THE crisis that has gripped the Supreme Court in recent times has been further aggravated by the way in which the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and the Supreme Court have handled the accusation of sexual harassment leveled against the CJI himself in a written complaint made by a former Supreme Court employee, copies of which were given to all members of the Court. As a consequence, every effort should have been made to ensure complete transparency in the matter. But this was precisely what was not done.

PRAGYA Singh Thakur’s nomination as the BJP candidate from Bhopal constituency marks a significant and ominous moment in the 17th Lok Sabha election. This decision of the BJP is a declaration of its real platform for this election – an unapologetic hardline Hindutva with all its negative implications. 

THE Modi government has enlisted one more government agency illegally to serve its partisan political purpose during the elections. The Income Tax department has been unleashed on opposition political parties and their leaders. The last fortnight has seen a series of raids by IT authorities on leaders of political parties, ministers in non-BJP state governments, businessmen associated with these parties and key aides of chief ministers and ministers in non-BJP state governments.

THE acquittal of Aseemanand (real name Naba Kumar Sarkar) and three others in the Samjhauta train blast case is a shameful reminder that the criminal justice system in India is incapable of bringing terrorists of the extremist Hindutva variety to justice for their crimes.

Between 2006 and 2008, there were six terrorist incidents perpetrated by a network of extreme Hindutva groups.  Aseemanand, Pragya Thakur and Lt. Colonel Shrikant Purohit were the prominent conspirators amongst them.

THE 17th Lok Sabha election, the notification for which has been issued, is going to be the most consequential election in the history of independent India.  Much is at stake.  This election will have a bearing on the future of the secular-democratic Republic as enshrined in the Constitution.

Five years of Modi rule have already weakened and eroded the basic principles on which the Constitution rests. An authoritarian Hindutva State looms ahead if the BJP succeeds in coming back to power.