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With the last day of filing nominations history, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been reduced to defending itself from going against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's 'Batenge toh katenge' campaign call. The day after, the Mahayuti stood divided with the BJP unable to stick to its stance. Instead, there is "our stance is very clear. All the parties in the alliance should decide their own candidate."

It was the beginning of the last century. Transition was already in the process. The context in Russia was maturing up for the October Revolution. It was one of the greatest events in human history when workers and the oppressed started rising to throw off feudal-capitalist regime under the leadership of Vladimir Ilych Lenin. He had famously said that revolution in Russia took place in the weakest link in the chain of imperialist capitalist system. Russia was not advanced as the other capitalist countries in Europe were, and hence it was as late as in 1870 that Georgi Plekhanov founded the Emancipation of the Labour League to organize the working class towards a revolutionary struggle.

KOLKATA: West Bengal has been favourite tourist destination for Narendra Modi’s most reliable lieutenant and Chanakya of BJP, Home Minister Amit Shah. But Sunday, October 27, visit was different. He used the occasion of an official engagement to launch the election campaign though the assembly elections will be held in April/ May 2026.

LUCKNOW: After debacle in 2024 Lok Sabha poll, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has staked his prestige in crucial by-elections on November 13 for nine assembly seats in the state. In the absence of Congress, it is going to fight between UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party national President Akhilesh Yadav.

Middle East has turned into a ticking time bomb as Iran and Israel stand on the verge of a full-blown war. A lot has transpired between the two countries since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing Gaza war. Israel is more than a thousand miles away from Iran. They do not share any border and there are no significant bilateral claims between them. And yet they are arch enemies.

India-Japan relation has always been politically undeterred and peaceful as well as non-controversial. Eventually, the relation between the two nations tilted more to economic partnership, with Japan depending on India for natural resources and India harping on technology transfer through Japanese investment. In other words, there were three issues, which underscored the benchmark for India- Japan relation. They were bilateral trade, Japanese FDI in India and Japanese financial support, that is, ODA loan and grants.

The relationship between India and China is a contentious issue. The boundary issue between the two nations is a knotty problem. China has the concept of expansionism. It does not follow the McMahon Line and Johnson Line drawn by the erstwhile British colonial rulers in consultation with relevant parties. However, in regard to Myanmar, it agrees on McMahon Line, but not in the case with India. As a result in 1962 China defied these two lines, invaded and occupied large chunks of Indian territory. Thus, the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was drawn between the two countries. Still not satisfied with the occupation, Beijing claims parts of Indian territory like Ladakh and Arunachal as its own. Chinese expansionism is not the concept of Chinese Communist Party alone, it existed with the imperialist dynasties and the Nationalist Kuomintang Party.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the security alliance of the western nations led by the USA is having an uneasy period after celebrating its 75th year of founding in July this year with big fanfare. The recent summit of the BRICS in Kazan of Russia held on October 22 to 24 witnessed the presence of two countries close to the West — first Saudi Arabia as a newly admitted member and another Turkey which has applied for BRICS membership despite being a member of NATO.

For RSS blowing hot and cold in the same breath is not the sign of its irresoluteness, instead it reflects the highest form of its duplicity; when its right face is not aware of the message its left face was sending. Only a week back the RSS leadership sent a message to its rank and file across the country that it was no more engaged in a polemical combat with Narendra Modi and he continues to be public face of the saffron ecosystem, but on October 26 addressing the RSS cadres, its general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale endorsed UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s ’batenge toh katenge’ remark on Hindu unity, and projected him virtually as the new modern face of Hindus and Hindutva.

Japan’s election results last Sunday demonstrate once again that good economics often fail to get political gains. That does not of course necessarily mean that bad economics gets good political revenues.