Above the Fold: Top stories of the day
1. The Delhi Police Special Cell, as always, is caught up in a controversy after the encounter of a "wanted" businessman in central Delhi has brought up more questions than answers.
2. The Indian Express investigation into the Seshachalam encounter continues with photos that show victims were likely to have been tortured first instead of just gunned down as police claimed.
2. The Mumbai Indians beat the Chennai Super Kings to win a place in the Indian Premier League's finals.
The Big Story: NDA's media blitzkrieg
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government approaches it's one-year mark, it is set to do what Modi, as a candidate, was always best at: garner publicity. The government has planned an all-out offensive, with up to 30 press conferences planned with union ministers over the next fortnight, and a clear set of talking points to put across to the people. The government is insistent about not getting caught in the United Progressive Alliance's trap of not being able to control the narrative, and has decided to address this problem by throwing the kitchen sink at it.
Although they aren't out yet, the slogans being bandied around are "Modi Sarkar, Vikaas Lagataar," "Saal ek, kaam anek" and other similar coinages, some of which act as callbacks to the exceedingly popular Ab ki Baar Modi Sarkar tagline. Senior ministers are expected to hold at least 250 public meetings and each of the BJP Members of Parliament have been asked to hold at least one rally in their constituency.
The government will also be advertising in print and on TV, with Modi set to do what he loves most: speak in front of a large crowd, this time at the birthplace of Deendayal Upadhyay, one of the intellectual founders of the party that would become the BJP. Interviews with the ministers are already all over the newspapers.
Modi himself will not be answering questions from the media, as far as we know.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Over the last year, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi have dismantled the BJP's institutions that until now had fostered collective decision making.
To get Scroll's Daily Fix, a compendium of all you need to know for the day (and a little more) on your phone, download our Android app.
Politicking & Policying
1. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a trade union affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has decided to join in with other trade unions to protest against the government's economic policies on May 26. And to fight the RSS' diktat not to join the strike, the BMS has simply told government ministers they should "ask their wives about the reality of prices."
2. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah gives a long, mostly boring interview to the Times of India, including this talking point that has been going around that would probably hold true for the first year of the United Progressive Alliance's tenure: "Not a single scam has happened during our first year. This shows that there's no corruption."
3. The government is looking at exempting interest earned on gold deposits from income, wealth or capital gains tax to help monetise India's massive gold savings.
4. The Telegraph reports on May 19 going down as the "first bad Twitter day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," covering #ModiInsultsIndia which curiously doesn't appear in most other newspapers.
Giggle
Punditry
1. A leader in the Business Standard points out the risk of preparing a 'Doing Business Index' for Indian states, if it isn't conducted in a rigorous manner.
2. The present government outstrips all previous ones in its complete contempt for scholars and scholarship, writes Ramachandra Guha in the Indian Express.
3. Indrajeet Hazra in the Economic Times points out how clever it is for the Modi government to send its ministers out to press conferences on the one year anniversary – "by letting his ministerial birds chirp... Modi could have finally found what this government was lacking: canaries to be used in a difficult mineshaft."
4. MJ Antony, in the Business Standard, makes it clear that the executive-judiciary faceoff isn't just happening over the National Judicial Appointments Commission. The establishment of tribunals has also seen a fightback from the judiciary.
5. KP Nayar in the Telegraph, reminds us that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is visiting South Africa and calls on her to stop the tendency to use the Mahatma as a cipher for all conversations between the two countries.
Don't Miss
TR Vivek writes about the legacy of SV Raju, a champion of free market ideas through India's socialist era.
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1. The Delhi Police Special Cell, as always, is caught up in a controversy after the encounter of a "wanted" businessman in central Delhi has brought up more questions than answers.
2. The Indian Express investigation into the Seshachalam encounter continues with photos that show victims were likely to have been tortured first instead of just gunned down as police claimed.
2. The Mumbai Indians beat the Chennai Super Kings to win a place in the Indian Premier League's finals.
The Big Story: NDA's media blitzkrieg
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government approaches it's one-year mark, it is set to do what Modi, as a candidate, was always best at: garner publicity. The government has planned an all-out offensive, with up to 30 press conferences planned with union ministers over the next fortnight, and a clear set of talking points to put across to the people. The government is insistent about not getting caught in the United Progressive Alliance's trap of not being able to control the narrative, and has decided to address this problem by throwing the kitchen sink at it.
Although they aren't out yet, the slogans being bandied around are "Modi Sarkar, Vikaas Lagataar," "Saal ek, kaam anek" and other similar coinages, some of which act as callbacks to the exceedingly popular Ab ki Baar Modi Sarkar tagline. Senior ministers are expected to hold at least 250 public meetings and each of the BJP Members of Parliament have been asked to hold at least one rally in their constituency.
The government will also be advertising in print and on TV, with Modi set to do what he loves most: speak in front of a large crowd, this time at the birthplace of Deendayal Upadhyay, one of the intellectual founders of the party that would become the BJP. Interviews with the ministers are already all over the newspapers.
Modi himself will not be answering questions from the media, as far as we know.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Over the last year, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi have dismantled the BJP's institutions that until now had fostered collective decision making.
To get Scroll's Daily Fix, a compendium of all you need to know for the day (and a little more) on your phone, download our Android app.
Politicking & Policying
1. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a trade union affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has decided to join in with other trade unions to protest against the government's economic policies on May 26. And to fight the RSS' diktat not to join the strike, the BMS has simply told government ministers they should "ask their wives about the reality of prices."
2. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah gives a long, mostly boring interview to the Times of India, including this talking point that has been going around that would probably hold true for the first year of the United Progressive Alliance's tenure: "Not a single scam has happened during our first year. This shows that there's no corruption."
3. The government is looking at exempting interest earned on gold deposits from income, wealth or capital gains tax to help monetise India's massive gold savings.
4. The Telegraph reports on May 19 going down as the "first bad Twitter day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," covering #ModiInsultsIndia which curiously doesn't appear in most other newspapers.
Giggle
R Prasad's take on how #TamilNadu may get around the ban on #CM's face in government ads pic.twitter.com/FKu4tFoovE
— ET Politics (@ETPolitics) May 19, 2015Punditry
1. A leader in the Business Standard points out the risk of preparing a 'Doing Business Index' for Indian states, if it isn't conducted in a rigorous manner.
2. The present government outstrips all previous ones in its complete contempt for scholars and scholarship, writes Ramachandra Guha in the Indian Express.
3. Indrajeet Hazra in the Economic Times points out how clever it is for the Modi government to send its ministers out to press conferences on the one year anniversary – "by letting his ministerial birds chirp... Modi could have finally found what this government was lacking: canaries to be used in a difficult mineshaft."
4. MJ Antony, in the Business Standard, makes it clear that the executive-judiciary faceoff isn't just happening over the National Judicial Appointments Commission. The establishment of tribunals has also seen a fightback from the judiciary.
5. KP Nayar in the Telegraph, reminds us that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is visiting South Africa and calls on her to stop the tendency to use the Mahatma as a cipher for all conversations between the two countries.
Don't Miss
TR Vivek writes about the legacy of SV Raju, a champion of free market ideas through India's socialist era.
“Masani was flamboyant, Ranga one-dimensional, and Rajaji often cranky,” Jerry Rao said. “But Raju was the patient, hardworking backbone of the idea of Swatantra. People came and went. It was he who singlehandedly kept the flame alive. A hundred years from now when future historians assess and re-assess the quality of Freedom First’s editorials under Raju is when we will fully understand the man’s importance in India’s history.”.