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Any lingering doubts on who is in control in Uttar Pradesh went out the window the minute Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath disregarded all opposition to the restrictions placed on eateries along Kanwar Yatra routes, including the objections from NDA allies JD-U and the RLD, and ordered that the advisory asking eateries along ‘Kanwar routes’ to display name-plates with "true names" has been extended to the entire state of Uttar Pradesh. No sooner this was announced, neighbouring BJP-ruled Uttarakhand also followed suit!

French President Emanuel Macron exposed his true political shade at the first session of the newly elected national assembly on July 18 when he took the help of the right wingers to defeat the nominee of the New Popular Front Andre Chassaigne in the election for the post of the president of the national assembly. Macron’s candidate Braun Pivet won following a deal with the right wingers. The contest was close. NFP’s communist nominee lost by only eight votes.

China has just concluded its “third plenum” (from 15 to 18 July) which traditionally re-examines and gives fresh directions in the country’s economic policy. The all-powerful Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party generally holds seven plenums in five years, of which the third is devoted to looking at economic issues and policy challenges before the country.

Senior BJP leaders engaging in solecism in Uttar Pradesh and Bengal certainly can not be described as factional feud. Instead it unravels the contagious malaise that afflicts the party, endangering its current level of functioning. It may sound to be baloney, but the party imbibing the Hindutva cause has never been faced with this nature of crisis; emergence of rebellion against the top leadership of the party. There is no doubt it has deeper and wider implication and dynamics than it appears to be. It ought to be not forgotten that these two states had played crucial role in defeating Narendra Modi and shattering the myth of his “Modi’s Guarantees”.

Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a political heat soaring fast on communal lines. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has issued a new order on Friday, July 19, 2024 for eateries on the route of Kanwar Yatras in the Hindu religious month of Shravan beginning from July 22 this year, to display the names of their owners, only a day after Muzaffarnagar Police had to modify such an order after a backlash to just an appeal urging “voluntarily display”.

A transgender, Manvi Madhu Kashyam, has become a police sub-inspector. Coming from a small village, Manvi is the first transgender in India to secure a police job. She is among the three transgender persons selected for the post. While Manvi is a trans-woman, the other two are trans-men. They have chosen not to speak up and identify themselves in public.

Only four days are left for the presentation of the first budget of the Narendra Modi 3.0 government on July 23. The fundamentals of the economy are currently strong, but the distress areas include the huge unemployment problem with the educated youth and the women feeling the intensity of the distress most. The number of billionaires has gone up in great speed while the real wages of the workers and the rural poor have declined. In sum, there has been growth in the Indian economy under the ten year rule of the NDA led Narendra Modi government with lack of social justice and widening of inequalities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Moscow on July 9-10 saw the revival of the annual summit meetings between the leaders of India and Russia. The last summit had been held in 2021 when President Putin visited Delhi. The visit has resulted in further strengthening the strategic partnership between India and Russia.

The first policy speech of the new Labour Government in Britain given by the King Charles in the Parliament on July 17 was welcomed by the powerful trade unions of the country which were eagerly waiting for the unfolding of the package for building a robust economy by simultaneously improving the living standards of the workers and the common people.

By initiating a veiled attack on BJP’s central leadership and Uttar Pradesh party leaders of his opposing group on Sunday in BJP’s State Executive meet, Yogi Adityanath has himself unwittingly chosen with arrogance a path that will eventually cross through a litmus test soon, when byelection to the 10 legislative seats is held, the result of which will decide his fate as Chief Minister of the state.