News and Views

All speculations on whether or not Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be contesting this election came to an end when the Congress on Thursday, fielded Ajay Rai from Varanasi to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ending speculation on a possible blockbuster electoral duel between Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the PM in the temple town of Uttar Pradesh. But why did Congress not end the suspense right away?...

A photo of Rahul Gandhi standing in a sweet shop with a signboard behind him which reads "No credit will be accepted till Rahul Gandhi becomes Prime Minister" has resurfaced on social media. Here's a fact check on the photograph. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India is a richer nation today for knowing that its Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a mango lover. Indians, or those who watched his carefully constructed and faux casual conversation with Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, also know whether the prime minister prefers to use a fork for his mangoes or draws out the juicy flesh with his hands and mouth. Whoever thought that such edifying information would...

Since the infamous Saturday morning emergency hearing in the Supreme Court on an “issue of great public importance”, several legal and political commentators have raised noteworthy concerns over the apparent absence of due process, and the possiblity of abuse of the office of the Chief Justice of India. Another aspect of the Court’s approach that is disturbing is that, in its attempt to discredit...

The release on Sunday, 21 April, of a national security strategy document by the Congress party was, perhaps, inevitable – given the BJP’s decision to make national security its key re-election plan. A key element of the 44-page document entitled ‘India’s National Security Strategy’ (INSS) is the view that India must be prepared for unilateral, limited military actions against terror groups in Pak...

Avengers: Endgame releases on 26 April and for Marvel fans, it’s the end of an era. The film marks the end of phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and brings to a close a saga that was spread over 11 years and 22 films. So before the film hits theatres, here’s a quick recap of what has happened up till Avengers: Infinity War plus some interesting theories on what can we look forward to in Aven...

Akshay Kumar interviewed Prime Minister Modi. No wait, let me rephrase that. Akshay Kumar had an “informal chat” with Prime Minister Modi. An informal chat that lasted an hour and nine minutes, which was carried on nearly every news channel in the country. An “apolitical” conversation that comes bang in the middle of elections.  Today we’re looking at the “informal chat” that PM Modi had with Aksh...

In the aftermath of the bomb attacks that ripped through Sri Lanka over the weekend, a false post claiming that the country’s president has ordered all mosques and madrasas to be shut down is currently going viral on social media. Listen to the podcast now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last series of suicide attacks that occurred in Sri Lanka were by six Sea Tiger suicide boats across the Nandikadal lagoon on 17 May 2009. Two days later, the Sri Lankan Army’s 53 Infantry Division killed in the last single operation of the war, the LTTE’s dreaded and ‘invincible’ leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. With his end, Sri Lanka went delirious, celebrating through singing, dancing and f...

Though there has been some waffling about it lately, most pollsters have predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will end up with around 230 parliamentary seats on 23 May. This is also pretty much what most armchair psephologists have been predicting for the party. It may not be the poll winds alone that have led to this prediction. For, some had predicted a similar number for the BJP befo...

The Election Commission of India (EC) is using Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in polling booths to counter the controversy over the tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). On the Supreme Court’s order, the EC has been randomly verifying 5 VVPATs per constituency in the Lok Sabha elections. This was being done to restore voter confidence, but the petitions filed in the Telangana...

Sitting beside Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at a joint press conference in Tehran on 22 April, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan admitted that “Iran has suffered from terrorism, from groups operating within Pakistan”. He was on his first official visit to Iran and his primary publicly-stated objective was to address the issue of terrorism which was, he confessed, becoming a “divisive” factor...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 23 April, issued a notice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, in a contempt plea filed by Meenakshi Lekhi, against his “chowkidar chor hai” remarks on the Supreme Court's interim order on the Rafale deal. The apex court has decided to hear the Rafale review petition and the contempt petition filed by Lekhi together on Tuesday, 30 April. Meanwhile, as this happens, 117...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to advocate Utsav Bains, who has filed an affidavit in the court claiming that the sexual harassment allegations against Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi are part of an attempt to frame the CJI, asking him to appear before the court on Wednesday morning with material to back up certain claims made by him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...

This election season is witnessing an interesting paradox. This is primarily because there are two distinct narratives that are emerging from the public domain. It's however, not the regular Congress vs BJP or Modi vs Rahul narrative. So what are we talking about? The stark contrast between credible ground reportage versus the opinion polls that are doing the rounds on TV news. While the opinion p...

On Tuesday, as over 18 crore Indians go to polls in over 2 lakh booths across 117 constituencies spread over 14 states and Union territories in phase 3 of Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has been running 600 ads on Facebook targeted at those voting today. This not only amounts to a direct violation of the mandatory 48-hour ‘silence period’according to section 126 of the Representation of the People A...

A special hearing was convened by the Supreme Court on Saturday, 20 April, over safeguarding the independence of the judiciary following a complaint of sexual harassment against the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Undoubtedly, the matter required urgent attention but the court hereon has to be cautious not to proceed with the presumption that the complaint is false. It is not whether the allegations...

In case you missed it, a woman came forward with sexual harassment allegations against a powerful man, which included testimony about having dealt with intimidation tactics and criminal charges for months. Would you like to venture a guess as to who got vilified in the Supreme Court of India today? Who out of the two was publicly decried for threatening the sanctity of the institution? For more po...

A common, yet the most hushed-up aspect in the life of a PhD student in India, is the amount of intense stress, burn out, depression, insomnia and suicidal tendencies that a scholar undergoes. However, this is very much an open secret among both junior and senior academics in Indian research circles. This subject is usually brushed under the carpet for fear of backlash from academic guides, resear...

First the prophesy: it's a matter of time, before clamour to return to the paper ballot system becomes forceful again. An equally strong lobby however, citing multiple reasons – investments already made for 10.35 lakh EVMs, to how ridiculous India would look globally, for marching backwards on the highway of technological progress, etc. – will object to turning the clock back. After all, it is a d...

The EVM debate will go on forever, unless the Election Commission makes these black boxes transparent, and actually allows someone – including its sharpest critics – to tear them apart. Any machine can be prone to malfunction and error, and if these are being pointed out to the Election Commission, it should address them. Instead, the Election Commission has chosen to ignore legitimate concerns ra...

116 constituencies across 14 States and a Union Territory prepare to vote on 23 April, Tuesday. With phase 3, India will have voted for 302 seats in the Lok Sabha, well across the halfway mark. Overall voter turnout in Phase 1 and 2 of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections has seen little change from the 2014 elections. What does this mean for the BJP government at the Centre? While the election fever cont...

The clothes are distractingly good . And the jewellery well that’s tantalisingly beautiful. As for all the radiance on screen thanks to the excessive gorgeousness brought on my Alia Bhat, Aditya Roy Kapoor and Varun Dhawan - it only gets better . Abhishek Varman’s Kalank is beautiful ! It’s visually stunning but devastatingly boring! One could easily mistake the setting to be in contemporary fanta...

Campaigning for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections is officially over as 97 constituencies across 12 States and a Union Territory prepare to vote on 18 April, Thursday. The campaigning in Tamil Nadu ended on a bitter note with IT raids being conducted at residences of members of opposition parties. Coordinated raids have also been conducted by the IT department at premises owned by people...

Five years ago, almost to the date, I fought my first election. It was a life changing experience. And I’d gladly go back and do it again, even if the outcome remained the same. It was an impulsive decision, to be honest. The idea of AAP as ‘anti status quo-ists’ was something I believed in – and I had set aside time to campaign for some of their candidates like HS Phoolka, someone I’ve long admir...