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Three political parties. Three sets of politicians. All three fighting for control of the warren called Delhi. Biting, sniping and snapping at each other's heels. Calling each other names. Enticing, inducing and bribing the voters with 'schemes'. Lying and casting aspersions at each other, this is democracy at play.

What is one to make of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s speech regarding the raking up of new temple/mosque disputes? In his speech in Pune on December 19, Bhagwat disapproved of the raking up of new temple/mosque disputes. He said that Ram temple was a matter of faith for Hindus. Construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya should not lead to further actions: “Every day, a new matter (dispute) is being raked up. How can this be allowed? This cannot continue”.

In 2024, India introduced a legal reform with the implementation of three new criminal laws, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BNA) (criminal laws) replacing the existing Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860; Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, respectively.

India’s National Human Rights Commission has been losing its global credibility very fast. Since June 1, 2024, the post of NHRC Chairperson has been lying vacant and its re-accreditation with the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) was deferred for 12 months, for a second consecutive year. Now, on December 23, the Union Government has announced the appointment of its Chairperson and other members, triggering a new controversy.

Perplexed with Amit Shah's statement on Dr Ambedkar in the Parliament, the drama created by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the entrance gate of the Parliament and later registering an FIR against Rahul Gandhi was a very low level and reprehensible act with the aim to divert the attention of the people. While there are CCTV cameras at every nook and corner in the premises of the Parliament, no CCTV footage of the incident has been shown that the BJP is clamouring for. This proves falsehood in the claim of the BJP against Rahul Gandhi.

RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat is desperate to fix the soup he has landed in. His advice to Hindu society to refrain from raking up temple-mosque is part of this course-correction exercise. While suggesting to neo-Hindutva crusaders to refrain from raking up such issues, Bhagwat also cautioned that nobody can become a "leader of Hindus" by continuing to "raise temple-mosque disputes.”

He was found dead in his cell in the prison where he was brought just two days before his exams started. The reports said he died of shock from multiple injuries. His fault was that he belonged to a Dalit family and wanted to be like Babasaheb Ambedkar. On December 10, when a desecrated copy of the Constitution was found near the statue of Dr Ambedkar, a protest was launched in Parbhani in Maharashtra. Police arrested indiscriminately.

Introduced in the 1960s, the yellow Ambassador taxis, which had come to be synonymous with Kolkata, are at the end of the road. Come March, 2025 most of this nearly 7,000 fleet will be off the road following a Supreme Court order of 2009 together with the fact that Ambassador cars have ceased to be produced.

On November 8, 2024, the Chhattisgarh government issued a gazette notification declaring the Moolvasi Bachao Manch (MBM) as an ‘unlawful organisation’ under its Special Public Security Act (CSPSA). Like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, the CSPSA empowers the government to proscribe organisations which, in its opinion, are engaged in unlawful activities.

It will be unfair to expect much from the new Reserve Bank governor, Sanjay Malhotra, a career bureaucrat and former revenue secretary, in terms of delivery of key functions of a central bank chief such as controlling inflation, stabilizing domestic currency, foreign exchange control and lifting economic growth. If three of his predecessors since 2014 – Raghuram Rajan, Urjit Patel, and Shaktikanta Das – were not able to deliver those objectives, there is little reason to expect that the performance of the present RBI governor will be much different.