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Congress is like 'Get off my lawn' since May 2014. Congress without power is like jail without parole. Jailbreak, the only option. Overpower the jail superintendent. That is Mani Shankar Aiyar and Salman Khurshid in 2015. They crossed the border to lay out the plan – 'Get off my lawn, Pakistan please help'. Last week Navjot Sidhu took the turn. He hugged Gen Qamar Bajwa, felt the electricity run up his spine, ‘Qayanat Mil Gaya!’

While India grieves the demise of its beloved statesman-leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, political leaders, ruling elites and the corporate board rooms are weighing its implications for the electoral prospects of BJP and Modi in the 2019Lok Sabha polls. This is particularly in view of the perception that Modi is losing his touch and charisma.

The Modi government is heading to seek a renewal of mandate before long to implement its triple credo of perform, reform and transform for another five years beginning the summer of 2019, having subjected the economy to disruptive demonetization of high denomination currencies in 2016 and the perfunctory placement of the goods and services tax (GST) in July 2017 as the acme of its economic reformist credentials in its maiden tenure. Though admirers and critics of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have their own binary view of either good or bad image of the Modi sarkar, the incontrovertible fact remains that the much-touted high growth potentials of the economy had not been duly exploited in the bygone years to make a qualitative difference to the living standards of legions of Indians.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech surreptitiously missed the Make in India story, while he was exuberant about all other major schemes. Make in India was supposed to be his flagship scheme, as it was projected as the main driver of job creation in the country.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP chief Amit Shah reiterated their confidence several time in the last three months that the BJP would come back with a larger number in the next Lok Sabha. It may be treated as inevitable need to boost morale of the party but it also reflects lack of confidence. Even a section among the political observers has begun to predict that the next election may drive India back to era of coalition politics. Yet they feel that neither of the present coalitions, the BJP led National Democratic Alliance nor the Congress led United Political Alliance may gain a clear mandate. They will have to look for new partners. The UPA has better chances than the NDA that suffered loss of divorce by two powerful political entities, TDP in Andhra and Shiva Sena in Maharashtra.

Whatever successes the Modi Government claims for its first four years, here and there, its major failures start with its brand of “Maximum Governance and Minimum Government”, which primarily did not ensure the “achhe din” promised in 2014. Nor, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government braces himself for 2019 with another set of tall promises, these seem likely to see fruition either, in a second term, if he gets it, looking to his style of politics, disorderly economics, and a harsher global climate.

Studies and reports supported with empirical and other data can be interpreted in whichever way ideologues want. Give the interpretations a meaning and slant that mirrors theirs. Data-driven IndiaSpend, in the opposite ideological camp to that of the party currently ruling at the Centre, has put out an analysis of a study done by British researchers to place India’s secularism in stark bad light.

Amidst a media buzz about India withdrawing from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), eyebrows are raised over the timing of the withdrawal and its impact on the country. It is an irony that while RCEP – the largest trade block comprising 16 nations - received a new lease of life after the global trade war heated up, India is contemplating to pull out from the block. Needless to say RCEP went morose after missing two target dates of launching.

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

In a surprising judgment with wide ramifications, the Supreme Court, in a two judge bench decision, has overturned its longstanding jurisprudence on the issue of inadmissibility of confession of accused in the police custody. In a recent case of criminal appeal, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of the accused for the offence of dacoity and murder under Section 396, Indian Penal Code, 1860 simply on the basis of the confession of the accused in police custody, which otherwise is inadmissible in the Court.