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Either the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) thinks Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn't read newspapers or there must be another reason why the BJP cannot keep its national spokesperson Shazia Ilmi in check. It rankles the VHP no end that an "import to the BJP” can be so bold as to find fault with a prized body of the Sangh Parivar while being part of another equally prized body. Shazia, a founding member of the Aam Aadmi Party, has got the VHP's goat and the BJP is like the silence of the lambs with not a bleat out of it!

Unlike some of the leaders of the regional and opposition parties who subscribe to the BJP invectives of the Congress as spent force and losing the sting, the Bihar chef minister Nitish Kumar and the veteran Lalu Yadav, chief of the RJD, nurse strong feeling that Congress is still the “largest party” capable to lead the opposition and others must think “practically” on its relevance. Both the leaders will be in Delhi on September 13/14 to meet the Congress president Sonia Gandhi who is expected to be back by then after her visit abroad.

The Indian economy was expected to collapse due to pandemic. But its recovery has been better than most countries. Appropriate counter – cyclical policy enabled this but it worked because reforms had reached a threshold of adequacy. In the recent past growth suffered because of an excessive focus on structural reforms while neglecting the smoothening of shocks. Current policy has responded to the latter. But talk of necessity of reforms is again in the air. So what reforms are required?

The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ of the Congress was in the “land of Kamaraj” when Rahul Gandhi met two people, a teenage girl of about “12/14”, and a Catholic “father” of no mean controversies. If the girl’s curiosity was a welcome diversion for Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader’s curiosity was fodder for the Catholic father to brew hate.

The Supreme Court has kept its word in terms of protecting the rights of undertrials by granting bail to journalist Siddique Kappan, who has spent over two years in UP jails without trial in connection with the Hathras conspiracy case.

Chennai: Bengaluru schoolboy Shreyas Hareesh (Rockers Racing) raced to lights-to-flag victory, his first, in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category, National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the Madras International Circuit, here on Saturday.

Jammu: Yuvraj Sandhu (Chandigarh) carded a steady one-under 71 in the last round and with a total of total 13-under 275 won the J&K Open at the Jammu Tawi Golf Course here on Saturday.

Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in India may soon turn into new battlefield to be fought between the Union Government and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU). If the Union Government goes ahead with its privatisation move, the UFBU have threatened for longer strike action, a scenario that will spell disaster for the entire financial system of the country, at a time when a stronger, equitable, and sustainable financial system is required to provide financial access to all.

In the United States former presidents continue to be ‘President’ for the rest of their lives. And so, ‘President Trump’ gave an interview to NDTV and but for the fact that seven seas separated India from the United States, Trump wouldn’t have agreed to the interview for the simple reason that within earshot Trump would have known years ago that of the hundreds of Indian TV media, NDTV comes the nearest to aping CNN in its reportage philosophy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised the people of India of having good days, is himself passing through his worst days. Bizarre are the ways in which the Income Tax Department has searched this week the premises of three leading bodies, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), OxFam India and the Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation. The searches were aimed at coercing the managements of these independent bodies to toe the official line of the saffrons. The Sangh close media portals have been campaigning for long against these three bodies saying their reports are biased against the BJP.