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Tiranga Rally Is Excellent. Breaking The Law Was Not

October 17, 2026

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
Farmers Are Not Enemies Of The Nation

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-08-31 08:47:56

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

What happened at Karnal during the protest by farmers was avoidable. It does not behove a government to treat farmers as enemies of the state and come down heavily and violently on them for exercising their right of peaceful protest against a government policy that they feel is inimical to their interests (the protest in Karnal was against a BJP meeting). As it is, the farm bills were first imposed as ordinances without taking the farmers into confidence and then rushed through parliament without allowing the people's representatives to debate their finer points. The extended round of talks that followed after the farmers decided to hold protests did not achieve anything as both parties were adamant at not conceding much ground.

The onus is on the government to bring the farmers to its side. The mistrust has grown ever since the bills were passed because of the fact that they were rushed in without wide consultations. The farm bodies are now bent on proving their might by not agreeing to anything less than a complete repealing of the bills and a legal guarantee that the MSP system will continue and even expanded for more agricultural products. Although the government has repeatedly said that it has no plans to discontinue the MSP system of procurement and just wants to eliminate middlemen and provide other avenues of selling their products to the farmers, it is clear that the farmers have been brainwashed into thinking that the bills will leave them at the mercy of large corporations.

It is sad that the farm bodies are not willing to discuss the bills clause by clause, as offered by the government. The insistence on repealing the bills smacks of blackmail. Not all clauses in the bills are contentious. If a clause by clause discussion is held, one is sure that some way out will emerge. But for that to happen, the government will have to build trust. The events in Karnal showed that the government is not interested. Instead of bringing about a change of heart among the farmers, incidents like Karnal will widen the gap and the government will be left with no other option but to repeal the laws. That would mean a huge setback for reforms in the agriculture sector. 

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