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Congress President Rahul Gandhi filed nomination papers to contest from the Wayanad constituency which Thursday, turned into ‘Human Sea’ with thousands lining up streets and crowding squares to catch a glimpse of Rahul accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Up north, in Amethi, BJP candidate Smriti Irani, looked like she was in break-heart pass, the limelight going south to bypass Wayanad, tri-junction Kerala-Karnataka-Tamil Nadu.

NaMo TV will not tell you that the rupee slipped 25 paise on daily trade. NaMo TV has, for all we know, no graphics person to give a visual idea of the rupee sliding against the dollar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi can hug POTUS Donald Trump as much as he wants, but Trump-the-Terrible will not show mercy. And neither will the dollar.

In five decades, Indian masses have experienced two personality oriented regimes that were launched with high hopes but could not deliver the dreams that had earned them power. Indira Gandhi regime emerged in 1971 and 45 years later, had come the Narendra Modi regime, both contradictions of the Indian psyche. Indira Gandhi cultivated new politics as a solution to her fear complex but NaMo acted as a result of his sense of superiority.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Murphy’s law seems to be in operation against the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). The Front has suffered two setbacks within the space of three days. The first controversy relates to an allegedly derogatory remark made by LDF convener A. Vijayaraghavan against United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate in Alathur Lok Sabha constituency, Ramya Haridas.

Saffron desperation for a thumbs up win is quite perceptible. Notwithstanding Narendra Modi demonstrating his macho image at the public rallies and displaying the vocal power, the RSS is not sure that he would be able to ensure a thumping win for the party. If the speeches and public comments of former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, the person much closer to RSS, are any indicator, it can safely be construed that RSS does not intend to lose the opportunity to capture the power.

LUCKNOW: Resurgence of Congress Party due to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra factor has unnerved BJP on one hand and SP-BSP-RLD alliance on the other in Uttar Pradesh. Priyanka Gandhi factor is likely to attract Brahmins, young non-Yadav OBCs, urban and rural youth and poor farmers in eastern UP.

The three-day visit of the US special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad to Islamabad, ending on 4 April, is a compulsion for constructing a sustainable peace in Afghanistan before the sixth round of negotiations in Doha. Whether it will help reduction of uncertainty and boost peace efforts is just a speculation. The US President Donald Trump wrote to the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in the third week of December last year seeking the latter’s cooperation in bringing about peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan responded positively.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who – if he was ‘Born in America’ – would have had people singing, ‘I’m a Yogi/I’m Yogi, Baby/Hey, Boo-Boo’ The Yogi was not in bed, when for no reason at all, other than a swollen head, he said ‘Modi Ki Sena’ of the Indian Army and got away with it. After five years of Modi rule, one really thought, ‘Is this our Indian Army, India’s army. Has a political party and an individual taken ownership of the world’s fourth largest standing army?

The Congress manifesto for 2019 Lok Sabha elections, released by the Party President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday has many positive features with potential for transforming the lives of the common Indians, but the programmes for healthcare and the senior citizens have policies which really can act as a game changer in bringing about radical improvement in the medicare facilities for all citizens of the country. The Congress scheme is on the lines of the Obamacare and the basic difference of this Congress programme with the current Ayushman Bharat scheme of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is that the Congress scheme is of universal health care and based on public hospital services as against the insurance companies based programme of the Modi regime.

With the shooting down of a Low Earth-Orbiting (LEO) satellite on March 27, India gatecrashed into an exclusive club which had so long three members only – America, Russia and China. The dedicated band of scientists in the DRDO and ISRO who enabled India to acquire this capability deserves the thanks and gratitude of the nation.