Looks like it is a one-off reassertion of democracy in India’s southern climes, with the punch-drunk BJP having to accept being licked, what with Yeddyurappa had to resign as CM of Karnataka, after being foisted to the post, post-haste by a sleight of hand by the party which seemed unassailable after its massive win at the Centre in 2014. The bravado of party boss Amit Shah and his so-called electoral magic is licking the dust now.
Questions that had been raised about the Constitutional validity of the Karnataka governor ushering a minority party to power on the grounds of its being the single largest party. The Opposition had taken the issue to the Supreme Court, under a ‘soft’ chief, which had disallowed. We may well remind you of our former President, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, who had propounded this theory of inviting the ‘single largest party’ to form the government. It may be recalled that Dr Sharma’s standing as a legal expert was beyond reproach. After all, he had done his LLM from Cambridge University and his PhD from Harvard.
However, it seemed patently unconstitutional of the apex court to give Yeddyurappa a full fortnight to prove his party’s strength in the Assembly.
The bench of Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobode and Justice Ashok Bhushan had earlier dismissed a petition against the CJI, known to be close to the BJP. Thus, though it seemed that the constitution of the bench had been advantageous to the ruling juggernaut at the Centre, its Karnataka decision (of giving the BJP just two days to prove its majority) has firmly reaffirmed democratic norms in the country.
The BJP seemed weak-kneed in the legal amphitheatre, with the Congress running its battery of legal top guns such as Salman Khurshid, Abhishek Manu Sanghvi, Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram, whereas the BJP limped around with just Mukul Rohtagi and Tushar Mehta, who are legal mercenaries merely working for fees.
The BJP ought to learn several lessons from being matted in Karnataka. Especially that when you are at the top of power, even unsurpassable mountains seem like mere small hillocks, but when you are forced to confront them, they bring you down to the base camp of reality!

The ‘poll magician’ and strategist royale, Prashant Kumar, better known in his abridged version as just PK, may seem to be running into fortunes working for youth leader of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan, but the loose ends in his tunic are showing. PK had started off his latest business with many circuses, rashly opening grand offices in Vijayawada and Tirupati and hiring an army of workers. Bees and birds from the state say that he rushed into a major survey of all the state Assembly seats and met Jagan with a list of who should be given tickets to ensure the party’s sweep in the state polls. To top it, he landed Jagan’s office a huge financial demand. This has irked the Andhra youth tiger to no end, and scuttlebutt is, he told PK to stick to a ground level survey and work out a strategy, and leave decisions of who will get the tickets to the party. Rumours are that PK had proposed a three-digit commission for his consultancy, but Jagan has decimated it to a single digit. PK is mightily upset, but worse, people say that his battery of workers has been unpaid for all of three months now. PK now realises that unlike his previous hirers, Modi, Akhilesh, Rahul or Nitish, Jagan is unfashionably parsimonious.

The game of politics is seeing twists and turns every other day. Every move is calculative, timely. As calendar turned pages to 2018, BJP somehow managed to hoist its flags over 18 states. With this, BJP high-commands are eager to ignite their 2019 ambitions from the turf of Karnataka by scoring win here and adding another state to their kitty.
Going by the sources, a few days ahead of the big voting day, a Supreme Court lawyer reached Mumbai with JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy out of the blue. In a Kandivali situated apartment (supposedly of Amit Shah’s) a pithy meet was held between Kumaraswamy and BJP president Amit Shah. In the meeting it was decided that wherever BJP has a weak base in Karnataka, like Old Mysore’s Hassan and Chamarajanagar, JD(S) will be backed. Support will also be extended to JD(S) in areas which have Muslim or Dalit majorities and after the poll results are declared, JD(S) will have to return the favour to BJP by helping them form government in the state.
The saffron party’s ‘Chanayakya’ has made a double sided approach in his political tactics this time and made sure that no matter which side the coin flips, the BJP lotus surely blooms.

Time is something that never freezes at one point. It the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. And with the changing times, the colour of politics also changes.
Ever since the ministers of the Modi government have been directed to bait media in some or the other way, the ministers have changed their colours too. The first in line was Railways Minister Piyush Goyal when a group of journalists were sent on North-East trip out of the blue.
Now Gadkari was also not going to sit back and immediately came into play. PM Modi is scheduled to inaugurate Ladhak’s district tunnel on May 19 after completing his Nepal visit. Gadkari thought what better timing than this to gather a few media persons and send them to cover the event. So he immediately notified PMO to arrange for the visit of these journalists. An immediate response from the PMO – “They are not part of the PM’s programme. Only ANI and government media will accompany him.” Meaning thereby, the PM is still maintaining ample distance from the media.

Time changed, the power at Delhi changed, and so did the political trends. Sangh was never as powerful as it seems today and so the saffron clan is worried about its documentations. Whilst the Congress held its flag at the Delhi throne and was busy its Left-Centre politics, Communist historians painted red the pages of history and literatures. Now ever since the Modi government has come to power at the Centre, Sangh and BJP have starting putting a quote of saffron over all of it. It can be recalled that during the Vajpayee government of the BJP, a committee was formed under the leadership of known Hindi journalist Dinanath Mishra and knowingly or unknowingly the responsibility of documentation of the works of BJP and Sangh. Crores were invested on this project, but the desired results were not achieved. Under the guidance of Mishra, Nitish Bharadwaj even created a movie, highlighting saffron visions, and its ‘preview’ was also organised in Delhi. But the saffron think tanks were not convinced and pointed out flaws, and Bharadwaj was asked to reshoot it. Even after so much brainstorming, the result was nowhere fruitful and the ambitious movie faded away.
Now to re-ink the fictions of new age, the Sangh has roped in the famous writer of Bahubali film KV Vijayendra Prasad to make a mega budget film on them. Sources reveal that the film’s budget has been marked around Rs 180 crore. Apart from this, many Bollywood biggies are inspired to make movies on Modi, Sangh and BJP, among which everyone is awaiting Jai Om Prakash Mehra’s film around the life of Modi. Many independent filmmakers have been asked to make a film of this effect. Several ministries have kept their doors open for funding such films. Apart from this, the work of penning a new history is also in progress. So, in the days to come, the face of the country may change or not, but its mood is set to change.

There is a storm raging within BJP amid a controversy over renaming of the Dyal Singh (Evening) College of Delhi. Sangh think tank and former BJP spokesperson Amitabh Sinha, who is also the institution’s chairman, had renamed the college as ‘Vande Mataram Dyal Singh College’ – a step which was criticised by union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, saying that no matter what the name of the college will not change. So now questions are being raised from within the BJP and the Sangh that why Javadekar is making such a great deal out of this matter, whereas this drill is not to change the name of the college, but to just add Vande Mataram before it. Sources reveal that the statements from Javadekar are words put in his mouth by Union MoS Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who does not want any tampering with the legacy of Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, the founder of Dyal Singh College. Sardar Dyal Singh was one of the major social reformers in his era. He not only brought many revolutionary changes in the field of education, but also established many schools and colleges. He was also the founder of the Tribune newspaper and Punjab National Bank. Sources say that Harsimrat wants to reestablish the image of her brother Vikram Singh Majithia who is said to belong to Dyal Singh’s family. And with this hidden agenda, the brother-sister duo wants to shine alongside Dyal Singh’s legacy.

Whether the lotus will bloom in Karnataka, there hangs a question mark upon it. On one hand, where Congress is putting up a good show, on the other, BJP is still low key. In view of the lag, a honcho saffron politician of South India, Ananth Kumar, has immediately come to play. Ananth and Co. are of the view that this time it may be a hung assembly in Karnataka and hence the saffron leader is head over heels to lure JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy.
Sources suggest that there have been rounds of discussions between the two leaders in this regard but they have met no conclusion yet because Kumaraswamy is confident that JD(S) will be the kingmaker this time in Karnataka, and would rather prefer being the king, instead of remaining the maker. In short, Kumaraswamy is all convinced to be the next CM of the state.
Anyhow, BJP has an edge over Congress in context of Kumaraswamy because his father Deve Gowda is anti Karnataka Congress’ CM Siddaramaiah. In fact, Deve Gowda has not shied away from expressing his pain in electoral meetings that Siddaramaiah is trying to tarnish his image. He reminded the people that he is the sole Prime Minister of India till date who emerged from the land of Karnataka and that is why every government office of the state carried his picture, up until Siddaramaiah became the CM and ordered their removal.

Anyhow, there is an old friend of Deve Gowda who is helping connect him directly to the Congress and it is Sharad Yadav, whose supporters have laid the foundation of a new political party recently. Anyway, for a long time, JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda is in close contacts with Sharad Yadav and Communist Party (Marxist) chief Sitaram Yechury. He wants the two and their parties to come in support of JD(S) in the upcoming Karnataka elections.
But when Sharad Yadav was in Karnataka in the recent past, he declared his support to the Congress. On the other hand, Yechury has sealed his lips on the matter. He is neither talking of supporting the JD(S) nor the Congress. Anyhow, the CPM-linked threads reveal that the Leftist parties have sent a call to their workers in support of Congress.
It is believed that Sharad Yadav has convinced his old friend HD Deve Gowda that the doors of Congress will be open for friendship and post-poll alliance to the JD(S). Meaning thereby, JD(S) is working on two fronts together, where father Deve Gowda is clinging to Congress, son Kumaraswamy is working on blooming the lotus of saffron expectations.

One can consider the current time as the Golden Age of the pro-Hindu organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Its shine is so bright that it is widespread till cloud nine and whoever, whenever comes in its touch, is painted in saffron, at least for while. So after waving the saffron flag on all the fronts, the news around the corner is that a mega Rs 100 crore budget film is on the cards storylining the journey of RSS. The word is that the RSS spearheads were so impressed by the blockbuster success of Bahubali on Box Office that they have contacted Bahubali’s famed-director SS Rajamouli’s father V Vijayendra Prasad.
Vijayendra Prasad is a veteran film screenwriter and director who is famous for his works in hit films like ‘Bahubali’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. In 2011, Prasad had directed a popular Telugu movie ‘Rajanna’ which was honoured with Nandi Award for Best Feature Film. Prasad started his film career in 1988 and till now he has penned more than 25 films, most of which were super-duper hits.
Sources reveal that Prasad’s film will bring out a new side to RSS in which the Sangh’s ideology, belief, mission and achievements will be screened. In this film, inspirational stories from the life of Dr Hedgewar, MS Golwalkar, Veer Savarkar, and Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat will be spun together and given a new shape for the new generation to inspire from it. Sources say that Prasad has had many meeting in Nagpur with regard to the movie. Actors like Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan are also said to be ready to take part in this project. The original film will be produced in Hindi and it will be dubbed in regional languages such as Telugu and Kannada. Preparations are skyrocket in a bid to release this movie pan-India before the general elections in 2019.

The long jam-packed doors have finally opened and the smell of fresh air now fills the void. The Sangh and its spearheads are now well-aware that to mingle with the youth of the nation, the ideologies and dialogues will have to be fabricated in a new fashion. Perhaps, this is the reason why in the past few years, the Sangh has opened its doors for cinema, music and theater.
In the recent past, taking inspiration from the Sangh, two such film festivals were organised where the Indian culture in its latest fashion was showcased through the movies. This initiative was just the beginning of measuring the height of cinematic influence.
Sources reveal that now there is a flood of film festivals coming across the country, inspired by saffron ideals, and many big filmmakers, actors and financiers are ready to flow in the currents of this saffron tsunami.
Last year, the Sangh had given a green signal to one such project on an experimental basis. The name of that film was ‘Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi.’ The film was directed by Gul Bahar Singh and Hema Malini played the character of late BJP leader Vijaya Raje Scindia. Needless to mention that this film was a biopic made on ‘Rajmata’ Scindia. The credit for writing this film goes to the current Governor of Goa, Mridula Sinha, who had penned the novel ‘Rajpath Se Lokpath Par’ spinning around the various colours of Rajmata’s life. The script of the film was written on the basis of this very novel. Stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, Kangna Ranaut, Preity Zinta and Arjun Rampal, singers like Sonu Nigam and Abhijit, and directors like Subhash Ghai and Madhur Bhandarkar are all eyes to be a part of this saffron wave.