By Sidharth Mishra

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the home state of Gujarat definitely underlined the fact that he is rattled by poor state of economy and administration. Not that I seek to write a treatise on how BJP could lose in Gujarat in the upcoming assembly polls, on the contrary the Prime Minister’s personal push could actually see his party pass the finishing line ahead of the Congress for the fifth time in the row. But then as mentioned, it has to be Narendra Modi’s personal push which would see the party through as the present BJP chief minister Vijay Rupani emerges almost as a non-entity in the Google search. Its important for the Prime Minister to win Gujarat to retain his stranglehold over the party as next year states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan go to polls, where the reigning chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje have been leaders in their own right much before Modi rose on the national stage.

By Sidharth Mishra

In the midst of the dynasts as leader debate, Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot, himself belonging to a dynasty, announced that Rahul Gandhi was all set to take over as the party president after Diwali. This is not the first time that one has heard about the anointment of the heir as the king. Unfortunately on all the previous occasions of proposed coronations, debacles in state assembly polls have delayed the process. There is, however, no denying the fact that the mirage of “Rahul Gandhi as young and youthful leader waiting in wings to take over” have kept the Congress workers somewhat afloat and given them some hope despite very depressing political environment. Gandhi has been lately on a trip, including tours abroad, to refurbish his image ahead of another proposed coronation. But has these attempts at image management really helped? One doubts. In his farewell speech in Lok Sabha during last Budget session, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had made a very pertinent political observation about Rahul Gandhi. Yogi had said that he was a year older than his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav and a year younger to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

By Sidharth Mishra

We are in the midst of the festive season. The west has had its fill in Ganesha and the Navratra-Dandiya, the south has had its share of Onam and Dusshera, the east has celebrated the Durga Puja and the festivities in the north would reach its crescendo with Diwali. Ever since the opening of the economy in the 1990s, these festivals have also come to be about shopping and aggressive trade. With technology bringing in online traders, the courier boys with huge Santa Claus like bags are common feature in urban areas. These modern day Santas, unlike the original, however, often are of rickety frames. The shadow of these Santas, burdened by the huge bags, replicate the state of our economy. Amidst the loud talk of the country being feted with end number of government schemes, the fact of the matter is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being questioned – when would the ache din (good days) come?

By Sidharth Mishra

Its Puja time and it’s unfortunate that the celebrations should get mired into a controversy on when to immerse the idol of the Goddess. For us in Delhi, the matter may have got rested with the Kolkata High Court decree and the executive order of the Mamata Banerjee government which followed. But people’s sentiments on such matters of faith do not necessarily ebb and soar with court decrees and executive orders. They become part of the folklore and leave indelible mark on the local psyche.    To buttress my point, let me recall the 1989 Lok Sabha polls, which had come with an unusual dichotomy in the voters’ mood. While there was unanimity in their anger towards the Congress, led by Rajiv Gandhi, the reason for anger varied from region to region. By 1987-88, the mammoth mandate which Gandhi had received in December 1984 had started to erode, at least in public appreciation if not in the numbers inside Parliament. His Finance and later Defence Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh had walked out on the issue of probity in public life.

By Sidharth Mishra

Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) election results declared last week created some stiron the campus but not the way as it got projected in the media. Party spokespersons and analysts went to the extent of declaring it as a referendum on the performance of the Narendra Modi government and a signal for the return of the Congress to power. Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken expectedly gave credit to his leader Rahul Gandhi but overdid the act saying that Congress vice-president’s speech at University of Columbia, Berkley changed situation overnight.A veteran Delhi Congress worker justified the “courtier’s quote” saying what else could made Congress jump from nowhere (it figured below the NOTA votes in the JNUSU polls a few days earlier) to clinching top two positions in DUSU. First JNU and DUSU are very different, while former largely has the post-graduates and research scholars participating in the polls, DUSU is more about under-graduates participating in a more brusque process.

By Sidharth Mishra

The murder of Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru earlier this week and the scavenging by the political parties over her death is one of the saddest events that I have witnessed in quarter of a century as a reporter. Early in my career, I had felt very peeved covering the funeral of Indian Air Force helicopter pilots killed during the Kargil conflict at Sarsawa air base. The cause for feeling peeved was not the war but the way a colleague from television had forced the toddler of the dead soldier pose with his father’s coffin. A thought had then occurred to me, will those in the business of news prey on the dead. The advent of social media has made it worse; the death of a newsperson is being preyed on.What is not being discussed is the sensational manner in which Gauri was gunned down but what is being addressed is what she spoke before her death, and what others spoke after her death. Having started my career as a crime reporter, I have in the past three days yearned to read a report on the crime scene description; what I have got in bargain is clatter of the war-mongers on the twitter. 

By Sidharth Mishra

When news the broke out last week about Chapra MP Rajiv Pratap Rudi being asked to resign from the Union Cabinet, memory of a similar exercise came rushing back. In 1986, then all powerful Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had undertaken a similar application – carrying out a reshuffle and asking his non-performing ministers to quit.Though Rajiv Gandhi commanded much larger a majority in Parliament (support of over 400 Lok Sabha members), but he wasn’t as tough, or should we say wise, a politician as present Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rajiv Gandhi had his hatchet man Arun Nehru ready for the job, the kind of role which Amit Shah plays. But there was difference, Shah holds position of party head and thus can summon a party Minister. Nehru was designated just a Minister of State, not even a Cabinet rank. 

By Sidharth Mishra

Let me start with a disclaimer that this article doesn’t purport to be in the defence of such acts indulged into by cult leaders which demands judicial and social reprimand. With Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of DeraSachaSauda sentenced to 20 years in jail, the narrative on the television in the 48 hours shifted to the to more ‘juicy’ tales of who would succeed Baba and inherit the financial and spiritual legacy. The incident in Panckula last Friday, which left several dead in police action stood as an evidence of the faith people had in their ‘Baba’, which raised queries in the urban drawing rooms, what made people get drawn to him in the first place.The hesitation and inhibition which ManoharLalKhattar government showed in using the iron hand against, whom some called marauders must not have been without merit and not just the simple concern for a vote bank.