oppn parties Two Sides Of The Same Coin

News Snippets

  • 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
Two Sides Of The Same Coin

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-10-02 08:25:32

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

If proof was needed that almost all political parties in India are same, it was provided strongly on October 1. Even as one watched the shenanigans of the UP administration and police in first stopping, then arresting and finally filing an FIR against Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra for trying to visit Hathras to meet the family of the dead rape victim came the news that the Punjab government had done the same (except filing an FIR) to Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur when they were marching to meet the state governor to submit a memorandum against the farm bills. UP is ruled by Yogi Adityanath of the BJP while Capt. Amarinder Singh of Congress is the chief minister of Punjab.

When out of government, every political party becomes a champion of democratic rights and constitutional values. When ruling, all of them suppress these very rights and do not hold up the values. When in the opposition, they think that it is their right to raise their voice against government policy and whoever stops them is being undemocratic. But when they come to power, they think that their policy must be supported by everyone and use power and force to deny protests. This is a cat and mouse game which all political parties play in India and over the years, it has become so common that the common man has lost all hope.

People might point out that the UP police were more highhanded (Rahul claimed he was lathicharged but no visuals showed that). Rahul Gandhi even fell on the ground allegedly after being pushed by policemen when he tried to advance after being stopped. But If the UP incident was more serious, the visuals show that it was only because the crowd there was unruly. They had come prepared to take on the police. Having said that, that cannot be an excuse for police excesses as there are many ways to deal with the situation peacefully. The police could have stopped the crowd at one place and could have allowed Rahul Gandhi and three or four of his aides to advance 100 metres after which they could have been arrested peacefully.  In contrast, the pictures from Punjab show that there was no rushing and pushing and the arrests were made quietly.

But the question is why were both the marches stopped? Why were the leaders not allowed to exercise their democratic right of protesting against injustice, police excesses or a government policy that they thought was not in the interests of farmers? Why did two state governments, ruled by two different political parties that are poles apart in terms of ideology, use the same undemocratic weapons to try and silence the opposition? It just goes on to prove that when in power, no political party gives a damn about democracy and values.