Why the delay?
Why is the BJP delaying in announcing its new party chief? First, we were told that J.P. Nadda’s successor would be in place before the start of the monsoon session of Parliament. There was also talk of a comprehensive cabinet reshuffle along with setting up a new team at the party headquarters. But now we are told that the new date has been pushed back to sometime post the monsoon session, i.e., after August 21. What could be the delay because sources have said that the RSS is content to let Prime Minister Narendra Modi make the pick so long as the candidate is someone who has a good equation with the RSS as well. This includes most of the names doing the rounds. Then what could be the reason for the delay?
A Date to Remember
It has been 53 years since supercop Kiran Bedi was the first woman in India to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service in July 1972. The former Lt Governor of Puducherry posted an old picture of herself in uniform on social media last week to mark the anniversary of her joining and indeed it was a landmark moment for India. She was barely 23 years old then, but her fiercely independent streak was very much in place. When asked what kind of uniform she would like to wear, she replied “Same as the boys”. When asked what kind of training she would like to do, she replied, “same as the boys”. And that has been the norm ever since (at the time, the women in the constabulary wore sarees or salwar kameez and as mentioned earlier, there were no women officers before her). In fact, the officers who had to train her told her you have made our life easy as we don’t have to write new manuals and draft new procedures. Clearly, that was one of the first cracks in the glass ceiling. And certainly, this and many other anecdotes about her remarkable life makes one wonder if there is a biopic in the offing.
Opposition Strategy
The Opposition is working on its strategy to corner the government this monsoon session in Parliament. While the Congress is keen to raise questions about the intelligence failure in Pahalgam as well as Trump’s role in the ceasefire, some of the I.N.D.I.A bloc allies, specially the RJD and the TMC would rather focus on the voter list revision in Bihar. The government is also pleased with its move of sending multi-party delegations abroad as that has somewhat dented the Opposition attack, with some of its own members defending the government’s role during Operation Sindoor. While the Congress has distanced itself from Shashi Tharoor, what about the NCP, TMC and DMK that sent some of its tallest leaders in the delegations? These parties will have to nuance their criticism of the government during the debate in Parliament.
