By Sidharth Mishra

A few months back in this very column we had analysed the hot-button issue of statehood for Delhi becoming the centrifugal point of Centre-State relations in the coming months. Soon after he was anointed the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal in his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (the only one-to-one meeting between the two leaders so far) made it clear that the issue of statehood would be the fulcrum of the relationship between the Delhi state and Centre.
At that point of time, Delhi’s former finance secretary Shakti Sinha had a made a very pertinent observation about Delhi’s relationship with the Centre. In his remark, Sinha did not focus on the powers over Delhi Police but rather on the most pragmatic matter of funds which are needed to run the national Capital. Sinha had mentioned, “If Delhi lives within its means, it has unlimited fiscal autonomy, like any other state, but this state of affairs is dependent on its positive cash balance, which is fast drawing down. Once it tries to spend beyond its means, it loses that autonomy and becomes a subordinate office of the Home Ministry,

By Sidharth Mishra

The Monsoon session of the 16th Lok Sabha, which began yesterday is predicted to turn into another tumultuous session of Pandemonium, the parliament of the fallen angels. The ardent fans of John Milton would instantly know that the reference is to Paradise Lost. The Congress has made it amply clear that it was out to turn the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from that of leader of the Archangels into that of Lucifer, the spearhead of the fallen heroes.
The Congress leaders have made no bones about their monsoon session strategy, asserting that the rules of ethical debate were nullified when the BJP sat in the opposition and justified paralyzing the Parliament. In fact former HRD Minister Kapil Sibal was quick to remind his colleague on the bar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying that the “Top BJP leader used to say obstruction is part of parliamentary strategy.”
The continued deterioration in the quality of House proceedings and steady fall in quality of  parliamentary oration is best attributable to what  political scientists would like to classify as “pulp politics”. The term has been inspired by the 1994 Hollywood film Pulp Fiction, which had seven Oscar nominations.