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The plight of Congress is worse than that of a coward who the Bard says dies a thousand deaths before he actually dies. The grand old party of Nehru and Gandhi seems to be suffering from a strange death wish, a death that has larger than life proportions.

Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

On 27thJuly, 2019, a retired army captain, Amanullah, was beaten to death in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, for no reason, except that he had a small skirmish with his alleged assaulters few hours back. This is the 55th case of mob lynching/violence in the country, after Modi 2.0 government has come to power, i.e., any case of violence almost every day in the last two months. It has become an epidemic throughout the country, where the mobs egged on by the political dispensation is out to assault/lynch anyone, who looks or seems, even remotely, Muslim in the name of ‘Jai Shri Ram’. As the recent letter written by 49 intellectuals to the Prime Minister NarendraModi stated, ‘Jai Shri Ram” has been reduced to a “provocative war cry that leads to law and order problems, and many lynchings take place in its name”. Even as I am writing this article.

BHOPAL: If reports published in the local newspapers provide any indication, there is a panic like situation in the state BJP. Blame game has started in the party. Among all local leaders the accusing finger is being raised against leader of opposition Gopal Bhargava. There is every possibility that a demand may be made for the removal of Bhargava. Bhargava was never considered to be a astute leader. Many in the BJP are still of the view that Bhargava is not a proper choice for the opposition leader at this crucial period. He is known for provocative utterances. Years back a woman Congress legislator hurled Chappal at him when he made some objectionable remark during the Vidhan Sabha proceedings.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A confrontation between the CPI(M) and the CPI over police excesses has been averted thanks to the mature handling of the issue by both the parties, especially the CPI.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan Niazi created a precedent by patting his own back right after alighting at the Islamabad International Airport when he told the supporters of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ,’ I feel like I am not coming here from a foreign trip but that I am returning after winning the World Cup.” There is no denying that the Pakistani Chief Executive never received such a media hype in Washington, albeit due in main to the communications craft by the Pak embassy out there in Washington.

The Supreme Court had last week advised parliament to consider enacting a new law to deal with ‘horrendous acts of mobocracy’, warning that incidents of lynching and cow vigilantism might rise like a ‘typhoon-like monster’ across the country.

The prolonged political crisis in Karnataka has demonstrated the ways in which nearly 35-year-old anti-defection law can be used and abused. There is further need to improve it, by debating and amending the existing law to make it foolproof to prevent Karnataka type of situation. The Karnataka developments manifested the tortuous working of India’s anti-defection law—and threw up a range of associated legal and constitutional questions.

In recent months, reports have been swirling that U.S. monopolies Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook—so-called “Big Tech”—may soon be broken up. Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has proposed a plan to do so using antitrust law. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are reportedly preparing for antitrust investigations into the four firms, and the Justice Department recently announced an additional review. House Democrats are planning a similar “sweeping review.” These companies, lawmakers say, have simply grown too big, hindering “competition” and violating users’ privacy.

The central trade unions (CTUs) — INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC and Independent Federations/Associations have strongly objected and condemned bulldozing of codification of labour laws and other laws in spite of strong objections from the trade union movement.