MANIPUR burning has become emblematic of the divisive politics of the BJP in the North East.  Only four months ago, in February, Narendra Modi had crowed about the success of the BJP in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland elections in the North East. He claimed Christians in the North East are accepting the BJP. It is seven weeks now since violence erupted in Manipur on May 3.  Armed clashes, killings and arson attacks have ravaged the state. Hundreds of houses, around 200 churches and 17 temples have been burnt.

THE true meaning of ‘Amrit Kaal’ is unfolding with the relentless attacks on the Muslim minorities accompanied by hate speech and glorification of Gandhiji’s killer, Godse. In Maharashtra, the Shinde-BJP government has gone on a spree of renaming cities which have Muslim names. Aurangabad has become Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Osmanabad is now Dharashiv, Ahmednagar district has been declared to be Ahilyabai Holkar Nagar. These changes were accompanied by majoritarian triumphalism and the demonising of Muslim rulers and historical figures.

TWENTY opposition parties had boycotted the inauguration of the new parliament building on May 28 on the grounds that the Modi government had bypassed the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, who is the head of the state as well as and head of parliament and decided that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new parliament. This constitutional impropriety of imposing the head of the executive over parliament was a legitimate reason for the opposition protest.But what actually unfolded on the inauguration day only reinforced the decision of the opposition to stay away.

THE Quad, consisting of four countries, the United States, Japan, Australia and India is gradually taking the shape of a security alliance which was the intent of the original name of the grouping – the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.The security angle was highlighted by the recent meeting of the military chiefs of the four Quad members held in Sunnylands in California on May 15-17, the Indian Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan attended the meeting.

THE Karnataka assembly election has a special importance in the present conjuncture.  For the BJP, in its quest for overall political dominance, retaining this southern state is vital for its ambition to spread its influence in other southern states.With the election campaign at its peak, by all accounts, the BJP is facing rough weather with widespread anti-incumbency and popular discontent over rampant corruption, price rise, unemployment and farmers’ distress.The BJP had formed the government in July 2019 after toppling the Congress-JD(S) coalition government by organising defections thro