| The assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the image of the former president with his fist in the air, blood dripping from his ear, and the American flag hovering in the clear blue sky is a defining moment in the 2024 US presidential race.
It’s a low point in an already cynical election cycle, and has forced the public gaze on the role of the vice president. President Joe Biden is 81, Trump is 78. The US presidential election is now about vice presidents, wrote Seshadri Chari.
But the question America needs to be urgently asking itself isn’t why Thomas Matthew Crooks wanted to kill Trump, wrote Praveen Swami. It’s what needs to be done to keep guns out of the hands of others like him. The assassination attempt is a symptom of easy gun access.
Closer to home, Modi 3.0 looks more stable than the PV Narasimha Rao or the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. But there are many, many desperate, discordant voices rising in the BJP from across the country, wrote DK Singh. BJP voters, leaders, and cadres are all sending SOS messages in their own ways: All Is Not Well. But the party high command is not convinced yet.
All the evidence suggests that the BJP’s future lies in rebranding itself as the party of responsible governance. Yet, night after night, its spokespeople convey the opposite. The slew of TV debates reminds Vir Sanghvi of the Colosseum spectacles—the lion vs. slave battles. The lions (defined here as the spokespersons of the ruling party and their pals, the anchors) get a good meal out of the spectacle and return every night for more. There is just one difference. The victims represent the Opposition, and they appear entirely willingly, happy to be bitten into as part of the evening fun.
And as bridges collapse and trains collide, Modi’s event management-style politics continues, wrote Sagarika Ghose. The BJP government, still on an extended power trip, has failed to grasp that the 2024 verdict is emphatically not a mandate for projecting a larger-than-life Modi personality cult.
In Bangladesh, quota protests have spiralled out of control, wrote Deep Halder. “If not Hasina, who?” has been a standard response from her supporters in Dhaka. But now protesters say they would much prefer ‘Razakars’ —volunteers who worked with the Pakistan Army in brutalising the local population—over a dictator like her. It’s time for PM Hasina to take stock of the situation.
In my Ground Reports team this week, Manasi Phadke discovered that Goa isn’t just a party capital. It is a start-up hub as well, and women are driving it. India’s smallest state leads the country when it comes to female-led startups. Over a third are run by women—well above the national average of 18 per cent.
Many of these women entrepreneurs are not originally from Goa, but have chosen it as a business base, finding it easier to work in peace and thrive here. The fresh air, golden beaches, and dense forests are a welcome bonus. Some settle into a happy plateau; others expand their businesses beyond Goa.
Uttar Pradesh is also turning out to be a surprise ‘pink power’ poster child. It has 14 women DMs, the second most in the country, behind Tamil Nadu. Bahraich is the jewel in the crown for its all-female administration, wrote Almina Khatoon. Many are driving woman-centric measures, from pink autos to feeding rooms.
In Kanpur, Antara Baruah met with the next-gen paan masala tycoons who are ditching the frugal ways of their parents and grandparents. They wear Prada and drive Porsche. They’ve travelled the world, studied in elite universities in the US and England, partied with A-listers, and have come home to take over the family businesses. But Kanpur still has to catch up with their demand for exciting events and luxe venues for outings, unlike other Tier-2 cities such as Indore, where the wealthy play. |
