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RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has been ruthless in using Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Hindutva face of the country, to accomplish his mission of transforming India into a Hindu Rashtra. Neither the RSS bosses nor the top BJP leaders would concede to the fact that L K Advani could not occupy the prime minister’s seat as RSS was against him. The RSS leadership strongly believed that RSS under the rule of Advani would not prosper. His remarks about Jinnah was being cited in inner circles to justify their apprehensions. It is widely known that in 2009 Lok Sabha elections the RSS had extended support to some Congress candidates.

The second coronavirus wave has overwhelmed India with lakhs of Covid-19 cases per day. There’s no breathing space left with the scarcity of life-saving oxygen. Some people are saying there’s conspiracy afoot to malign the Modi Government. The reality is people are waking up to “what could have been, and what should have been.” And “international journalist” Rana Ayyub, with boots and roots firmly in the anti-Modi hemisphere, who never fails to motivate “Modi-bhakts” to commit virtual homicide, has with a piece in Time magazine taken Modi to task with the headline: “This is Hell. Prime Minister Modi’s Failure to Lead Is Deepening India’s COVID-19 Crisis.’

The Indian Navy has recently decided to give top priority to building a fleet of nuclear submarines, armed with nuclear-tipped Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) and build a fleet of six such attack submarines. At present the only India-made nuclear sub is INS Arihant. Another submarine leased from Russia for ten years in 2012 (INS Chkara II) will have to be returned soon.

With worst ever surge of COVID-19 in India, 3.55 lakh new cases and 2807 deaths on April 25, reaching the new global highs, is also generating unprecedented high level of coronavirus waste for any country in the world. It may soon pose worst additional threat to the country. India thus needs a simultaneous plan for disposing of the overload in the safest way possible. A sharp increase in additional packaging needs for delivery of goods for ensuring safety from the pandemic may also become problematic in near future.

India’s economy seems to be going out of control under the pressure of the virulent expansion of Covid-19. What else can explain the rapid fall in industrial production and massive jump of wholesale and retail prices in the last three months? Partial lockdowns are back in various states. More areas are being brought under ‘containment zones’. A situation of ‘medical emergency’ has unsettled everyone’s mind. Lately, the daily Covid infection count covers around 350,000 people, a world record. Jobless and homeless migrant workers are once again rushing back home from seriously virus-hit states such as Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat and Punjab. The transportation system, both local and inter-state, is showing the signs of a major breakdown as the virus expansion continues to worsen. Several international airlines and airports have temporarily ‘blocked’ India. Domestic airlines have cut down services for want of passengers. Some political parties in West Bengal hold the on-going election campaign responsible for the viral spike in the state. But, that may be only partly true. Most states showing more rapid coronavirus expansion are outside the current assembly election schedule.

There was sudden and motivated surge in reported cases of suspected infection of the corona virus in mid March two weeks before the year end to the lock down imposed on March 24, 2020 from the mid night. Many critics of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year for resorting to such an extreme measure even before the impact of corona pandemic was discernible in India were now suggesting another long spell of the lock down until danger of the pandemic subsides completely. But bitter experience of the long spell of stoppage of all public and private economic and professional activities and strangle hold over the social and cultural exchanges or a year long duration made NaMo not to go in for second spell of the lock down.

New Delhi: Hockey India on Saturday mourned the death of former international umpire Suresh Kumar Thakur.

Hospitals are overwhelmed across India. Neither there are beds available in hospitals for patients, nor is space available in crematorium or graveyards. Patients and bodies are making long queues to be admitted. There is acute shortage of medicines, oxygen, healthcare personnel and resources to dispose of the dead. The hell of India seems to have been created in which we have been witnessing the horrifying daily records of new patients and deaths, which reached a new peak of 3.46 lakhs cases of new COVID-19 infection and over 2624 deaths in a single day. If RBI assessment is to be relied upon, this second wave will be at its peak sometime at the end of third week of May. India may soon find bodies strewn on the streets.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the covid situation getting worse, the Kerala Government has imposed stricter restrictions, even as it came down heavily on the Centre’s vaccination policy which it feels is fundamentally flawed and highly discriminatory.

The elections in Assam were completed on April 6 and the results will be out on May 2 — as elections are still not over in neighbouring West Bengal. The people of the state — and also the country — are anxiously waiting for the results.