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As expected, the far right candidate Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party won last Sunday’s Presidential elections in Brazil securing 55.1 per cent of the total votes over his rival Fernando Haddad of the Leftwing Workers Party’s 44.8 per cent. The difference is not substantial that way but the fierce anti left nature of the President elect and his announcement that he will eliminate reds and end the flirtation with leftism in Brazil sends ominous signals for the future of democracy in not only his own country, but also in the entire Latin American region.

If nobody has noticed so far, there’s something about Rahul Gandhi that has largely gone unnoticed. He is one of those individuals least “self-aware” among politicians. Bet the mirror is no great shakes for the Congress president. The stubble and the creased loose kurta-pyjama does give the casual impression of somebody consciously not making a sartorial statement. Sonia Gandhi’s son is at times also goofy, to the point of distraction. And, oftentimes, he throws in a word that submits to debate, discussion, bone of contention lost in translation.

In the absence of “achhey din”, the BJP has had no option but to turn to its standard formula aimed at consolidating the Hindu voters – the “core” section of the communal-minded as well as the generally conservative groups – by playing the temple card.

MJ Akbar faces additional chief metropolitan magistrate Vishal Samar Wednesday, October 31 and if he feels like snapping at the first woman he sets eyes on as he heads for the Patiala House Courts, he will be advised to step down on that feeling and kill the urge. The times they have a changed and with no less than 21 women levelling charges of sexual harassment against him, he has no room to take liberties.

The world is shocked about what is happening in Sri Lanka after President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed his predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse as the new Prime Minister after sacking Ranil Wickremesinge last Friday ending in a constitutional crisis. The New York Times described the aftermath of the situation in these words: “The country’s political system has fallen apart in a matter of days, threatening to upend its emergence from decades of civil war.”

When we are in a room, there will be ideas thrown about, diverse thoughts. Free speech and free thought. But you want conformity. Linear thought. Your view should prevail. The courts should read your mind and rule accordingly. Sabarimala or Ayodhya, it doesn’t matter. Babri Masjid is debris. The bricks on display are all for Lord Ram! What Supreme Court order? Sabarimala is out of bounds for the ready to bleed. Period!

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP president Amit Shah has let the cat out of the bag at last. The pretence that the Sabarimala struggle is only to protect the rights of the believers has been dropped.

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

In West Bengal, the unending economic stagnation and a crippling lack of resources are making it difficult for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to keep her populist commitments to displaced Rohingyas of Myanmar or suspected ‘illegal Bangladeshis’ in Assam.

The Reserve Bank of India has plunged headlong into a battle with the government over its independence. Last week, the RBI had a meeting of its board of directors where the government and nominee directors have reportedly strongly criticised the central bank’s handling of the liquidity squeeze following the denouement at IL&FS.