Human Error
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has coined an interesting term for the infighting within the Congress. Speaking to Vir Sanghvi in one of his first interviews after taking office, he admitted that the Congress had lost around 20 seats due to wrong ticket distribution. Only he called this “human error”. Not too difficult to guess which specific human he holds responsible for this error!
Ball in the Court
The role of the Supreme Court is coming into prominence once again with some of its recent high profile hearings. But the SC has drawn its own boundaries. Recently, the court refused to give an urgent hearing to a case that sought to define the word “Hindutva”. As the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi stated, the court has its own priorities and will hear the matter “when we have time”.
User Word: Development
The Narendra Modi government has given high priority to the Ardh Kumbh Mela taking place this year. This has led the Opposition to remark that the BJP is doing this to reassure its Hindutva vote bank, especially since it couldn’t deliver on the Ram Mandir. When asked about this, UP Cabinet minister and government spokesman, Siddharth Nath Singh simply stated on NewsX: “Kumbh means Hindutva and Hindutva means development.” Make what you will out of this, but the Congress has coined an interesting rebuttal claiming that for the BJP “development” may be the user word, but the password is Hindutva.
Let the Games Begin
With the rise of regional forces, there is some speculation as to whether all the state based parties can get together to form the next government. According to BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal, non BJP and non Congress parties have never managed to get 272 seats in the past. He said this on NewsX’s Roundtable show. Hearing this, BJD’s Kalikesh Singh Deo shot back, stating, “Don’t be too sure about it in these elections.” And so the games for E 2019 have begun.
Freedom After Speech
It was Fali Nariman who stated that “freedom after speech is really what freedom is all about”. Our politicians should bear this in mind. At a book release function, a Cabinet minister was recently asked by a member of the audience to comment on the atmosphere of intolerance and intimidation. The minister heard the long-winded question and then said sharply, “The fact that you can look me in the eye and ask this question itself means that there is a lot of tolerance in this government. So sit down.” There you go!