View Articles

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.

NEW YORK: As the United States — and the world — prepares for another Trump administration, revisiting the question of whether Bernie Sanders could have defeated him in 2016 may seem unproductive. Eight years ago feels like ancient history. Yet reframing the question “Would Sanders have won?” to “What lessons from Sanders can help shape a better future for US politics?” proves more relevant than ever.

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.

It would be presumptuous to construe that the results of the bye-elections to the four assembly seats in Bihar do not reflect the changing economic and social relations at the ground level and point to the emergence of new political equation. In the just concluded Lok Sabha elections, the voters of all the four assembly segments had voted for INDIA bloc. But they shifted their allegiance this time. Certainly this change of perception in choosing the political priorities has wider implication.

The future is tense for NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT), but that doesn't mean they'll stop politics, the debilitating results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, notwithstanding. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sharad Pawar and ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray find themselves in a coarse political landscape with seemingly nothing to look forward to, except the question, "Whereto from hereto, the future looks daunting and taunting, as well?"

Despite leading Mahayuti in Maharashtra to an impressive comeback to power, the BJP and its leadership had to undergo a difficult test of coalition morality within NDA to such an extent that it could not name its chief minister before the term of the Vidhan Sabha expired on November 26. Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde had to resign from the post of Chief Minister on the expiry of the Vidhan Sabha, and he has been asked by the Governor to remain as caretaker Chief Minister.

KOLKATA: The Left in India is at present passing through a crisis which is unprecedented since independence. In contrast to the steady concentration of power in the hands of the Right, the rapid decline of the Left over the years is extremely alarming.

In a big boost to the Latin American Left, Uruguay’s left wing opposition candidate Yamandu Orsi became the country’s new president after defeating convincingly the candidate of the ruling far right coalition Alvaro Delgado in the presidential elections held on Sunday, November 24.