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The grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya is all dressed up for the inauguration on January 22 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is fulfilling a longstanding dream of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.

EVM concerns have cropped up again, because the older Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are still in use in large numbers, newer EVMs that come with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trial (VVPAT) paper record are not comprehensive enough, and even all the VVPATs are not counted to match the actual votes polled. Tampering and vulnerability are therefore not ruled out, and even some time back a research paper has found “irregular patterns” in Lok Sabah election results 2019.

Like all his other jumlas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge to ensure the women of their basic rights and protect them from oppression and torture has proved to be yet another empty promise. Had he really been concerned and committed to protect the honour and prestige of women, by now the message would have reached across the line, and the spiritual BJP leaders who are not tired of reminding the common people of their commitment to Hindu culture, its tradition, moral values and ethics, would not have dared to rape a girl student, that too inside the campus of Banaras Hindu University, a Hindutva bastion, in the heart of Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of the self-proclaimed ‘vishwaguru’ Modi.

Watch out. Will Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections throw up surprises? The state dangles like a ripe fruit for the taking. Everybody is just waiting. The alliances, they seem they’re many. What happened to the Maha Vikas Aghadi, and did the BJP and the Shinde Shiv Sena combine have a name before Ajit Pawar split the Nationalist Congress Party and joined the BJP-Shinde Shiv Sena combine? Now, there is the INDI-Alliance and the BJP-Shiv Sena-Ajit Pawar group eyeing the spoils from the 2024 general elections with neither alliance instilling trust and confidence.

The war on Gaza, which has been going on for nearly three months since ‘Operation Aqsa Deluge’, has revealed that the divisions that exist within the factions that sparked it will be the most prominent aspect of the scene when it is over, provided they continue to play a role. The differences in opinion that exist between the Iranian position and that of Hamas about the motives and objectives of this war are brought to the forefront in recent days.

It seems strange to routinely wish everyone a happy new year while there is so much pain and suffering in the world.

Giorgia Meloni, the former fascist and current prime minster of Italy, is a distant relative of the communist theorist Antonio Gramsci. On its face, this revelation, which Italian genealogists disclosed earlier this month, might seem like an interesting piece of trivia — funny but ultimately meaningless. However, Meloni, despite sharing none of her ancestor’s politics, emerged out of a process of social transformation that the author of the Prison Notebooks would not struggle to understand.

The year 2023 has ended with two big wars and a few local conflicts including one in Myanmar bordering India. While the world was looking for the end of war in Ukraine during 2023, a new war with much severe death toll began in Gaza strip of Palestine in October 2023 giving all the indications at the beginning of New Year that both the wars may continue indefinitely with no real efforts being made by the big powers to bring about a permanent ceasefire.

The world is finally recognizing India’s economic strength and its fast-growing market size. Going by the overall development trend, the economy is capable of growing close to 10 percent annually over the next several years. In 2023-24, the economy may reach a growth rate of seven percent. Both domestic and foreign investors seem to be ready with their business plans to take advantage of the situation. They are investing in almost all areas of production and services – from raising minerals to manufacturing intermediaries and finished products, building infrastructure, real estates and housing, making consumer products including electronics, producing drugs, chemicals and fertilizers and offering doorstep services. The business is endless. Investors are busy fixing long-term objectives. Barring unforeseen circumstances, coming decades clearly belong to India.

Congress is running against time on seat-sharing arrangement with India alliance partners, which is likely to be delayed further. A crucial meeting has been scheduled by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on January 4, in which presidents of its state units and the leaders of its legislative members will be sharing their views to finalize the seat-sharing proposal to be formally conveyed to the constituents of the INDIA alliance, which signals further delay to be inevitable. Moreover, Congress’ National Alliance Committee’s expectation in reportedly too high to be agreed upon by the constituent political parties in the INDIA alliance.