The Latest: Top stories of the day
1. Despite orders from the Supreme Court to increase security, a violent mob nonetheless took control of the court complex hearing the Jawaharlal Nehru University sedition case.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Madhya Pradesh to announce a set of agricultural initiatives in the first of four rallies aimed squarely at farmers.
3. Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli arrives in India for his first international visit, after months of tension between New Delhi and Kathmandu because of the Madhesi agitation.

The Big Story: BJP's Bharat

The Delhi Police once again lost control of a high-profile court complex inside the supposedly secure Lutyens Bungalow Zone in New Delhi on Wednesday. Even members of a Supreme Court-appointed panel aimed at defusing tensions was unable to enter the complex without having things thrown at them. Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar had to hide inside the judge's chamber and eventually be disguised as a policeman so that he could safely be taken out of the courts to Tihar jail, where is being held in judicial custody.

The Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have woken up to the dangers, which it mostly dismissed in previous days, of mob violence starting to threaten its own nationalist narrative in the aftermath of the JNU sedition case. With the Supreme Court looking into the security of the court complex, minister and BJP leaders suddenly realised that they needed to condemn the violence against journalists in court.

The apparently hapless Delhi Police also seemed to shed its complacency, with the police chief calling for Kumar to "be given another chance" after he wrote an appeal reaffirming his commitment to the Constitution. Evidently, the BJP and the government have recognised that, along with the media, constantly whipping up public sentiment and insisting that our "blood is boiling" will lead to uncontrollable situations like the one at Patiala House, which were led by lawyers associated with the BJP.

The saffron party's student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, has managed to leverage this moment into one that polarises the nation, pitting deshbhakts (patriots) against deshdrohis (traitors). The expectation is that it might help consolidate support behind a government that is concerned about a weak economy and a stalled legislature. But as Patiala House Court has shown, playing with that sentiment could easily lead to a crisis of law and order that even the BJP will not be able to handle. Are the political gains – presumably, in the short term, polarisation in Uttar Pradesh as it faces elections, and a focus away from the economy – enough to justify playing with this sort of fire?

The Big Scroll:
Why isn't Rajnath Singh treating the mob violence in Delhi as a law and order crisis? Harsh Mander writes about how Kanhaiya Kumar is a role model for his passionate public positions. Keshava Guha suggests that if you care about press freedom, perhaps it’s time to boycott Arnab Goswami. And Mrinal Pande asks pseudo-patriots and pop-nationalists to stop their whataboutery.

Policying & Politicking
1. JNU row: Three leaders of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in JNU have resigned, citing overreach by the government in the current sedition case as well as that of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.
2. JNU row: The Trinamool Congress has remained silent over the course of the JNU agitation, in part because of the university's close associations with its political rivals, the Left parties.
3. JNU row: Attacks on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi grew, with a petition calling for sedition charges on him and members of his own party attempting to strike a more centrist note.
4. Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ram Madhav met People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, with the two set to relaunch their alliance in Jammu and Kashmir.
5. The government approved a pact with the World Health Organisation to push indigenous medical options, under the Ayush banner, globally.

Punditry
1. Ravish Kumar spoke to Newslaundry on the need for journalists to question the authorities.
2. Umar Khalid is no jihadi, writes Aditya Menon in Catch News, adding that the BJP is pushing him the Rohith Vemula way.
3. Archis Mohan in the Business Standard writes that the Sangh Parivar is helping the Congress and the Trinamool Congress win in Kerala and West Bengal, out of a desire to destroy the Left.

Don't Miss
Ipsita Chakravarty explains why thousands gathered at funerals in south Kashmir this week.

Mass gatherings at the funeral of militants have become increasingly common in south Kashmir over the last couple of years. They gathered in Tral last January, in Bijbehara and Kulgam last November and in Pulwama itself last month. People from the area say it is not out of support for the extremist outfits these men may have joined or for fundamentalist ideologies. Their reasons for sympathy lie elsewhere.