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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The camp of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is cock-a-hoop. Understandable. They have won another round in the tug-of-war between the camps of the Chief Minister and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee(KPCC) president, V. M. Sudheeran over the United Democratic Front(UDF) Government’s liquor policy (is it not a non-policy?).

The results of the Assembly elections in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir prove that the BJP continues to be on the rise and has eclipsed other national parties in the country. The two Assembly verdicts are in contrast as Jharkhand has chosen stability while Jammu and Kashmir has given a hung verdict. This in itself shows the complexity and diversity of India’s electoral politics.

After Vijay Mallya of grounded Kingfisher Airlines, it is now the turn of Kalanidhi Maran of SpiceJet to take air-travelers, creditors, suppliers and the government for a ride. Ironically, there is a lot of similarity between the two southern business barons. Liquor baron Mallya was branded as ‘king of good times’ because of his lavish lifestyle. Media baron Maran has been, for years, India’s highest earning business executive. His remuneration package in 2013-14 was Rs.59.89 crore. Maran’s wife Kavery too got an equal remuneration, taking the combined annual pay package of the Marans to an astounding Rs.119.78 crore from his media enterprise, Sun TV, boasting some 33 regional channels.

The Sangh Parivar has made a habit out of raking up divisive issues which most people thought were settled at the time of Indian Independence or shortly thereafter. For instance, India adopted Parliamentary democracy in preference to the presidential system after much debate. But the unitarian, pro-centralisation Bharatiya Janata Party has always been partial to the presidential form despite its unsuitability for a huge and diverse country like India.

The BJP in Tamil Nadu reckons on a break-through in the 2016 assembly elections to put itself in a formidable position - from zero to a sizeable political strength - to help it steer the state away from 'family politics and corrupt regimes' of Dravidian parties over decades.

West Bengal's dynamic Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mr. Madan Mitra achieved two rare distinctions during the past fortnight: he is the first Cabinet Minister to be arrested on a criminal charge in the state.

Even though India and Japan are far apart by geography, demography and economy, there is one common thing in their political leadership. Both witnessed new charismatic leaderships in recent years with a lot of hope for an upturn in the economic narrative. Indian economy is engulfed by continuous slide in the growth and Japan is facing an unabated recession for last two decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are sailing on the same boat. Given the leg up of political majority in the people’s representative houses, both vowed to bring the economy on a strong track of recovery. They laid the seeds to germinate big hopes by committing radical reforms in the economy. But the euphoria was short lived. Mr Modi’s big-ticket reforms seemed to have been stuck in the pipeline and Mr Shinzo Abe has suspended the third stage of his ‘Three Arrow’ economic reforms, after Japan re-plunged into recession in the first two quarters of the current fiscal years.

The rise of Islamic fundamentalism made almost all Muslims a suspect in the eyes of officials and even ordinary people. In airports across the world, especially in the West, someone with a name like Khan or Ahmed or Mohammed would be scanned far more closely than other immigrants. Hence, Shah Rukh Khan’s line in his film, My Name is Khan, that although he carries the name, Khan, he is not a terrorist.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is being described as the most unabashed and shocking surrender by a state government to the liquor lobby, in post-Independence India.

First, it was Sadhvi Niranjan Joyti’s controversial remark— Ramzade versus Haramzade —then Sakshi Maharaj, praising assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, Nathu Ram Godse, followed by Hindu Mahasabha’s demand that Godse’s bust be installed at public places throughout the country. As if this was not enough, U.P. Governor, Ram Naik, a sober leader, raked up unnecessarily the issue of Ram Mandir, forgetting that he now is a Constitutional authority. Added to this, External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, kicked up yet another row by demanding that Geeta be declared a national treatise. Geeta is, after all, a 5000-year-old religious book like Koran and Bible. Its sermons are universally respected and to demand that it be declared as a national document is ridiculous. It is like demanding that ‘Hanumanji” be given Bharat Ratna.