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SEVENTY years after the people of India gave themselves a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic, the youth from university campuses and women in towns across the country are up in arms to reclaim the republic from a fascist regime out to impose a Hindu nation.

The Minister of External Affairs, Jaishankar has tried to display his loyalty to his boss Narendra Modi by conveying his dislike to the European Union’s move to debate six resolutions in its parliament on January 29 and 30. In his perception, EU cannot do it as it amounts to interfering into the internal affairs of an elected government. In his pursuit, he has used all diplomatic mechanism available to him to convince the EU leaders to drop the move.

The Modi government would be completing 300 weeks in office next month. But its 296th week that has just been completed will be considered probably its worst, which saw a slew of adverse reports squeezed into the seven days, making it an unmitigated public relations disaster.

All eyes will be on the annual general budget for the year 2020, which will be presented this week. The budget session is all set to begin with the customary President’s address to the joint session of Parliament on January 31. The session is important because this is when the Parliament scrutinizes the budget proposals of the government and votes for the budget. There will be two phases of the budget sessionwith the first phase scheduled from January 31 to February 11, while the second from March 2 to April 3.There will not be a separate railway budget from this year, as they will become part of the general budget.

Lucknow: Thailand Open men’s doubles champion Chirag Shetty played a pivotal role alongside world champion Hendra Setiawan as Chris and Gabrielle Adcock took Pune 7 Aces to their second consecutive win at Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium here in Lucknow today.

Kolkata: A last-gasp header from substitute Balwant Singh saw ATK pip NorthEast United 1-0 and go top of the Hero Indian Super League ladder at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan here on Monday.

Hyderabad: Reigning women champions Bengal A did not need a second invitation as they held sway in Group A, winning both their matches in the UTT 81st National Table Tennis Championships at the Saroonagar Indoor Stadium here today.

Lucknow: The Awadhe Warriors will look to bounce back to form when they take on the Mumbai Rockets on the final day of their home leg at the Star Sports Premier Badminton League 2020 at the Babu Banarasi Das Badminton Academy here in Lucknow tomorrow.

Has regionalism run its limit in Assam? Four explosions on Republic day 2020 after a prolonged spell of relative peace and stability certainly breathed new life into the question in Assam’s context. The secessionist wing of the ULFA, which operates from abroad, has claimed responsibility. But even without the ULFA’s explosive intervention, fresh questions had arisen about the relevance of regional parties like the AGP after the recent NRC updating exercise.

The Republic Day symbolized aspirational metamorphosis of India, into a sovereign, democratic republic as the Constitution proclaimed. It conjured up images of Indian people who were self-governing, who decided to give themselves a democratic republic. Two more words “secular and socialist” were added to this already lofty phrase, paradoxically during the Emergency that spelt the first significant jolt to the concept of democratic republicanism. People welcome them as they were drowned in the moralistic deluge of the constitutional debates. Both these words were taken to spell the spirit of the constitution and perhaps, therefore, were not felt necessary to be explicitly mentioned.