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Every human has a funny bone. But people fighting among themselves doesn't bring smiles. The Royals of Rajasthan used to fight. And who hasn't forgotten the Battle of Haldighati? Nowadays, there is the Battle for the mosque and the temple. There is Sambhal and Ajmer. There was 'Ayodhya', and there's Kashi and Mathura. In Rajasthan, there is the Battle for the Udaipur Palace!

Ruling Trinamool Congress and principal Opposition BJP camps in West Bengal are studies in contrast. Apart from the former being on a winning streak, party supremo Mamata Banerjee has the last word in TMC while dissenting voices are being raised in the state BJP unit seeking a change at the top as well as focusing on the reasons for increase of its loss of its support base.

Another Nehru-Gandhi made her presence felt in the Lower House of the Indian Parliament on November 28. — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, with her mother Sonia Gandhi and her brother Rahul Gandhi, also Members of Parliament, she makes up the Gandhi trio, a rare constellation, except that Sonia Gandhi is a Rajya Sabha MP and Rahul and Priyanka are members of the Lok Sabha.

The recent events in Sambhal and the deaths of five young Muslim men underline the importance of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, l991 enacted by Parliament in that year. This legislation prohibits “conversion of any place of worship” (Section 3) and provides for “the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August, 1947” (Section 4). No person can “convert any place of worship of any religious denomination or any section thereof into a place of worship of a different section of the same religious denomination or of a different religious denomination”. The Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute was kept out of the purview of the Act.

Indian economy, which is passing through one of its worst phases in history, seems set to get another major hit in the coming days. The rating agency Crisil has said the GDP growth is likely to fall to 6.8 per cent in FY25 from 8.2 per cent in FY24. The rating agency has attributed the fall in the GDP growth to the high interest rates and lower fiscal impulse in the economy.

On this Constitution Day November 26 how do we reflect on the world’s worst industrial disaster in Union Carbide, Bhopal as we approach the 40th anniversary of this carnage on December 2 and 3? It is a tragedy every Indian is familiar with, but over the years, it has been reduced to a footnote in public memory, ruefully remembered by most people just once a year when the anniversary approaches.

KOLKATA: Buoyed by a clean sweep in the November 13 by-elections to six assembly constituencies, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has reposed faith on veteran leaders. It puts on ice for the time being, the party's unofficial number two, chief minister Banerjee's nephew, Abhishek Banerjee's rejig plan. To create a new wave in the party by inducting more youth workers in the leadership.

The last round of the state assembly elections of the country in 2024 along with the by polls ended on November 20 with the results declared on November 23. The massive victory of the BJP led Mahayuti in Maharashtra polls has given a new confidence to the BJP in offsetting the losses incurred by the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls held only six months before. For INDIA Bloc, the convincing win in Jharkhand assembly polls is a positive signal. But still, along with unexpected win in Haryana polls earlier, the BJP is far ahead in the battle of perception between the two contenders NDA and INDIA who are looking for the next challenge in the assembly polls in 2025 and 2026.

The Supreme Court has settled for good the question whether the addition of ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ in the Preamble of the Constitution was in order. It was immaterial that the Constitutional amendment to do this was passed during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency. The court’s decision could not have come at a more appropriate time as the nation has just launched celebrations for the 75 years of India adopting the Constitution. The occasion has provided an opportunity to express solidarity with the Constitution, right from parliament to the courts to political parties to ordinary people.

Killings of four on November 24, 2024 during people’s violent protest in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh and subsequent police firing is now wrapped in mystery. A selective leak of the Postmortem report has ruled out ‘police firing caused deaths’, though the report is not made public.