a CM with brute majority

No matter how dominant BJP is, India is a federation of states and it has CMs in only 12. Agriculture is largely a state issue, and most of India doesn’t follow it unquestioningly.

There’s much to question Hindutva/RSS about, calling it ISIS is more a rant than politics

Salman Khurshid isn’t the first to succumb to pre-siesta intellectual laziness. Congress leaders taking the cue must read up on ISIS and learn electoral politics all over again.

On Camera

How govt brought Vodafone Idea back from the brink & earned a neat profit in the process

In 2021, the government allowed telcos to convert interest on deferred spectrum payments and AGR dues into equity. This made it the single largest stakeholder in Vodafone Idea.

China builds road through Shaksgam Valley, India registers protest

New Delhi has, in past, too, objected to Chinese construction activities in Shaksgam Valley. Work in this strategic region gathered pace after the 2017 Doklam stand-off.

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.