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In a countermove to INDIA bloc’s caste census promise, the ruling Mahayuti in Maharashtra taking clue form BJP’s gain in Haryana has decided to take the OBC politics in the state to a new level on the eve of Vidhan Sabha elections likely to be announced soon. How much this decision will benefit the Mahayuti allies – BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar)? Or Will INDIA bloc’s caste census promise still work for MVA allies – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar)? Answer to such questions lies in the future, but the moves and countermoves have just rekindled OBC politics in the state.

When Ratan Tata bought the sick and besieged Jaguar Land Rover —iconically JLR— the company had fished out the voucher for the purchase of a Jaguar car by his father, Naval Tata, in 1923.

People living outside Uttar Pradesh did not know that Jayaprakash Narayan, who countered Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian streak with mass appeal, has a place in Lucknow to remember him by – the Jayaprakash Narayan International Centre (JPNIC). But it remains an incomplete monument and certain shades of politicians are not welcome to the compound. Among them Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, who is adept at scaling iron gates!

Constituents of INDIA bloc flexing muscles after Congress' Haryana defeat and blaming it for the audacity to contest solo, has not come as a surprise. Indian politicians, irrespective of their party affiliations, are known for resorting to this practice to prove their indispensability and reiterate the phrase “I have said so”.

The results of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections are of great significance. The victory of the National Conference-led alliance, winning 49 of the 90 seats, is a strong verdict against the Modi government and the BJP’s authoritarian steps to dismantle the state of J&K and deprive it of its special status. The people of the Valley have also foiled the BJP’s campaign to field proxies and encourage separatist elements to contest to divide the vote. The fact that the BJP could poll only 2.2 per cent of the votes cast in the Valley shows the total rejection of the Hindutva forces’ game-plan to destroy the identity of the Kashmiri people.

It may be shocking to know that about 10 per cent of children in India aged 6-10 are out of schools despite education is fundamental right, and out of pocket health expenditure of Indian rural households are just unaffordable to them since they need to spend Rs 4,129 yearly on hospitalisation and Rs 539 monthly, which they simply can’t afford. The report of the National Sample Survey 79th round conducted during July, 2022 – June, 2023 has also revealed some other shocking findings including of indebtedness and NEET (Not in Education, Employment and Training) status among youth.

After significant success in 2024 Lok Sabha elections, both the Congress and the Party leader Rahul Gandhi have been defeated in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir, results of the polls of which were announced on October 8.. Congress could manage to win only six seats in Jammu and Kashmir. Congress had fielded 32 candidates for the JK elections, three in Kashmir and 29 in Jammu. The National Conference led by Farooq Abdullah contested 51 seats under a pre-poll alliance between the two INDIA bloc parties and won 41. In Jammu most of its prominent leaders lost the polls. Even Congress working president and former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand in Chhamb lost the elections.

The swing goes high in the air, and then scrapes bottom. That's the Congress! Rahul Gandhi should step out of his bungalow and take a reckoning. The Congress isn't in the best of sorts in any of the directions, East, West, North, South.

When Mohan Bhagwat said early this month that the primary aim of RSS in its centenary year 2025 would be to build a disciplined and strong Hindu society, he was merely echoing an idea which has long reverberated through the communal rhetoric of the Hindu right.

LUCKNOW: The manner in which Samajwadi Party announced six candidates for Uttar Pradesh Assembly by-elections speaks for the confidence of former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Since the announcement of these six candidates was unilaterally done by Samajwadi Party the day after the Haryana polls results were out, it became clear that dominant partner in UP of INDIA bloc was not taking Congress seriously.