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The Pahalgam terror-attack that resulted in deaths of innocent Indians and a foreign tourist holidaying in the Kashmir Valley may cause a deeper deterioration in India-Pakistan cricket ties. Hitherto the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), adhering to a long-standing government guideline, does not engage Pakistan in bilateral series across formats. An Indian cricket team — men, women and under-19 — has not played on Pakistan soil for more than one and a half decades (since 2008), but Pakistan played the ICC World Cup 2023 matches in India — at Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai. The BCCI though maintained its position of not sending the men in blue team to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy in February-March this year. India played all its matches in Dubai. The Indian government has always maintained that Pakistan is a State-sponsor of terror strikes in the Northern Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir and hence there is no place for bilateral cricketing relationship with Pakistan. The BCCI was quick to condemn the terror attack in Pahalgam and used the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad to pay homage to the victims. A hybrid model was worked out for the ICC Champions Trophy and the same is the formula worked out for future ICC events ending in 2027. Pakistan has qualified for the ICC Women’s World Cup to be hosted by India this September-October and it will not travel to India. Will the BCCI take the extreme step of not playing against Pakistan or request the ICC and ACC that India should not be placed in the same group as Pakistan. Only time will tell.
Less than a week after the dastardly Pahalgam terror attack, the Congress has shed all pretence of extending its cooperation to the government. It is back to fretting and molly-coddling its Muslim vote bank. That is why Karnataka excise minister RB Thimmapur rushed to doubt if the “perpetrators of the attack in Pahalgam would have asked the name and the religion of victims” and insisted “it is unfair to target a particular religion over the attack”. This even as the wife of a victim from Shivamogga had helplessly watched her husband being shot dead, after the terrorists asked the name and religion before shooting the male tourists. Building a defence for the assailants, the minister argued it wasn’t the gunmen who asked for the name and religion of the tourists. Religious colour was being given to cover up intelligence failure. “Kargil, Pulwama and now Pahalgam are the result of central intelligence failure. The BJP has been playing politics over deaths,” the minister argued. Why was the Congress minister making a case for Pakistani terror operatives? It wasn’t just the minister, even chief minister Siddaramaiah had caught the attention of the Pak media playing up his comment saying that there is “no need for war” over the Pahalgam terror attack. He was dubbed “Pakistani Ratna” by the state BJP. With RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat making it clear that “it is duty of the king to protect the people” and urging the government to teach errant neighbour a lesson, PM Modi assured in his Mann Ki Baat that bereaved families will get justice; he felt the terror strike was to destroy the Kashmir narrative with peace and normalcy returning.
Leading silver screen personality Atul Kulkarni has reached Kashmir to spread the message that the state belongs to India and every Indian will visit it. Kulkarni has been known for his fearless stand on many sensitive issues and has never minced words while expressing his sentiments. A fierce advocate of the freedom of expression, Kulkarni has been in great demand for a variety of roles on the stage and in films. His statement has been welcomed since several prominent thespians have chosen to remain mute after the dreaded Pahalgam terror attack. Kulkarni has made it clear that he has no shooting schedule in Kashmir neither has his visit been sponsored by any travel company or hotel. Kulkarni said the intent of the attack is to finish the tourism potential of Kashmir. Referring to his discussions with local people in the state over the past few days, he said the most vital factor is people’s unity, even more important than money. This process had started and over the last two years, a record number of tourists had visited the state. Local people are happy when tourists come. “We have to transmit this message all over,” he said. Another popular actor, Riteish Deshmukh said this attack was not just terror but was a targeted massacre. The masterminds and organisations behind this ghastly attack must be crushed, he said in a message while expressing his anguish.
The AIADMK-BJP alliance is not the only cause of anxiety for DMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin. Senior ministers in his cabinet are as much of a headache for the chief honcho. While trusted lieutenant and money handler V Senthil Balaji put in his resignation on April 27 after strictures from the top court, so too the education minister K Ponmudy quit on the same day as he was also under fire for needlessly disparaging comments that drew the ire of a High Court judge who called for a suo motu FIR against him. Did he really need to joke about Brahmin sects and sexual positions and denigrating the whole of womanhood? Brahmin baiting may be fair game for the DMK that evolved out of the Justice Party, but vilifying women outraged a senior woman party leader in Kanimozhi who spoke out. The most senior minister among Stalin’s cabinet colleagues, Duraimurugan, who was just emerging from the woods after a tasteless description of physically challenged people — whom he called ‘nondis’ using an old Tamil term for lame people — when an old case came out of the woodwork to haunt him. A DA case has re-emerged to trouble the minister as the Madras High Court cancelled his acquittal by a lower court. Even the highly regarded IT minister Dr P Thiaga Rajan (PTR) was pulled up by the Speaker for saying in the Assembly that his ministry had no funds to create new IT parks. He was told there must be a better way to approach the government for funds.
This week has been particularly bleak for the Indian box office with a series of film releases failing to resonate with audiences and resulting in dismal collections. Ground Zero, featuring Emraan Hashmi and Sai Tamhankar opened with a mere Rs 1.15 crore, and despite a slight uptick to Rs 1.90 crore on its second day, the total collection of Rs 3.05 crore over the weekend is far from impressive. Lack of effective marketing played a significant role as it struggled to gain visibility and attract viewers. With no substantial draw for Emraan Hashmi, the film was destined for disaster. So too was Ananth Mahadevan’s Phule. The film was mired in controversy, particularly due to opposition from certain groups in Pune and an outburst from Anurag Kashyap regarding Brahmin representation. Despite the buzz surrounding these issues, the film starring Prateek Gandhi and Patralekha, opened to a disappointing Rs 21 lakh on its first day. Although the reviews praised the direction and storytelling, the film managed to collect a meagre Rs 47 lakh over the weekend. This is one of the most underwhelming openings in recent memory, especially considering the positive reviews. The re-release of the classic Andaz Apna Apna was anticipated to follow in the footsteps of successful re-releases like Sanam Teri Kasam. However, it too fell flat, opening with just Rs 25 lakh on its first day…culminating in a total of Rs 55 lakh over the weekend. This performance is disappointing for a film with such a legacy, indicating that nostalgia alone is not enough to draw audiences back to theatres. Overall, the fate of these three Hindi films can be described as disastrous. Factors contributing to their lacklustre performance include weak scripts, average brand recall, insufficient visibility, and inadequate marketing strategies.
Film launches and releases are taking on novel and highly customised market promos. Naturally, with crores riding on success, all stakeholders pitch in their best. Suriya’s Retro, directed by Kartik Subburaj, slated for release on May 1 ensured all the bells and whistles…and more. Veteran South actor and Suriya’s dad, Sivakumar went on stage as a proud father and fan boy of his son. His over the top accolades for his son’s rise could be because Suriya is still recovering from the disaster of Kanguva and the team wanted to make the event eventful. Sivakumar said, Suriya was the first one to have six pack abs. Expectedly this got a spate of trolls as chiselled abs are nothing new in show business. But the way Sivakumar traced the rise and success journey of his son, it touched hearts. When both his sons – Suriya, Karthi – were teens the father had consulted an astro, who predicted a great presence for Suriya in the world of cinema. Sivakumar was nonplussed as Suriya hardly spoke four words in a day, he is so introverted and quiet. I think this soothsayer is “loose”. But things started gaining momentum when ace directors Vasanth and Mani Ratnam called Suriya for screen tests even as father pleaded with them not to raise high hopes. Mani Ratnam’s film Nerukku Ner was a hit. A still from that movie made Ratnam say “those eyes will give sleepless nights to female fans”. Yes, like all stars Suriya too had his ups and downs. But his place as a reliable hero and bankable star is assured. Retro may vault him back.
On June 14, Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi will be completing a one-year term in the office. Has the CM who has the backing of the PM delivered? There are mixed reports from the ground. Some are saying that Odia people are fed up with lip service of the Majhi government – the same line “work in progress and grandiose investment plans”. The general feeling is that Majhi has simply tweaked close to two dozen schemes of the BJD government led by Naveen Patnaik. It is a cut and paste job without any value addition –BJD’s colour green has been changed to BJP’s saffron in government buildings and buses. But a clued-in analyst has a different take. He points out that Majhi is considered “accessible CM” in a stark contrast to BJD’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik with whom ordinary people had no access. Besides, it would be inappropriate to compare the two CMs performances — one with 8 months governance record and the other with 290-month dream run. Adding further he says, BJD failed to fulfil their promise of giving bonus of Rs 100 per quintal to poverty-stricken farmers om Western Odisha’s Sohela in Bargarh district. Here, the Majhi government took a decision in just 24 minutes in its cabinet meeting to provide Rs 800 per quintal input assistance to farmers, apart from providing annual financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to around one crore women in the state. But the general lament is that Odia people voted for BJP, so that it effectively weeds out “mafia raj” and “percentage raj” but nothing substantial has happened in this direction. Meanwhile, the BJD has not lost the opportunity to brand Majhi as a “copycat” government.
The game of one-upmanship between Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and Maharashtra’s chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, that followed in the relief operations for the tourists affected by the Pahalgam terrorist attack, exposed the friction within Mahayuti government. Shinde duplicated the efforts of the Fadnavis government with his parallel visits and relief flights for the stranded tourists there. While Shinde was meeting tourists at Pahalgam, donating to the local Muslim victim and even holding parleys with Jammu and Kashmir’s deputy chief minister, Fadnavis was restricted to paying condolence visits to Pahalgam victim families at Pune. This wasn’t Shinde’s first attempt at duplication of governance; earlier too he had set up parallel medical relief funds in tandem with Fadnavis’ official ones. Shinde may have been cornered within Mahayuti with many of his decisions as CM either being withdrawn, stayed, kept in abeyance or simply rejected but he is not lying quiet and instead seizing the moment like he did at Pahalgam. He is also trying to assert himself as a Hindutva mascot and trying to usurp the advantage enjoyed by the Thackeray cousins even if they were to come together. Shinde’s attempt to carve out his own distinct identity in Fadnavis’ term, is clearly not going down with the man and the party at the helm. The BJP is clearly upset with Shinde’s attempt to hog the credit and not let the landslide majority government have its way. Shinde may be indispensable to the BJP in the run-up to the BMC polls to woo the Marathi manoos vote bank but remains to be seen how this open friction between Shinde and Fadnavis may play out for the Mahayuti in the forthcoming local elections.
The recent Supreme Court order invalidating the West Bengal government’s 2016 appointment of more than 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff triggered off sitting demonstrations and agitation in the state. During the course of agitation what came to the fore was, the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee was not countering the attack from the front. He consciously stepped away from the frontline, raising serious questions about the cracks within the party’s top leadership. It is also obvious that Abhishek’s public appearances have been reduced to congratulatory social media posts for local football clubs and the occasional endorsement of police efforts in his constituency. His last major political intervention was a virtual meeting on March 15. Since then, his near-total disengagement from party affairs has triggered anxiety within TMC’s rank and file, many of whom now openly question the party’s leadership strategy. The official narrative claims Mamata Banerjee has asked Abhishek to focus on national politics. But Abhishek’s loyal followers say that he was deliberately being sidelined from talking on the school recruitment scandal. Instead the State President Subrata Bakshi was given the job of doing all the heavy weight lifting on this front. Sure enough, his exclusion has left his loyalists demoralised. Further, Abhishek’s social media activities, particularly his praise for Diamond Harbour police during communal tensions and earlier disapproval of police actions post the RG Kar Hospital incident, are being interpreted as subtle criticism of the state government’s performance. These posts have drawn further scrutiny and are being read by Opposition parties as indirect jabs at the administration led by Didi.
Dr P Thiaga Rajan (PTR), Tamil Nadu IT minister was seen as a wunderkind when came back from the U.S. to revive his political and family connections in Madurai. He joined the DMK and was quickly rewarded by chief minister MK Stalin with a cabinet post. But it didn’t take long for the awestruck scales to drop…his unique talent and standalone abilities created a rift with those who swore by “Dravidian” versus his hybrid talents, swung from Gesellschaft to Gemeinschaft. Not just unique, he was unequivocal too in expressing his views fearlessly, shocking entrenched party loyalists. His recent speech in the TN Assembly was the flashpoint for Stalin’s anger. The fuse was lit when someone from his party asked about his earlier projects and new ones. He apparently grumbled about the lack of adequate funding for the IT Ministry…“even as Rs 20, 000 crore allocation is sanctioned, the IT ministry got only 200 crore, now cut to Rs150 crore. Even then we used the funds prudently but faced several deficits in projects. Like other states, all IT parks don’t come under this ministry, excepting the small ELCOT …whereas TIDEL and other mega parks are under the Industries Ministry.” Was PTR holding a grudge against Rajaa? The fallout of this frankness was immediate. When PTR invited Stalin to release a book on his grandfather…after some hesitation Stalin agreed but only to pull the carpet from under PTR at the event. In his speech Stalin said: “PTR has excellent communication and strong debating talent. But these abilities often turn into weaknesses by excessive open talk” leaving PTR squirming. Talk is rife that PTR may be sent to Delhi via the Rajya Sabha. When you are inconvenient, you become convenient…to be deputed.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent visit to New Delhi remained a low-key affair despite meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi appraising him about the state dues. She has always remained vocal and the biggest critic of the Modi Government and the BJP. But this time, her New Delhi visit did cover several meetings, sans high octane protest and meeting the media. Mamata’s mellowed stance about her visit has led to several questions. A section of the Opposition chief ministers said that Mamata despite attending the NITI Aayog meeting after a long time was not herself that of being extremely vocal. One of the insiders said that during the meeting, Didi did not complain or oppose the government policies. Interestingly, the TMC supremo in her last letter to the Prime Minister complained about non-payment of dues of Rs 97,000 crore by the Centre. Incidentally, chief ministers of Odisha, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Punjab briefed the media about their demands and observations. But not TMC. Insiders say that the media cell of the TMC was asked not to share any information pertaining to her visit. The CPI(M) has pointed out that the visit was mainly to address the ED raids pertaining to the SSC-Teacher Recruitment Scam involving a senior cabinet minister of her government. Presumably, Didi maintained a low profile to avoid any attack on her government over corruption charges.
Kicking off speculations about his future moves, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar reportedly phoned Congress president Sonia Gandhi on August 7 seeking an appointment with her. It is believed he wants support of 19 Bihar Congress MLAs and much more. Possibly, revival of Mahagatbandhan or secular alliance of 2015. The tell-tale signs are there for all to see. Nitish skipped NITI Aayog meeting of CMs citing COVID; he took action against his one-time close aide RCP Singh, a Kurmi like him, for moving close to the BJP. In dialing up Sonia, Congress sources say, Nitish was merely following from his copybook of launching the 2015 alliance. Then, Nitish first got in touch with Sonia and took her help to persuade RJD supremo Lalu Prasad to accept him as leader of the alliance. This time round Nitish hopes Sonia will persuade RJD to back him as CM. “With just 45 MLAs, Nitish can’t expect the RJD to back him. The RJD is the single largest party with 80 MLAs. Tejashwi Yadav will want to become CM,” points out a Bihar Congress leader. That means Nitish’s luck could be running out. Maybe it did ever since he was humbled during the 2020 assembly polls. On its part, the BJP is on wait and watch mode, though its 77 MLAs are restless propping up Nitish as CM.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has declared that the BJP will spare no efforts in 2024 to ensure re-election of the dozen Lok Sabha members who have pledged their loyalty to chief minister Eknath Shinde. This assurance by Fadnavis is viewed as an attempt to assuage the disturbed Shinde faction, which was said to be apprehensive after the BJP’s announcement that it will concentrate on the LS constituencies lost by the party in 2019 with a narrow margin or which it has never won. They include the prestigious Baramati constituency, which has remained with the family of NCP president Sharad Pawar throughout. Extra attention is being provided towards Baramati, from where Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule has been elected. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is entrusted with the task to snatch it away. She is expected to visit the constituency in coming days. Unease in the Shinde faction was palpable as the CM’s son Shrikant’s Kalyan constituency came in the picture. Kalyan has remained a bone of contention between the BJP and the Sena. Similar scenarios were seen in Thane, Aurangabad and Kolhapur’s Hatkanangale constituencies after local BJP leaders started saying that these seats will be in the party’s kitty in 2024. The reassurance by Fadnavis is expected to calm the troubled waters even as the Supreme Court is taking up the various petitions concerning Maharashtra.
The Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms may not have set the cash registers on fire but they sure are gaining traction at the expense of direct to home (DTH) operators. According to latest figures by TRAI, DTH subscriber base has shrunk from 68.52 million to 66.92 million in the last quarter ended March 31, 2022. In fact, the DTH numbers have not been looking good since 2020, when the overall subscribers were 100 million. This dropped to 70.99 million in 2021. The OTTs made their entry in the Indian market in 2019 with Netflix leading the way followed by Amazon Prime. Indian players like Zee5, ALT Balaji, Sony Liv, Voot, Jio Cinema and Disney-Hotstar have cornered 102 million subscribers. This is expected to double to 224 million by 2026. Among the DTH players. Tata Play continues to be the market leader with a share of 33.23 % down from 33.48 %. Bharati Telemedia, ranked second, saw its share drop from 26.36 % to 26.24%. Only two players recorded gains — Dish TV from 22.04% to 22.10 % and Sun Direct from 18.11 % to 18. 43%. Reliance Big TV DTH seems to be nowhere in the picture. The OTTs have also hit satellite channels with many big players like Star, Zee, Sony Colors etc reducing the number of channels in their bouquet, especially in English language.
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Editor’s Note: Short Post Noticed By People Who Matter
Four years have zipped by and we are crossing another milestone on 31st January 2025 – it’s our 4th Anniversary. It feels good.
Looking back at the 1460 days, I must say Short Post has made its mark with people who matter via 4000 stories published in the areas of politics, business, entertainment and sports. All made possible by the unflinching commitment and dedication of our senior editors, most of whom have been part of this journey from Day One.
Small pack, big impact is in essence the story of Short Post which was launched at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. It shows our conviction. In all humility, I can say, we have created a new niche in the news segment space like Hindustan Unilever which created a new segment, when it launched CloseUp Gel.
Yes, we have created a brand (in a limited sense), created demand (readers) and created supply (senior journalists). But we are facing teething problems like all start-ups. What makes us happy and confident is the recognition of our efforts. For instance, we have an arrangement with the OPEN Magazine, part of the $4.5 billion Kolkata-based Sanjiv Goenka-RPG Group. This arrangement sees around 10 Short Post stories posted on OPEN Magazine website every week. This arrangement is testimony that our content has been well received! Also, I may add that the Maharashtra government has recognised Short Post and has allowed our senior editor to cover the Assembly sessions. Ditto: Odisha.
Our goal is to ensure that Short Post becomes a habit. I would like people to keep checking their smartphones to know the latest Authentic Gossip. As regards AI and the fear of it disrupting all businesses including media. On that, personally, I have no such fear as I am confident AI cannot smell news particularly Authentic Gossip. That’s the place we are well entrenched.