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Results in assembly election in Maharashtra are on expected lines: no party got majority and the BJP emerged as the single largest party, having secured only 121 seats in 288-member house, falling short of 22 seats to get majority. But in Haryana it was a real surprise: few expected clear majority for the BJP when in the last election the saffron party could get just four seats. The Congress, which ruled Haryana for 10 years under leadership by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, got worst-ever drubbing, getting only 15 seats in 90-member assembly. It has been seen wherever the Congress gets less than 20 percent of votes it never revives. One wonders if that will be so in Haryana where the Congress, though badly defeated, has still deep roots.

KOLKATA: One of the first priorities of the NDA Government on coming to power was to address the task of speedily narrowing down the asymmetrical gap in India’s defence vis-à-vis China along the entire Himalayan border. In fact, this should have begun in right earnest more than half a century ago, immediately after India’s disastrous military defeat at the hands of the Chinese in 1962. But, for reasons best known to them, successive Central governments chose not to give adequate attention to this vital task. Despite the trauma, India went into hibernation, as it were. It meant a growing asymmetry between China’s offensive capability and India’s defensive capability. This has gone on for over half a century, widening the asymmetry.

Stung by the results of the last Lok Sabha elections and buoyed by the success in some of the by-elections held after that, leaders of some regional parties formed by the splinters of erstwhile Janata Dal have started talking of the unity of Janata Parivar. Janata Dal leader Nitish Kumar is leading this “Unite Parivar” campaign and he has succeeded in Bihar by forging an alliance with RJD of Lalu Yadav and defeating BJP in most of the Assembly Constituencies, where by-elections were held a couple of months ago. After the success Nitish Kumar is eyeing at other states. He has approached Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ajit Singh of Uttar Pradesh, Om Prakash Chautala of Haryana, MP Virendra Kumar of Kerala and HD Deve Gowda of Karnataka. Naveen Patnaiak of Odisha has also been reached, but he is reluctant to join such unification campaign as yet, but had sent one of his party subordinates as his representative in one of meetings held before Lok Sabha elections only to test the depth of water, but he has not shown any interest in joining the present move of leaders from Bihar.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was a momentous occasion worthy of a celebration. And the Kerala Congress(Mani) did celebrate the fiftieth year of its formation in grand style.

Paradoxically, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi succeeded in persuading the Japanese and Chinese investors, he failed to influence the big American investors. Instead, his political wave and speech impelled the Indian Diaspora only. While a number of billion dollar projects were signed during his visit to Japan and the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India, no major deal was signed during his visit to USA. Nor any major commitment was made by the US government.

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh is the home state of Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi – the founder of ‘Bacchpan Bachao Andolan’.

Salman M has made it to the headlines recently as the 25-year-old student from Kerala facing life imprisonment following his refusal to stand up during the national anthem in a theatre. His arrest and subsequent denial of bail garnered a lot of controversy as he was charged with sedition for, reportedly, ‘sitting and disrespecting’ the national anthem. Beyond the bizarre and disturbing decision by the lower courts, this is a story that is being interpreted by many as an ominous omen of politicisation of the surge of nationalistic fervour throughout the country. Only time will tell us if it is but a discrete story of some overzealous lower court officials or an indication of an emerging trend, but suffice it to say that the issue deserves more than a sensational headline, it warrants a national conversation.

Recent unprovoked firing by Pakistan at the Line of Control and as well as at the international border shows the utter helplessness and desperation on its part. India has suspended the dialogue process as Pakistan opted to talk to Kashmiri separatists which the former said was against the spirit of the Shimla Agreement and Lahore Declaration. Subsequently, Pakistan resorted to unprovoked firing at the border with the intention to humiliate India and to aid infiltration of terrorists. Pakistan shelling has taken toll on civilian life.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Defence Minister Arun Jaitley may not be fully aware how the United States made India play a pawn under the UPA’s 10-year-long Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh regime in America’s psychological war against the People’s Republic of China, trying to contain the latter’s geo-political ambition and keep control of the vital South China Sea that handles $5.5-trillion-worth global cargo movement annually. The US is keen to set up a shipbuilding cum repair yard at Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay with India and Vietnam as key stakeholders, mainly for the use by its naval ships. Over 600,000 ocean going vessels, including naval ships, move through South China Sea per year. The proposed yard codenamed ‘X-52-5’ was earlier considered as financially non-viable.

BHOPAL: Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chauhan is over excited after the fourth Global Investors Summit organized at Indore. His excitement can be ascribed to two reasons. First, the Prime Minister came to join the Summit and he appreciated Mr Chauhan a lot for the development of the state. Second reason is the quantum of investment promised during the Summit which amounts to around 6.89 lakh crores. The investments were promised not only by the private sector entrepreneurs, but many central ministries taking part in the Summit promised the same.