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June 19 Rahul Gandhi turns 52. And it called for a perspective on the life and times of Rahul Gandhi. Not everybody’s cup of tea, because Rahul Gandhi doesn’t leave much to the imagination. He is in a class all his own. First and foremost, Rahul Gandhi is not a ‘chaiwala’, his arrogance beats the best cup of tea. And he’s been accused of feeding biscuits to ‘Pidi’ from the same plate Himanta Biswa Sarma ate from, and ‘Pidi’ happens to be Rahul’s pet K9!

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) is infested with frauds and abuses. Different kinds of frauds are being encountered, both in relation to the making of e-cards for beneficiaries and also the provisions of treatment by hospitals. Corruption in India’s National Health Insurance Scheme Ayusman Bharat scheme seems to be rampant.

Sun Tzu in the ‘Art of War’ (written in the 6th century BC) argues that a commander’s duty was to ensure that his subordinates conducted themselves in a civilised manner during an armed conflict.

If it is not broke, don’t fix it. That, and let sleeping dogs lie. Modi could have walked away, let sleeping dogs lie. But he chose to fix that what didn’t need fixing, could it be that our Prime Minister thinks he’s got the answers for everything, and that everything about India needs fixing— that he is Fixer-in-Chief!

It is not only politics that is increasingly getting polarized but also views on the Indian economy with economists divided on whether the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the country forward during the last 8 years of his rule or not. India has come a long way in economic development since independence 75 years ago but it has still to cover some long distance before it became middle income economy or an advanced economy. Usually economists in the past were critical of the government so that more reforms and correctives were carried out with gusto to enable the economy bounce back. For a developing or emerging economy, it has always been a case of glass half full or empty and any critical analysis only facilitated in improving the growth process and correctives in the continuing reform process.

The craftiness of imperialism is boundless. In several countries of the world at present there are neo-fascist governments, propped up by their respective big bourgeoisie (all aligned to globalized capital), and implementing neo-liberal policies with their characteristic ruthlessness; in many other countries, there are neo-fascist outfits attempting to get into power by promising to their big bourgeois patrons that they would do the same if in power. A neo-liberal-neo-fascist alliance in short has become quite pervasive.

It would be simply an act of naiveté to believe that the BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma has dented the image of Narendra Modi or his government. It is Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah who had prepared the backdrop and handed over the brief, to malign the Muslims, to their subjugates.

In a recent ruling issued by the Kerala High Court permitting two lesbians to live together, the court emphasised on the most essential fundamental right of freedom of individuals to choose to live with whoever they wish to, regardless of gender.

Sri Lanka has a social media. And these days Modi is trending. For Sri Lankans, Indian bigwigs trending in their social media is welcome diversion from the island nation’s woes. At least Modi is not Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s President who is still at the centre of storm after the resignation of his brother Prime Minister. The island nation is still in turmoil and people have remembered India which helped its neighbour in times of crisis with fuel products and funds.

Why the state needs to crush a section of innocent people? Perhaps to set an example to show that any violation, even those imagined, cannot be taken without any reassertion of unbounded power and create fear. Bulldozer, a huge, faceless machine that can run uninterrupted, turning people’s settlements into debris has its own significance that makes everything else insignificant.