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KOLKATA: West Bengal unit of CPI(M)'s organisational muscle has been weakening since 2011 after Trinamool Congress replaced it as the ruling dispensation in the state through that year’s assembly elections. The party which had called Bangla Bandh often during its tenure against "step motherly attitude" of the Central Government; has not launched any major movement for over a decade, nether against the Trinamool government nor against the centre.

BHOPAL: Both Congress and BJP are facing major rift while trying to solve organizational matters. While former Congress Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh publicly stated that they are not at all consulted while decisions are taken about organization matters.

Voting is on February 5. Results will be declared on February 8. The BJP put out a poster within minutes of the announcement that Delhi will have a BJP Chief Minister by mid-February. But the BJP was beaten to the claim by AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar who asserted, even before the Election Commission announced the dates, that Delhi’s voters will vote to make Arvind Kejriwal Chief Minister for the fourth time, no worries.

The Draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications of Appointment & Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025 released by Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan paves the way for greater control of the Centre on Higher Education. It undermines not only the supremacy of the academicians as vice-chancellors of universities, but also worsen the service conditions of teachers by allowing their appointments on contracts in large numbers. Autonomous functioning of universities will be casualty and thereby the quality of higher education in the country.

The slump in India’s GDP growth rate is understandable. Contrary to the government claims, the job market is down. The income growth, in general, is shrinking. A vast section of consumers are not spending enough, except for wage goods or daily dire necessities, as their real income is not growing. The FMCG sector is struggling to raise turnover and profitability. For instance, the highest selling bathing soap segment has maintained a near constant price level for years at around Rs.10 each. Hindustan Unilever's (HUL) total income has increased linearly over the years. In the third quarter of 2024, HUL reported an Underlying Sales Growth (USG) of two percent and Underlying Volume Growth (UVG) of three percent.

National anthem controversy picked up by the Governor of Tamil Nadu is ominous for the state and the country as well. Moreover, his refusal to follow the tradition relating to recitation of India’s national anthem in the Legislative Assembly of the state is also unwise, since it may not serve any purpose to give an impression that the people and legislators of Tamil Nadu are anti-National. Governor R N Ravi himself had walked off from the assembly without waiting for the playing of the national anthem on February 12, 2024, but surprisingly walked off on January 6, 2025 alleging disrespect of national anthem in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

Playing the wronged man is Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal’s forte. Kejriwal is often heard reminding people he’s being targeted by the BJP for being ‘kattarimandar’ and ‘honest bloke Kejriwal' says the "BJP has crossed all limits of shamelessness..." after serial slanderer Ramesh Bidhuri’s utterly obnoxious remark on Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, who wasn’t missing her missing surname till Bidhuri reminded Atishi that she had a surname the last time she contested the Delhi assembly elections.

LUCKNOW: All is not well between BJP and coalition partners in Uttar Pradesh where Apna Dal and Nishad Party presidents expressed dissatisfaction on public platforms at the functioning of the Yogi Adityanath government.. Significantly ,Apna Dal (Sonelal Patel) leader and cabinet minister Ashish Patel publicly alleged threat to his life from STF (Special Task Force) of UP Police.

It is worth revisiting two judgments of the Supreme Court. A five-judge Bench has ruled in P. Ramachandra Rao versus State of Karnataka: “Courts can declare the law, they can interpret the law, they can remove obvious lacunae and fill the gaps but they cannot entrench upon in the field of legislation properly meant for the legislature.”

Nobody except Narendra Modi knows Narendra Modi well, better than others. Leaders of almost all the political parties, even his BJP colleagues, are mythically in a state of confusion whether Modi would renounce Nitish Kumar and impose president’s rule in Bihar or Nitish would emerge on the political scenario as his conscience keeper.