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One for the Arts

Sundeep Bhutoria, the managing trustee of the Prabha Khaitan Foundation, has written a letter to the Prime Minister appealing that arts and culture should be included in the Corporate Social Responsibility fund. Prior to the 2022 amendments, corporate India could invest its CSR funds sponsoring cultural activities and Bhutoria has asked that this be reinstated. The Kolkata based PK Foundation is a non profit organisation that promotes arts, culture and humanitarian causes. They hold literary and cultural events all over the country, especially in small towns, taking celebrities from Delhi and other metros to interact with Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. This sparks off what Bhutoria refers to as the “creative economy”, apart from providing a much needed cultural exchange. Bhutoria’s move has been welcomed by the arts and literary circle and one hopes the MPs will take up this cause when Parliament meets for the Budget session.

It’s now Rahul vs Modi

The first session of Parliament in Modi 3.0 saw some rules of engagement being laid. The first of course was Rahul Gandhi taking over the post of LoP and not appointing a nominee in his stead. This was an indication that he was going to lead from the front and take the Prime Minister straight on. So the optics of Rahul vs Modi that the Congress has been avoiding until now is now finally in play. The fact that Rahul opted for Rae Bareli and gave up Wayanad was also another indication that he now has skin in the game and wants to be much more than just a political tourist, For don’t forget that the LoP is also the opposition’s de facto candidate for Prime Minister. The fact that a major portion of the Prime Minister’s speech was directed against the newly minted LoP directly is also an indication that the treasury benches are no longer treating Rahul as a “Pappu” but taking him very seriously. This time round the jury is out as to whether who won the first face-off—Rahul or Modi. And this itself is a huge change from earlier assessments that usually gave the PM a walkover.

An energized opposition

It’s not just Rahul Gandhi but the entire opposition has become energized post the Lok Sabha polls. Some of the speeches made during the reply to the President’s address in Parliament are worth a mention. One who has been grabbing the headlines is Akhilesh Yadav, who has been punctuating the opposition’s attack with his trademark wit and earthy rhetoric. Such as when he told the Speaker that he hoped the Speaker would be running the House and not the other way around—a not so veiled hint at the fact that the treasury benches tend to dictate to the Speaker. The feisty TMC leader Mahua Moitra, who has returned with the public’s blessing, gave one of her famous speeches making a fine blend of fact and articulation while Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, who had emerged as one of the Congress party’s star speakers in the last session, kept up his track record. After a long time, one saw a spirited performance from the opposition benches.