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Changing names is a national pursuit. Shopkeepers and restaurateurs have been routinely using certain namesakes for their businesses to make a killing during key seasons. At another level, the romantics have been faking monikers for the easy access it gave them into lonely hearts. That this pursuit has been called ‘Love Jihad’ is hotly contested as the central government says it doesn’t recognize ‘Love Jihad’, the same central government that is run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, earlier called the “Modi Government” but now with the name-changed out of coalition-compulsion into “NDA Government”. Some UP politicians even spoke of “Vote Jihad” right now, politics is being played in the name of 'Naam Batao' in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Any lingering doubts on who is in control in Uttar Pradesh went out the window the minute Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath disregarded all opposition to the restrictions placed on eateries along Kanwar Yatra routes, including the objections from NDA allies JD-U and the RLD, and ordered that the advisory asking eateries along ‘Kanwar routes’ to display name-plates with "true names" has been extended to the entire state of Uttar Pradesh. No sooner this was announced, neighbouring BJP-ruled Uttarakhand also followed suit!

Senior BJP leaders engaging in solecism in Uttar Pradesh and Bengal certainly can not be described as factional feud. Instead it unravels the contagious malaise that afflicts the party, endangering its current level of functioning. It may sound to be baloney, but the party imbibing the Hindutva cause has never been faced with this nature of crisis; emergence of rebellion against the top leadership of the party. There is no doubt it has deeper and wider implication and dynamics than it appears to be. It ought to be not forgotten that these two states had played crucial role in defeating Narendra Modi and shattering the myth of his “Modi’s Guarantees”.

Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a political heat soaring fast on communal lines. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has issued a new order on Friday, July 19, 2024 for eateries on the route of Kanwar Yatras in the Hindu religious month of Shravan beginning from July 22 this year, to display the names of their owners, only a day after Muzaffarnagar Police had to modify such an order after a backlash to just an appeal urging “voluntarily display”.

Only four days are left for the presentation of the first budget of the Narendra Modi 3.0 government on July 23. The fundamentals of the economy are currently strong, but the distress areas include the huge unemployment problem with the educated youth and the women feeling the intensity of the distress most. The number of billionaires has gone up in great speed while the real wages of the workers and the rural poor have declined. In sum, there has been growth in the Indian economy under the ten year rule of the NDA led Narendra Modi government with lack of social justice and widening of inequalities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Moscow on July 9-10 saw the revival of the annual summit meetings between the leaders of India and Russia. The last summit had been held in 2021 when President Putin visited Delhi. The visit has resulted in further strengthening the strategic partnership between India and Russia.

By initiating a veiled attack on BJP’s central leadership and Uttar Pradesh party leaders of his opposing group on Sunday in BJP’s State Executive meet, Yogi Adityanath has himself unwittingly chosen with arrogance a path that will eventually cross through a litmus test soon, when byelection to the 10 legislative seats is held, the result of which will decide his fate as Chief Minister of the state.

In Nepal, a new government under CPN-UML leader KP Sharma Oli has assumed power. Oli is set to seek a vote of confidence on July 21 in the parliament. Together, the coalition of CPN UML and Nepali Congress holds a comfortable majority with a combined total of 167 seats in the lower house, surpassing the required threshold of 138 seats. This makes Oli's confidence vote a seemingly straightforward process.

The subordinate judiciary established by the Constitution plays a crucial role in ensuring justice for all citizens and attaining the main objectives stated in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. The subordinate judiciary is indispensable as the primary fact-finder and essential component in the execution of the fundamental constitutional principle of the rule of law and the administration of justice.

Will the Bharatiya Janata Party recover in time for the bypolls in Uttar Pradesh? July 18’s morning news reports said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya have been convinced to stop the squabbling and get ready for the bypolls in 10 assembly seats of which five are confirmed Samajwadi Party strongholds and the remaining five, the party of Yadavs is hungering to make a meal of.