oppn parties Toeing The BJP-Hindutva Line Will Not Help AAP

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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
Toeing The BJP-Hindutva Line Will Not Help AAP

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-10-27 03:18:24

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

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, an IIT-Kharagpur alumni and a former IRS officer, controversially suggested to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that pictures of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh must be put on Indian currency notes as the deities will then bless the country and the economy will prosper. This shows the level which politicians will descend to for votes.

India is a secular nation and the government is expected to be religion-neutral. The BJP has been accused of using Hindu symbols and motifs in election campaigns to win Hindu votes. But here is the chief of a party that professes to be 'different' and is making an all-out effort (state by state) to become the premier opposition party, suggesting something anti-secular to win Hindu votes. Earlier too, AAP had tried to take on the BJP on its nationalism plank by holding 'tiranga rallies' in several states. This is not being different - it is toeing the BJP line. The AAP neither has the ideology nor the support to plunge into the Hindutva field and should avoid doing so. 

The opposition parties do not realize that it is difficult to beat the BJP in this game. Instead of trying to appease Hindus with such statements, Kejriwal will do well to get the support of the huge number of Hindus who do not subscribe to the BJP's Hindutva ideology by stressing on the benefits of an inclusive society. There are other pressing issues which Kejriwal can use to corner the BJP. But he has chosen to be more Hindu than the BJP. This dents the USP of the AAP - that of providing good governance on health, education and anti-corruption planks. Obviously the party has decided to change track as it feels what worked for it in Punjab will not work in Gujarat and Himachal, the two states which will go to the polls this year and where the party is making a serious bid to capture power.

The Indian currency notes now have the picture of Mahatma Gandhi on one side and pictures of historical places of tourist interest on the other. There is no need to disturb that. Arvind Kejriwal is likely to lose votes, rather than gain any, by making this controversial demand.

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