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When General Raheel Shari hanged down his boots after serving three years as the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan to let General Qamar Javed Bajwa to take over reins at a ceremony in the garrison town of Rawalpindi in October end last year, many eyebrows in the top brackets of diplomats and strategic experts were raised as General Bajwa Pak might not be just another chief of Pak armed forces. It’s worthwhile to note columnist Bahauddin Foizee’s words on Bajwa’s image as purely a professional army person who is less interested in the state politics – a factor that certainly prompted Prime Minister Nawaj Sharif to entrust him the task of saving the troubled state where people are increasingly disinterested in carrying on the economically ruinous policy of belligerence towards India . A senior officer, just below his rank, described Bajwa as “extremely professional, but very easy-going and full of compassion and not protocol-minded, nor known as politically ambitious. He knows Kashmir and adjoining areas profoundly and has been of a firm opinion that extremism is a bigger threat for Pakistan than India.

States and Union Territories have shot down a proposal of the Union Government in the Ministry of Railways to amend the Railway Protection Force Act to provide for a single unified command and control system of security on Indian Railways. In this connection, at the very consultation stage, 23 States and Union Territories, out of 29 States and seven Union Territories, have responded opposing the proposal stiffly. Others, are yet to respond.

Trumpism is at its height spewing racist venom! Already a newly married young Indian engineer had fallen victim while his colleague, also a personal friend, has been hospitalised gravely injured. The entire world including Americans and his US colleague who knew the victim were shocked at the sudden turn of events and extended full support to the victim’s family. However, the White House, the seat of US power and headquarters of Trumpism, is yet to react and condemn the racist killing.

The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO)’s surprising projection of 7 per cent GDP growth in the demonetisation-scarred third quarter (Oct-Dec) of 2016/17 must be greatly comforting for the Modi Government. And it could not have been more timely, as the Prime Minister was battling hard in eastern UP, where the prestigious poll since 2014 headed into the final phase, not excluding Mr Modi’s own parliamentary constituency.

LUCKNOW: Mandal and Kamandal cards (caste and communal) are being aggressively played by political parties in remaining 89 assembly seats of eastern UP. Stakes are very high for senior politicians like PM Narendra Modi, Mayawati of BSP and SP-Congress alliance by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi. Never before in independent India, any prime minister devoted so much so time in any assembly polls as PM Modi is doing in UP.

After the five phases of voting, campaigning in Uttar Pradesh assembly election has become more intense and murkier. Bahujan Samaj Party, the main opposition in UP Assembly is now openly asking Muslim voters to vote for its candidates. Earlier Mayawati used the word ‘minority’ for Muslims, but now she has freed herself from any hesitation. The ruling Samajwadi Party has now roped in Lalu Yadav to campaign for its alliance candidates after initial hesitation by Akhilesh to invite the charismatic leader from Bihar for addressing election meetings.

In a highly startling move and typical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s one man NDA Government out to disrupt the well established social and economic norms, recent instance being demonetizations of high denomination notes that destabilized socio-economic activities of people of India having lined them up helplessly before ATMs and banks to withdraw their own money ostensibly to cleanse the national economy of black money operations (parallel economy) and rendering poor, farmers, labourers unemployed, small and medium industry closed down under the cover of ultra nationalism, exemption to donations to religious and charitable organizations from income tax has been withdrawn in the Union Budget 2017-18, which our motivated media failed to notice in this era of paid and fake news.

After the recent report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reproving the Modi Government for its November 8 decision of demonetizing high denomination notes which it contended has dampened consumption and activities across the real sectors of the Indian economy, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) did not pass any overt strictures on demonetization (Demo). With the government repeating parrot-like that the accompanying pain people suffered was stoically borne by them in the national interest of sucking out black money virus from the economy, the OECD deftly noted that “implementing the demonetization has had transitory and short-term costs but should have long term benefits”.

The Narendra Modi government appears to have succeeded in persuading the ghar wapsi and love jehad brigades to pipe down for the time being. Modi even personally ticked off the gau-rakshaks or cow vigilantes after they were video-taped lynching a group of Dalit youths for skinning a cow, their traditional occupation.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit in Kerala is feeling the heat literally and politically.