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Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal's clarion call to the youth of Punjab to “rush to the Khanauri border in large numbers and save the ongoing satyagraha against the Centre’s highhandedness” has exposed the farcicality of the BJP leadership. The 70-year-old Dallewal has been on hunger strike for 35 days. Farmers are particularly angry with Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankar who had claimed that “I am a farmer’s son. I will not show weakness. I will sacrifice my life for my country. Why is a farmer’s son sitting here?”

An impartial review of the year 2024 makes it clear that hate has become an essential component of the ruling party’s campaign to vilify and malign the religious minorities in India. Further, it also made it obvious that this party is not apologetic about constructing a hateful narrative for selfish gains and spreading a parochial mind-set.

The Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench judgment pronounced on October 17, 2024 in the challenge to Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, saw a fierce battle of ideas with the proponents and opponents of the provision both relying on varying, and often opposing, interpretations to the constitutional provisions in support of their respective arguments.

Former US president Jimmy Carter, who passed away on Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, was a true friend of Palestine. Despite a decidedly checkered presidency on issues ranging from human rights abroad to austerity at home, he will be remembered as one of the first and most distinguished international observers to foresee Israel’s apartheid system in Palestine.

Unbelievable but true. The government of the United States of America, supposedly the vanguard of modern capitalism, is fighting with its back to the wall to prevent a private corporate takeover of a publicly-listed US firm by a widely-held Japanese company. Both the outgoing US President Joe Biden of the Democratic Party and his soon-to-be Republican successor, Donald Trump, have vowed to stall the Nippon Steel takeover of the US Steel Corporation on the grounds that US Steel is an iconic American company!

Parliament's productivity in the just-concluded Winter Session was a record low – only 52 percent of scheduled work completed. Various factors, including disruptions and lack of quorum, contributed to the reduced output. The confrontation between the treasury benches and a belligerent Opposition continued throughout. The current performance highlights the challenges in maintaining productivity.

‘Save the Constitution of India’ protests launched by the opposition parties cost PM Narendra Modi and his BJP majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. The protests turned ugly by the close of the year with physical confrontation in the Parliament – which caused injuries to several BJP MPs. Now, at the fag-end of the year, both the Congress and the BJP NDA have announced a series of events in 2025 to take the battle to the other.

Attempts made by groups of people to sneak into India illegally from Bangladesh into Tripura and West Bengal have increased in recent weeks. The Border Security Force (BSF) and various state police have stepped up vigil to prevent the infiltration to the extent possible, more so in view of the continuing violence in Bangladesh. But the situation is not improving as the political turmoil engulfing India's immediate neighbours in the east has fuelled fears of displacement among large sections of targeted minority communities.

Where is the Modi government's sworn affidavit to the Supreme Court on its stand on the Places of Worship Act, 1991? The government is mute and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is calling for unity in a country that is riddled with disaffection and disunity. How can there be unity after months of ‘Batenge tohkatenge’, when ‘Ekhaitoh safe hain’ didn’t work and RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has added his two pence to the acrimonious debate by advising the BJP’s Hindu vote-bank not to look for temples under mosques?

Disgraceful indeed! Even in death, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was not spared. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not hesitate in playing politics and avenging Singh’s remark “it will be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as Prime Minister” by denying Dr. Singh's mortal remains two yards of land at Raj Ghat for the last rites. Shockingly, Modi made a departure from past practice.