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Uddhav Thackeray undid Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva legacy by linking up with the secular Congress and the NCP. And Aaditya Thackeray is being blamed for alienating Eknath Shinde. ‘UT’ was blind to ‘AT’ meddling in affairs out of his depth. But that would be diminishing Sanjay Raut’s role, hovering overhead!

The contemporary Indian democracy is at a threshold of its constitutionalism. Amidst the deafening noise of the media and a structured, institutionalised political propaganda of minority marginalisation, every second day, there is a renewed debate regarding what constitutes an exercise of the freedom of speech and expression and what are the reasonable and legitimate restrictions that may be imposed on this exercise of free speech.

When Egyptian football legend Mohammed Aboutreika came out swinging against homosexuality in late 2021, he touched a raw nerve across the Muslim world. The tit-for-tat between Aboutreika and supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights laid bare a yawning gap.

“Most people think women don’t make good drivers, but I have proved them wrong”, says Laxmi Jadhav, 42, with a mischievous smile.

The ordeals Rahul Gandhi has been facing in the National Herald money laundering case are yet to dissipate. The probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper. The ED probe is more of the nature and intent of insulting Rahul for his audacity to question and put Narendra Modi in tight spot.

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party is under tremendous pressure to retain Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats facing by-elections on June 23. Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav had won from Azamgarh while Rampur was won by senior party leader Mohd Azam Khan who was recently released on bail.

India is leading the switch in the flow of Russian crude oil, hit by sanctions in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, from its traditional market Europe to Asia.

The NDA’s choice for President of India, a woman, and a tribal — Droupadi Murmu, is a sureshot winner, considering the political situation in the country. And Murmu is no stranger to power, and high office. She was Jharkhand Governor from 2015 to 2021. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at the head of the table when the BJP parliamentary board picked her name from a list of 20 potential first citizen candidates. Also, probably this is the first time people are getting to know that an NDA presidential candidate is decided by the BJP alone.

The ruling NDA’s choice of the candidate for the presidential election must be conceded to be a political masterstroke. They have picked up an adivasi candidate now after choosing a scheduled caste candidate earlier. They have thus strayed away from the so-called upper caste elites and espoused the cause of the downtrodden. In a way, this is a conceptual breakthrough and a leap of imagination.

“France has had enough of its monarch president. If the French people decide to give us a majority then we will govern . . . Destiny is in your hands,” crisply said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the coalition of various hues of left and green at a gathering of working people a few days before the runoff elections on June 19 for the 577-member L'Assemblée nationale (French parliament)..The maverick ultra left icon failed to defeat President Emmanuel Macron-led Ensemble’s coalition, but the ruling party fell well short of a majority. No single party is dominant in the new chamber. It won 245 seats, 101 less than the last election in 2017. It’s vote share is 38.6 percent. France has now has a hung Parliament.