For some inexplicable reason the Congress has suddenly taken a fancy to targeting National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. It is not clear why the party is targeting Doval, who has been giving sleepless nights to Pakistan and kept India safe. It is no coincidence that within a couple of days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that NSA Ajit Doval was conducting widespread surveillance on Indian citizens at his Chhatron ki Goonj programme in Indore. Former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan questioned the overlapping authority of EAM Jaishankar and NSA Doval, pointing out that key strategic areas are seeing neighbouring nations pull ahead. Prithviraj Chavan wanted to know why the NSA has been elevated to a cabinet rank under the current government, whereas it was a junior position (Minister of State rank) during the UPA tenure under PM Manmohan Singh. Chavan charged that Doval as a Cabinet Minister was playing a role in Foreign Policy; he was, after all, reporting directly to PM Modi. He questioned how a non-elected official with no parliamentary accountability holds direct access to the Prime Minister and exercises overlapping authority alongside External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.  In a media interview, Chavan was heard questioning Doval’s role at the time of BRICS Summit. He pointed out that while Jaishankar visited Russia ahead of BRICS Summit, Doval had visited Beijing. Clearly, the Congress is stunned by the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping for the BRICS Summit in Delhi mid-September. That is why the Congress has still been insisting that it still does not know the outcome of the 2-day conclave.

Now it is becoming quite obvious that the Centre is most likely to convene a special session of Parliament during Navaratri to take forward legislation on women’s reservation and delimitation. These bills will have to be passed only then is a Cabinet reshuffle possible. So, a number of new allies who have extended support are waiting for this. The Monsoon Session of Parliament concluded more than a month ago, but it has reportedly not yet been prorogued, adding to speculation that the government could still convene a special sitting. The nine-day Navaratri festival begins on October 11 and continues until October 20.  Official sources indicate that the government could consider holding the special sitting between October 11 and 15, taking into account the festival calendar. NDA sources say women’s reservation during Navaratri would augur well about the government’s commitment to women’s representation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Sources said the government has also reached out to Opposition parties on the issue. One source said the option of a special session remains open, although no final decision has been taken on its timing or the legislative route for operationalising women’s reservation. Several sources described Navaratri as an opportunity to take up legislation on women’s political representation and connect the agenda with the symbolism of Nari Shakti.

Every film the two sisters acted in drew audience craze, not just for the dancing, cavorting and romancing top heroes of the 80’s but for their acting talent too. Ambika and Radha acted in over 200 films, leaving unforgettable memories. The film Sakalakala Vallavan was as much enjoyed for Ambika’s acting, dancing and oomph as Kamal’s mastery of cinematic skills. The box office jingled and rocked for younger sister Radha who gave thespian Sivaji Ganesan an equal run for the money in Muthal Mariyathai…her mesmeric sexy looks drew as much appreciation as her acting. This high-profile sibling combo are now matronly mothers. Suddenly, Radha walked into the IG of Police office with a serious allegation. The family inheritance and the shares given to them had been settled. But Radha alleged that five of her cheque leaves were missing from the Valasaravakkam home, and she got a shock when her bank called to intimate that one cheque was forged, to be deposited in Ambika’s account. The bank had called Radha, stop order issued. It was when a second cheque to the tune of Rs 46 crore was again made out in Ambika’s name that serious concern escalated. Radha tearfully narrated the events and for good measure included brother Mallikarjuna too in this attempt to cheat. “if you can’t trust your own sister who is there to trust?”. Akka Ambika has had noteworthy runs in TV serials….Nayaki, Thirumathi  Hitler, Aruvi and Malli. Radha married a well to do hotelier. She tried to launch her daughter Kartika Nair in films but she could not fit into the film world where her mother and aunt reigned supreme.

A Bengaluru court has given Nani’s The Paradise an ex-parte interim injunction against specifically listed social-media posts ahead of its September 24 release. The producer, Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara Cinemas LLP, told the court that after the August 6 teaser a coordinated wave of false and derogatory URLs crossed fair criticism and threatened irreversible commercial harm. The judge agreed on a prima facie basis, ordered platforms not to host those identified links, and said genuine reviews were untouched. Weeks earlier, KVN Productions obtained a similar shield for Yash’s Toxic: an August 22 order restraining “false, malicious, defamatory or derogatory” content before and after release, again without first hearing the speakers. The Toxic sequel to that order is the warning. After the film opened to mixed and poor notices, YouTubers Suraj Kumar and Prashanth Rangaswamy said they received legal notices from Aiplex, acting for the producers, citing their review URLs. The court had not declared those reviews defamatory. The notices arrived anyway. That is how a “limited” injunction becomes a weapon against honest reaction: the reviewer must decide whether a lukewarm verdict, a roast, or a complaint about craft is safe, or whether it will be treated as commercial sabotage. Most small channels cannot afford the answer. They mute themselves. This is not an isolated South experiment. Kannada producers had already used Bengaluru John Doe orders for three Kannada films The Devil, Mark and 45, some of them wide enough to cover reviews, reaction videos, trolling and even “challenging feedback,” with BookMyShow ratings disabled. Telugu campaigns have used the same enforcement firms against critical YouTube channels. Toxic and The Paradise look narrower only because earlier orders were so broad. The playbook is the same: file in Bengaluru, name X and unknown “John Does,” list URLs, obtain an urgent takedown, then let notices travel to whoever still talks.

Nearly three decades after Mamata Banerjee broke away from the Congress to build the Trinamool Congress, she is confronting a crisis that reaches the party she created: rebellion within, a battle over its name and symbol, and the BJP’s emergence as Bengal’s ruling force. Mamata once challenged the Congress and Left, built a street-politics movement and became Bengal’s dominant force defeating Communist leader Somnath Chatterjee in Jadavpur in 1984. Her differences over the Left Front deepened. In 1993, she led a Writers’ Building march demanding voter ID cards; police firing killed 13 Congress workers. In 1998, she left Congress and founded the Trinamool Congress. Street agitations, Singur and Nandigram transformed her politics, ending 34 years of Left rule. But Nandigram became the setting for her first major reversal: in 2021, Mamata lost the seat to former aide Suvendu Adhikari by around 2,000 votes, though the Trinamool retained power. The 2026 election altered Bengal, with the BJP winning 207 of 294 seats, ending the Trinamool’s 15-year rule. Adhikari retained Bhabanipur and vacated Nandigram. After Mamata’s candidate withdrew following a meeting with him, she backed Congress candidate Milan Pradhan for the October 6 bypoll. That decision captures another reversal. Congress, once a rival and described by Mamata as the BJP’s “B-team”, is now a “sister party” and “natural alliance”. However, the West Bengal Congress remains opposed to an alliance with the Trinamool. State Congress leaders remain wary after years of political confrontation and large-scale defections from Congress to Trinamool. Therefore, Congress support on specific issues is not necessarily translating into a broader electoral understanding in Bengal. The deeper crisis is institutional: the EC has frozen the Trinamool name and ‘Jora Ghash Phul’ symbol pending rival claims, turning the dispute into a fight over political identity.

West Bengal’s action against 352 madrasas is more than a regulatory exercise. Coming barely four months after the BJP government took office, it is the latest in a series of decisions reshaping the state’s approach to Muslim institutions, welfare and religious identity. The immediate trigger is administrative. A statewide survey covering Kolkata and all 22 districts found 2,132 madrasas with valid approval and 2,396 operating without approval. The government has ordered 252 closures and issued show-cause notices to 100 others. Officials cite inadequate infrastructure, deviations from prescribed curricula, management irregularities and lack of valid authorisation. But the political significance lies in the wider sequence. Since May, the government has scrapped religion-based welfare measures including assistance for imams and muezzins, changed the previous OBC framework by removing several Muslim communities from the earlier categorisation, and made Vande Mataram mandatory in madrasas. The Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department’s allocation fell 62%, from Rs 5,713.61 crore in the interim Budget to Rs 2,175.43 crore in the full 2026–27 Budget. The Aikyashree scholarship allocation fell to Rs 250 crore from Rs 741 crore in 2025–26. The government says these changes replace religion-specific benefits with broader, religion-neutral welfare and bring institutions under common regulatory standards. Of the 252 institutions facing closure, 44 are in Malda, 37 in Uttar Dinajpur, 32 in South 24 Parganas and 25 each in Nadia and Murshidabad. Several have substantial Muslim populations, while some are near the Bangladesh border. The distribution does not establish communal targeting. Nor do the findings establish radicalisation or terrorism. Yet BJP leaders have linked some unrecognised madrasas to possible radicalisation and alleged that border-area institutions could facilitate anti-national activity. The question is whether the new government is applying a uniform...

Is the mineral-rich state Odisha planning a strategic shift from mining-led to hi-tech mind economy? Its huge natural reserves have attracted large metal industries. But, now Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi guided by the IT & Electronics Minister Aswini Vaishnaw is planning to transform the state into eastern India’s premier hi-tech semiconductor and electronics manufacturing hub. Towards this objective, the state government has already identified an 870-acre Silicon Valley type land bank hub between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. It may be mentioned that at the recently concluded SEMICON India 2026 the state had secured investment proposals worth over Rs 23,600 crore in the Semicon area. Building a strong foundation for the next generation electronics and semiconductor manufacturing is Majhi’s new vision. Immediately, the Odisha government has already begun working on two specific semiconductor projects worth Rs 11,200 cr. Apart from Odisha’s semiconductor focus, CM Majhi is also making sustained efforts to make Odisha emerge as a global sports capital. He is pursuing this status by strengthening grass roots infrastructure, nurturing sporting talent and providing world class sporting facilities. It may be mentioned that Odisha has already been selected to host the 2028 Asian and World Athletics Indoor Championships.

This is not the first time Bigg Boss has treated its own host as raw material. It has happened around Salman Khan before, and around other stars who walked into that house believing the show would protect the line between drama and damage. This time the cut was so clumsy that the superstar himself had to step out and apologise for a promo his own team put on air. The Weekend Ka Vaar promo showed Salman clutching his chest, asking for water, looking breathless, then lying down. Fans did what fans do when they have watched this man for three decades: they panicked. Some thought it was a heart scare. Some thought the show was using his health the way it uses everything else. Within hours Salman was on Instagram saying there was nothing wrong with him, that the pain was staged to show Qazi Touqeer what it feels like when someone fakes illness and 15 people in the house actually worry. Then the line that should shame the edit bay: the promo “should not have been cut like the way it was cut.” It “totally beats the purpose.” He even apologised on their behalf. The least the makers owed him was an edit that did not make his lesson look like the offence. They chose the clip that would travel. He chose the clarification that would stop the rumour. Rectifying the promo after Salman went public is not professionalism. It is damage control after the superstar did their job for them. A show that lectures contestants about using health for entertainment just used its biggest star the same way and then let him say sorry.

The unusual events leading up to death of a Dalit student Sahil Wakode by suicide in IIT Bombay on September 18, after his professor advised him against use of phone in exam led to a piquant situation. Since then the IIT Bombay has been under immense pressure to act against a much-decorated Prof Suryanarayana Doolla for the death of Wakode. The institute is under pressure to proceed against the professor under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act presumably for doing his job.  However, in a mighty pushback, the IIT Bombay Faculty rallied behind Prof Doolla’s favour and clarified that Prof Doolla has not been suspended, and continues to be a member of the faculty of the institute in “good standing”. It noted that Prof Doolla, who had won several awards for teaching, had received at least two such awards on the recommendations of the students. At this stage it is not clear how one odd statement will help Prof Doolla as political parties like the Congress are already trying to capitalise the incident. In this backdrop with the deceased student’s parents pressing for strong action, Prof Doolla got some support from Dalit leader from Tamil Nadu, Ananthan Ayyasamy, who has vocally opposed pressing SC/ST Act against Prof Doolla. He feels such a step would be counter-productive. Explaining how he himself belongs to the Devendra Kula Vellalar community, classified as SC, he says slapping the “harsh” SC/ST Act could drive away our IIT teaching faculty abroad. He says his community has been wanting to get out of the reserved category.  A qualified engineer from NIT, Trichy, who has had a stint at Intel in India and the U.S., he says his community is opposed to using the SC/ST Act per se.  “We are about 9% in Tamil Nadu. We should not do anything to harm our nation.” 

Lalbaugcha Raja was never only an idol. It was a promise: stand long enough, and Bappa will see you. This year that promise looks thinner than the barricade tape. Videos from the Parel queue are doing what official statements will not. People are telling friends to skip Raja. Not out of lost faith. Out of fear of the arrangement. Jaydeep Meghraj Nemade, 25, a Pune engineer with an MBA, came with friends for darshan on September 17. Around 11.40 pm, still in the line, he felt uneasy and could not breathe. He was rushed to Global Hospital. He died there. Police booked an accidental death and spoke of a suspected heart attack. The post-mortem will settle the medical line. It will not settle the other one: a young devotee collapsed in the most photographed queue in Mumbai, and the first public instinct was not surprising. It was recognition. That line has looked unsafe for years. What the videos show is not devotion. It is sorting. The common public is packed, shoved, held, and moved like volume. A few metres away, the paid and the connected walk a cleaner path. Pay more, wait less. The same mandal that sells “Raja of the poor” runs two religions under one shamiana: one for those who can buy speed, one for those who can only buy patience. Promotion gets louder every year. The callousness of the ground gets cheaper. Security looks like crowd control, not care. When regular visitors start saying it is better to avoid Raja, then it’s time organisers must sit up and take notice.