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Lawmakers, lawmen and law keepers may disagree; law in India rarely takes a predictable course. Very often, law, which is also regarded as ‘blind’, follows an unknown, or even mysterious and contradictory course, depending upon the profile of the person facing it. If the person is of a prime minister’s status, or that of a chief minister belonging to the party ruling the centre, a super rich like the Ambanis, film megastar of Salman Khan’s repute or Saif Ali Khan’s image, alleged political killers or communal riot engineers such as Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler and hi-profile land scam suspect Robert Vadra, law is most likely to miss its normal course. Law has been unsuccessfully chasing BJP’s prime ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi, socially stigmatized for 2002 Gujarat communal riot, through a long labyrinthine course like a black adder in the African jungle for the last 12 years, much to the chagrin of the vocal section of the public and media.

The world is anxiously awaiting the results of the 16th general elections in India, the largest democracy and one of the emerging economy. Apart from several power centres in the multi-polar geo-politics, countries which are eager to learn from the experiences of Indian democracy are patiently waiting for the outcome on May16.

LUCKNOW: The 16th Lok Sabha results are all set to change the future course of politics in Uttar Pradesh in general and Samajwadi Party government in the state led by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in particular.

Once the final tally is counted and the formation of the new government gets under way in the ensuing couple of days, the inescapable priority duly exercising the concerns of the next government must be the choice of the man or woman who will don the mantle of the finance portfolio. The next Finance Minister has the onerous task to steer the economy and lift it from the swamp of slowdown it had sunk into. That the UPA government in its two tenures of close to a decade with two experienced finance ministers Messer Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee had messed up the management of the economy was nothing unknown to anyone as the Aam Aadmi in whose name the UPA coalition governed the country had to bear the brunt of relentless rise in prices of even essential items.

Predictably, the exit polls have uniformly projected a Modi-led BJP take-over at the Centre, reviving the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), after a decade of Congress dominance heading a motley crowd of parties (UPA), with a mixed record where failures overwhelmingly blotted out earlier positives. On May 16, the nation will know the real dimensions of the so-called ‘Modi Wave’, and where the political system stands after the mighty battle of 2014.

Indian democracy is faced with a challenge of electing leaders with a clean image. Over the years criminalization of politics has almost reached its nadir. The judiciary has tried its best to bring the political system to order by pronouncing several verdicts and ensuring the provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951 are not violated in any manner. The judiciary has from time to time sent necessary directives to the Election Commission.

As the momentum of India’s nine-phase Lok Sabha election shifts in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s opponents, a new bunch of writers and social scientists have risen to defend its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Some of them see virtue and talent, indeed even poetic genius, in a man who presided over the mass butchery of Muslims in Gujarat. (One of them compares Mr Modi’s ghastly poetry with Kabir’s!)

At the valedictory meeting of the National Advisory Council (NAC), its chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, congratulated the assembled members for their contributions in the matter of securing various entitlements for the poor.

As the heat and dust of the elongated elections settle down, the essential task of governance begins. The promises of the contending parties and the aspirations of the people who voted to realise their dreams must balance. But for now, what should be the main agenda for the new government. Here is a quick look.

NEW DELHI: India has proposed that BRICS group be expanded to include Argentina which is a leading economy in the Latin American region now. Presently BRICS have five members- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. With Argentina, the grouping will have six members. The issue is expected to come up for discussion at the coming BRICS summit in Brazil in the middle of July this year.