Sweet gesture
The simplicity of the Union minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is truly inspiring. It was evident when he suddenly stopped at a sweet shop in the famous Pahala rasogolla market located between Odisha’s capital, Bhubaneswar, and Cuttack. He savoured the rasogolla and praised the melt-in-your-mouth dessert for its extremely soft, spongy, flavourful quality. The deputy chief minister of Odisha, KV Singh Deo, who was accompanying Chouhan, was invited to taste the rasogolla as well. Perhaps aware of the ongoing dispute between Odisha and Bengal about the origin of the rasogolla, Chouhan inquired about its culinary heritage and its origin from the local sweet shop owners. He earned the praise of all when he insisted on paying for the sweets even though the sweet stall owner was reluctant to accept the money. He even bought a few packets of rasogolla to take home to Bhopal. Chouhan’s gesture bowled over the locals in Pahala but political observers have dismissed it as mere optics.
Stray trouble
The issue surrounding stray dogs is not restricted to the streets; it has now become a reason for divorce. A petition was filed in the Gujarat High Court recently in which a man sought separation from his wife as she was obsessed with stray dogs and was bringing them home despite his objections. Claiming that his wife has turned their house into a shelter for stray dogs, he blamed the wife’s affection for canines as a reason for the breakdown of their marriage. The husband, who tied the knot with his wife in 2006, had also complained of being bitten by a dog when he
was trying to move one of them off their bed.
Election mode
In Kerala, leaders cutting across political lines are in a tizzy as the state will be going for the local body elections on December 9 and 11. While local issues like civic services and welfare measures are being addressed in the campaigning, voters are examining whether the incumbent ward councillor has delivered his/her promises over the last five years. With the Kerala CM, Pinarayi Vijayan, coming up with a slew of welfare pensions, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leadership is in high spirits. The Opposition, the United Democratic Front, has set its eyes on the anti-incumbency factor. The Bharatiya Janata Party has pinned its hopes on making inroads in urban centres. The high-stakes grassroots-level, local body polls are like a semi-final before the final contest, the upcoming Assembly elections. Things have not been smooth for all three political fronts — the Left Democratic Front, the UDF and the National Democratic Alliance as they are facing the prospect of rebels playing spoilsport after being denied party tickets by their respective political parties.
Furrowed
brows
The NDA’s sweeping victory in Bihar has left Congress members in poll-bound Assam shocked. They said that they are searching for answers for the Mahagathbandhan’s crippling defeat. Was it the Rs 10,000 direct transfer or genuine love for the BJP-NDA or ‘vote chori’ because the ground situation was different from what the results suggest. The Congress is the principal Opposition in Assam and had announced a united fight against the BJP a few days ago. Observers said that the Bihar win has definitely boosted the morale of the BJP in Assam as it is facing the heat generated by the demise of the popular singer-composer, Zubeen Garg, in Singapore, and growing demand for scheduled tribe status by six electorally influential communities. Congress leaders said that as far as welfare schemes are concerned, Assam is much ahead of Bihar and if voters naturally drift towards the BJP and its allies as the Bihar results suggest, the Assam result will also go the Bihar way. Observers say that the Bihar results should be a warning to the Opposition to get its act together.
Trendy
‘apology’
The BJP hopped onto a viral internet trend of putting out a sarcastic apology eulogising itself. The advertising tactic of a tongue-in-cheek apology has spread across the internet and the BJP is the first political party to jump on to the bandwagon. In an X thread, the BJP advertised the Centre’s work with lines such as, “We apologise… for giving 15 crore+ rural families clean tap water under Jal Jeevan Mission.... We also apologise… for building over 4 crore pucca homes through PM Awas Yojana...”
Out of
control
Now that the initial shock of the Red Fort blast is wearing off, the site has turned into a selfie point. People have been thronging the cordoned
off area to see the spot where the
blast took place and some were seen taking pictures. The Delhi Police
as well as local volunteers have
been having a hard time managing these people and restraining them to stop them from stepping into the crime scene, which has been cordoned off all week.