THE CPI(M) and the Left fared badly in the Lok Sabha elections. The Party could win only nine seats and polled 3.25 per cent of the votes contesting 93 seats. Apart from this, two independents supported by the Party and the LDF won the election from Kerala. With the CPI winning one seat, the total tally of the Left is only 12.

CALLING for a review of all saffron terror cases, Indresh Kumar, an important RSS leader who was interrogated for his suspected involvement in the Mecca Masjid blast case, told The Indian Express on May 24, 2014 that “The election results have come as second freedom; this freedom we have got from our own people. Digvijaya Singh and Manish Tewari (Congress leaders --- Ed) must realise that they do not have any right to spoil anybody’s life. These leaders and these agencies must apologise publicly.”

THE corporate magnates who have financed Narendra Modi’s election campaign (the money spent by him on media promotion alone is estimated to be Rs 5,000 crore) are now getting ready to claim their booty. This consists not only in the direct gains they demand, but also, additionally, in the rolling back of the few relief measures for the poor, such as the MGNREGS, which had been implemented especially during the UPA-I under Left pressure, and which cannot compensate in any case for the damage done to their living conditions by the current inflationary recession.

THE last phase of the Lok Sabha election which will conclude on May 12 has brought forth certain disturbing features. First, the communal temperature has been rising with the concerted communal campaign being conducted by the BJP and the RSS, which is especially concentrated in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.