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Both the governors of Goa and Manipur have committed gross impropriety in inviting the BJP to form the government in two states. They ignored the basic provisions in the constitution, which lays down that first the single largest party be invited to form the government, asked it to prove the majority on the floor of the house within a specified period. If it fails, chance should be given to the second largest party. Both governors of Goa Mridula Sinha and Manipur governor Najma Hepttula flouted the constitutional provisions.

Pakistan’s firm stand in curbing terrorism inside Pakistan, imported from Afghanistan, was made known by the Pak Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz on the very first day of the one-to-one meeting with Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser, Hanif Atmar in London on March 15. Aziz made no bones of Islamabad’s hard line against Talibans and complained that Afghan-based militants continued to mount attacks inside Pakistan. The initiative in this dialogue was taken by Sir Mark Lyall Grant who became the first British national security adviser in 2015. He knows Pakistan well. Between 2003 and 2006 he was the British high commissioner to Pakistan. The proposal for dialogue was made by the current British High Commissioner to Afghanistan Karen Pierce CMG. The British diplomacy edged out the Americans on this issue proving the yawning hyphenation between Islamabad and Washington. Since the shut-down of border crossings with Afghanistan by Pakistan on February 17 last, just after suicide bombing at a Sufi Shrine in Sehwan of Sindh province on February 16 killing more than 80 people and injuring about 250 as the bomb ripped through when a Dhamal, a Sufi chorus was being sung . Hundreds of protesters came out- enraged and inconsolable. They demanded justice.

There is a sense of demoralization among the opposition parties and the secular forces in general after the resounding victory of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The massive victory in UP, the largest populated state of the country, has given the Prime Minister Narendra Modi an invincible stature which will continue for some time unless the opposition parties can really throw up a big challenge to the Prime Minister or Mr. Modi himself makes a major lapse.

With the spectre of an uncertain future staring in the eyes, the NATO while have been watching keenly the next move of the American President, Donald Trump who will be meeting leaders of NATO at a summit in late May, the allies are also exploring the mechanism to improve their relations with Russia.

BHOPAL: What will be the ultimate impact of the results of State Assemblies' election on the politics of Madhya Pradesh it is difficult to say at this stage but the BJP has already started thinking about the strategy it should adopt to ensure consecutive fourth victory in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections which are due in the year 2018. The BJP won majority in the 2003, 2008 and 2013. While 2003 elections were fought under the leadership of Uma Bharati, subsequent two elections were fought under the leadership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Whether 2018 election will also be contested under Chouhan's leadership, is a big question mark.

The post-war free and fair trade institution built by well-meaning countries, both developed and developing countries, first in the form of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that later morphed into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 now is in its existential crisis. It is not that the Doha Development Round launched in 2001 in the Qatari capital was for all practical purposes suspended in 2011 that lies at the root of the problem but because of the patently protectionist and defiant attitude being displayed by the hegemonic United States under its new President Donald Trump. Trump has not only trumped all well-laid plans for ushering in a global fair and free trade regime but also triumphed in pushing his country return to unilateralist and brazenly mercantilist mindset.

After the recent round of Assembly elections, there is little doubt that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal currently remains the strongest and most self-assured regional party in India.

By “stealing” the governments of Goa and Manipur from the Congress, the largest party in these states, Narendra Modi can be said to have begun his post-poll tenure on the wrong foot.

The Modi Government, recharged with its poll triumphs, must now settle down to addressing the economic ills which have so far eluded effective solutions and stunted growth with some baneful, if transient, effects of demonetisation.

The day the Manipur Assembly election results were out and it was found that the people had given a fractured mandate resulting in a hung Assembly, everyone knew the game of Aya Rams and Gaya Rams would begin now – Aya Rams to the BJP and Gaya Rams from other parties. The ruling Congress emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats, followed by BJP with 21, Naga People’s Front and National People’s Party with four each, Trinamool Congress one and one independent. Then the real game began – the game of turning a minority into majority.