| A sinking Joshimath did not detract or deter our political leaders from hogging the headlines this past week. Caste surveys, Bharat Jodo, a suggestion to change Tamil Nadu’s name by its Governor dominated the news. It’s the flexing of muscles.
And the flex banner has become the emblem of this plastic age of politics, wrote Yogendra Yadav. It is the inscription of the powerful on a shiny and thin surface of public life that is politics in today’s India.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra has transformed Rahul Gandhi’s image, but for all its show, it does not guarantee votes. The nationwide walkathon has provided a national counterpoint to the politics of the BJP, but nothing may come of the Yatra in electoral terms, warned Vir Sanghvi.
Modi, too, wants to shed his strongman image. And he’s getting help from leaders of Indian origin abroad, wrote Jyoti Malhotra.
In Bihar, the caste census has begun. The BJP has skirted the issue of caste census so far, but ThePrint’s political editor D.K. Singh examined the signs that betray unease and ambiguity, if not nervousness, in the ruling camp.
It’s a masterstroke for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s camp, wrote Bharat Agarwal.
And in Haryana, an inter-faith couple faced the ‘love jihad’ law. Their case will go through the litmus test in the state, reported Sonal Matharu from the ground.
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