Above the Fold: Top stories of the day
1. China's decision to block an Indian move in the United Nations calling for Pakistani action against jailed terrorist Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, prompted New Delhi to convey deep concern to Beijing.
2. Three bogies and the engine of a train that rains between Jharkhand and Bihar were derailed after Maoists triggered a blast on the railway tracks, though there has been no report of injuries.
3. The process to rewrite history textbooks for India's central curriculum has begun, amid fears that the texts will be saffronized.
The Big Story: Voice of Dissent
The first bit of internal criticism also came from a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament, via a tweet using the #AsteenKaSaanp (snake in the grass) hashtag. Now former home secretary and fellow BJP MP RK Singh has questioned the propriety of helping Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi, who is also accused of money laundering in India, get travel documents.
"It is absolutely wrong to help a fugitive," Singh said. "If anybody helps a bhagoda [fugitive] it is wrong." Although Singh didn't make any specific references to either External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, it is evident that the remarks were directed at them, primarily because these two fellow party members have been accused of helping a "bhagoda".
The comments come just as it seemed that the BJP had come to some sort of arrangement to defend both Swaraj and Raje, with President Amit Shah taking the lead on supporting Swaraj and Union minister Nitin Gadkari speaking out on behalf of Raje. After a week in which it seemed that the two might have to step down, it looked like their jobs had become safe. Now with Singh's comments, this presumption that the BJP will come together to defend both might be misguided.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Is the BJP defending Vasundhara Raje only because it's afraid of what would happen without her?
Politickng & Policying
1. The government of Karnataka has moved an appeal in the Supreme Court over the acquittal of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who was let off on charges of having disproportionate assets. The appeal calls the acquittal a gross miscarriage of justice, particularly because of alleged mathematical errors in it.
2. Cables released by Wikileaks reveal that the Saudis were afraid of growing Irani influence in India, and wanted to counter it by establishing more Salafi centres.
3. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's decision to defend a meeting between Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria has raised eyebrows.
4. Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Abhisekh Banerjee, nephew to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had a First Information Report filed against him after threatening to gouge out the eyes and chop off the hands of anyone who challenges the TMC government.
Punditry
1. Ramachandra Guha in the Indian Express writes of the enduring legacy of the Emergency: the cult of the supreme politician bigger than party or nation.
2. The government's decision to give a tax rebate to those using debit or credit card transactions, while well-intentioned, could easily go wrong, writes AK Bhattacharyya in the Business Standard.
3. Biraj Patnaik in the Hindu writes that the Bharatiya Janata Party is bleeding the National Food Security Act with a thousand cuts.
4. The drawbacks of the collegium system of picking judges don't automatically make the National Judicial Appointments Commission a better option, writes Gyanant Singh in Mail Today.
Don't Miss
Sriram Karri writes about how Hyderabad cafes made a Muharram dish, haleem, synonymous with Ramzan.
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1. China's decision to block an Indian move in the United Nations calling for Pakistani action against jailed terrorist Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, prompted New Delhi to convey deep concern to Beijing.
2. Three bogies and the engine of a train that rains between Jharkhand and Bihar were derailed after Maoists triggered a blast on the railway tracks, though there has been no report of injuries.
3. The process to rewrite history textbooks for India's central curriculum has begun, amid fears that the texts will be saffronized.
The Big Story: Voice of Dissent
The first bit of internal criticism also came from a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament, via a tweet using the #AsteenKaSaanp (snake in the grass) hashtag. Now former home secretary and fellow BJP MP RK Singh has questioned the propriety of helping Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi, who is also accused of money laundering in India, get travel documents.
"It is absolutely wrong to help a fugitive," Singh said. "If anybody helps a bhagoda [fugitive] it is wrong." Although Singh didn't make any specific references to either External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, it is evident that the remarks were directed at them, primarily because these two fellow party members have been accused of helping a "bhagoda".
The comments come just as it seemed that the BJP had come to some sort of arrangement to defend both Swaraj and Raje, with President Amit Shah taking the lead on supporting Swaraj and Union minister Nitin Gadkari speaking out on behalf of Raje. After a week in which it seemed that the two might have to step down, it looked like their jobs had become safe. Now with Singh's comments, this presumption that the BJP will come together to defend both might be misguided.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Is the BJP defending Vasundhara Raje only because it's afraid of what would happen without her?
Politickng & Policying
1. The government of Karnataka has moved an appeal in the Supreme Court over the acquittal of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who was let off on charges of having disproportionate assets. The appeal calls the acquittal a gross miscarriage of justice, particularly because of alleged mathematical errors in it.
2. Cables released by Wikileaks reveal that the Saudis were afraid of growing Irani influence in India, and wanted to counter it by establishing more Salafi centres.
3. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's decision to defend a meeting between Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria has raised eyebrows.
4. Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Abhisekh Banerjee, nephew to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had a First Information Report filed against him after threatening to gouge out the eyes and chop off the hands of anyone who challenges the TMC government.
Punditry
1. Ramachandra Guha in the Indian Express writes of the enduring legacy of the Emergency: the cult of the supreme politician bigger than party or nation.
2. The government's decision to give a tax rebate to those using debit or credit card transactions, while well-intentioned, could easily go wrong, writes AK Bhattacharyya in the Business Standard.
3. Biraj Patnaik in the Hindu writes that the Bharatiya Janata Party is bleeding the National Food Security Act with a thousand cuts.
4. The drawbacks of the collegium system of picking judges don't automatically make the National Judicial Appointments Commission a better option, writes Gyanant Singh in Mail Today.
Don't Miss
Sriram Karri writes about how Hyderabad cafes made a Muharram dish, haleem, synonymous with Ramzan.
The haleem as a Ramzan dish is not really an old tradition, says Farhan – it has been there only for a couple of decades. It was the changing lifestyle and economic growth of the city that put pressure on the city’s Irani cafes and they went searching for alternatives. And so the haleem moved from Muharram to Ramzan, giving the outlets a month of assured business.
