oppn parties Leading People Up The Superstition Alley

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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
Leading People Up The Superstition Alley

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-11-24 14:36:03

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Congress is undecided whether it wants to occupy the high moral ground or play the BJP at its game. On the one hand, Rahul Gandhi calls Prime Minister Modi 'panauti' (a person who bring bad luck) for attending the World Cup final in Ahmedabad and making Team India lose a match they were favourites to win and 'jebkatra'and on the other, the party points out that the BJP is guilty of calling Rahul and Sonia Gandhi worse names. (To be fair, PM Modi had recently called Rahul Gandhi, without naming him, and people like him 'murkhon ke sardaar' (king of fools)).

So what would the Congress and its leaders do? Will they say that the BJP is a depraved party that stoops low to make personal remarks to occupy the high moral ground or will it return the favour? Going by all accounts, the party will do the latter. Rahul Gandhi noted the murkhon ke sardaar remark and came up with the panauti and jebkatra responses within a few days. This has been continuing since the campaigning for the 2014 elections when personal remarks flew thick and fast. Since then, the Congress cannot claim the high moral ground as its leaders also called Modi 'maut ka saudagar','dus munh ka ravan', 'neech aadmi'and worse.

But the panauti remark was especially in bad taste as it used by people who believe in superstition. Would Rahul Gandhi have us believe that matches can be won or lost if a person attends, or not attends, a game as he or she might bring good or bad luck? Is he suggesting that if and when he becomes prime minister he would weed out all panautis from all spheres so that India will progress faster? It has also opened the doors for more such remarks. Mamata Banerjee said India lost the match as 'sinners' (referring to Modi and Amit Shah) attended it. She also said that India would have won if the match was held in Eden Gardens, Kolkata or Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. But she forgot that in 1996, India lost the World Cup semifinals to Sri Lanka at the Eden by default as the crowd did not let the match to be completed after India lost 8 wickets for just 120 chasing a target of 252. Others have called Modi and Shah Rahu-Ketu. Politicians must refrain from making such statements as they wean people away from scientific and logical thinking and lead them up the superstition alley. 

(Please note that the reference to AI as Astrological Intelligence in the lead picture is taken from a cartoon by Sandeep Adhwaryu in The Times of India dated 24th Nov 2023)

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