Rahul Gandhi slams mob lynchings and attacks on Dalits; BJP hits back

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said mob lynchings and attacks on Dalits and minorities reflected the anger that currently pervaded India’s society because of growing joblessness and the Narendra Modi government taking away protections provided to the country’s poor. He said the Modi government’s demonetisation and poorly implemented goods and services tax (GST) have destroyed the informal economy and killed jobs in the small and medium businesses, which contributed to this anger.

Addressing a gathering at the Bucerius Summer School at Hamburg in Germany, of which Rahul Gandhi is an alumnus, the Congress president pointed to the example of the rise of the Islamic State, in Iraq and Syria to caution that excluding a large number of people from the development process could lead to creation of insurgent groups anywhere in the world.

BJP no longer 'big brother'? Nitish Kumar, Bihar allies become assertive

After Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) recent bypoll defeats across the country and its own loss in Jokihat, the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), may be trying to project itself as more than just the saffron party's junior partner in Bihar with a senior party leader stating that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was the face of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state.

"Nitish Kumar is the face of the NDA in Bihar, that is why he is the chief minister. JD(U) is the largest constituent of the coalition," party National Secretary Pavan Varma said after the JD(U) core committee meet in Patna on Sunday. (Read more here)

Party spokesperson Ajay Alok also spoke on similar lines after the meet. "Nitish Kumar is the face of NDA alliance in Bihar," he said.

Last week, the Rashtriya Janata Dal wrested the Jokihat Assembly seat from the JD(U) and registered victory by a huge margin of over 41,000 votes.

JD(U) appears to have changed the way it deals with the BJP as the party has recently attacked the Centre on several issues.

After Adityanath's slaughter house ban, women police battalions for UP?

With Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath handing over the BJP manifesto (Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra) to bureaucrats to be implemented over the next five years, there may be many more surprises in store in the times to come.One of the first things his government did after being sworn in was to declare a ban illegal slaughter houses.

One of the other things in the BJP’s manifesto that was handed over to the state’s top bureaucrats  is a proposal to raise women police battalions across the state. These women battalions are to be christened as Jhalkari Bai battalion, Uda Devi battalion and Avanti Bai battalion. All three women soldiers were part of separate rebellions against the British empire in what is called the Great Indian Revolt of 1857.

Hindi poet Srikrishna Sarala describes Jhalkari Devi in Volume 1 of his five-volume series chronicling Indian revolutionaries between 1751 to 1961 as the soldier who fought disguised as Lakshmibai, the queen of Jhansi against the British. Raising these three battalions named after Dalit women soldiers would also signal an acknowledgment to the Dalit community in the state. All three women soldiers were Dalits. (TO BE CONTINUED)