Battle lines
The results of the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are being eagerly awaited by a large section of the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders. More than the performance of the party, the leaders are curious about how the central leadership will deal with the party's old guards — namely, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the incumbent chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje, the former CM of Rajasthan, and Raman Singh, the former CM of Chhattisgarh — in the three states. These three leaders have dominated the saffron party in their respective states for more than two decades but are now facing challenges from the current dispensation. There is a decisive move to edge them out and promote in their places a new set of loyal faces. The party leadership has not projected any CM candidate in the three polling states and has sought votes in the name of the prime minister, Narendra Modi. However, Shivraj and Vasundhara, in defiance of the party's narrative, ran parallel election campaigns projecting themselves as mascots. It remains to be seen whether they manage to secure their power or get pushed to the margins akin to what happened to many saffron leaders during the Atal-Advani era.
Blunt remark
Some may find it surprising but the fact is that a majority of the people who fall victim to hooch tragedies in 'dry' Bihar are either Dalits or hail from extremely backward castes. The phenomenon was observed in a couple of hooch tragedies that took place during the recent festive season. With the local administrations in denial mode, the families of the victims disposed of the bodies quickly out of fear of retribution from the State as well as the liquor mafia.
This, however, led to the former CM, Jitan Ram Manjhi, speaking up on the issue. Manjhi hails from the downtrodden Musahar caste. Questioning the Nitish Kumar government over the alcohol ban, Manjhi said: “Why are you distributing death to the Dalits little-by-little in the form of hooch? Just line them up like General Dyer and shoot them dead. If you cannot stop deaths due to poisonous liquor then what is the value of prohibition?”
Real threat
The Assam CM, Himanta Biswa Sarma, had reposted a video of a crowd shouting in support of Narendra Modi during an election campaign meeting that was addressed by the Rajasthan CM, Ashok Gehlot, in the state last week. Sarma, who is also the star campaigner of the BJP in Rajasthan, proudly asserted that Modi is coming back to power in the state that is known for changing its government every five years. Little did he know that the video he reposted was a deepfake. He was called out by the fact-checker, Mohammed Zubair.
Ironically, this came less than a week after Modi voiced his concerns over the rise of deepfake videos. The development suggests that the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to win the electoral battle. The deepfake video has not yet been removed from Sarma’s X (formerly Twitter) handle. But, for the likes of Sarma, whether the video is deepfake or fake hardly matters when it comes to elections.
Mysterious malady
The political grapevine in Bihar has been abuzz with bizarre tales concerning the absent-mindedness of the CM, Nitish Kumar. However, politicians cutting across party lines have been pondering about the veracity of such stories. One of them is about how Nitish had invited himself for a cup of tea at the residence of a cabinet minister, arrived on time, sipped the brew and gone away only to return after some time and tell his befuddled colleague that he has come to keep the appointment over tea.
Tales are doing the rounds about a change in his mannerisms, inappropriate use of language, and sudden outbursts over the past months. While some politicians assured that Nitish is not suffering from any affliction, conspiracy theories about the CM being poisoned or being under the influence of black magic are floating around. There is only one person who can put all this tittle-tattle to rest — Nitish himself.
