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Last week, as Congress leaders protested against Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s so-called “anti-Ambedkar” remark in Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi joined his party MPs in a blue T-shirt, giving up his trademark white polo T-shirt. His sister Priyanka also twinned with him wearing a blue sari. Clearly the Gandhi siblings opted to go for a very visual protest against Shah’s remarks. The choice of the colour of clothes of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) — usually spotted donning plain white T-shirts raised eyebrows. The colour blue has been associated with Dalit politics since 1942, when Dr BR Ambedkar established the Scheduled Castes Federation to campaign for the rights of the Dalit community. The body adopted a blue flag featuring Ashok Chakra. The flag was later retained by the Republican Party of India (RPI), founded by Ambedkar in 1956. Over time, blue became very closely associated with Dalit identity and activism. Even political parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party and the ASP, which champions Dalit welfare, embraced blue colour in their branding. As the Gandhi siblings lead the protest, it was the choice of colour of their clothes that caught everyone’s attention!
The Winter Session which saw a two-day discussion on the 75th anniversary of the Constitution and introduction of One Nation One Election (ONOE) Bill has come to a close. It brought out sharp divisions over discussions and bills at least in two political parties — the Congress and DMK. In the Congress, if a first term MP Priyanka Vadra was seen opening the discussion on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha, for some reason senior leader and eminent lawyer P Chidambaram did not get an opportunity to have his say about the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha. In the DMK, there was a clear division of views between the DMK parliamentary party leader TR Baalu and deputy leader Kanimozhi. While Baalu endorsed the government’s offer to refer the Bill to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, Kanimozhi seemed completely surprised by his stand and insisted that her party was opposed to the Bill and demanded its withdrawal.”DMK has consistently opposed the entire Bill. We do not accept that there can be ONOE because it is against the Constitution. It is against federal rights and it is against the will of the people. People choose state governments for 5 years, I don’t think you can take that right away from the people and give it to the EC to decide how many years governments can last or not. So, this is completely against the state, against federalism” said Kanimozhi. While her stand reflects TN assembly resolution passed in February against ONOE Bill this year, the media is awash with reports about how her late father Kalaignar M Karunanidhi had highlighted the benefits of simultaneous polls in his autobiography Nenjuku Neethi. Incidentally, Karunanidhi had advanced state polls to 1971 to coincide with LS polls.
The Thursday (Dec 19) visit of BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde) MLAs to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur has become a hot political topic though there are other reasons, too, for intense politicking. Firstly, the MLAs belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar did not join the event. Secondly, those disgruntled due to their non-inclusion in the council of ministers have started expressing their anger openly. Like earlier two occasions, Ajit Pawar and most of his followers distanced themselves from the visit organized by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The presence of former CM Eknath Shinde and his MLAs proved to be another highlight. However, the discontent brewing within Mahayuti on other counts is now becoming more vocal. Political heavyweight Chhagan Bhujbal was the first to articulate it. His open criticism of Ajit Pawar surprised many since he had stayed by the side of Pawar all through. Now, there are reports that some of Bhujbal’s supporters want him to join the BJP to end his political wilderness. So far, Bhujbal has maintained that he is with the NCP (Ajit). The other notable leader to become the subject of political speculation is the legislative council’s deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe. Her detractors, mainly the recent Sena (UBT) entrant Sushama Andhare, have started hinting at Gorhe’s plans to go with the BJP. Gorhe, too, has not reacted to the talk. Ajit’s sudden disappearance for two days from the winter session only added grist to the grapevine. His explanation that he was down with a throat infection is hardly swallowed. More murmurs are expected to be heard once Fadnavis announces the allocation of the portfolios.
The Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray has started preparing for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election, expected to take place early next year. This will be the fight for political survival for Thackeray because the Sena has been in power in India’s richest civic body since 1985. Taking stock of the situation, other political parties, too, have begun their planning. The picture this time will be fundamentally different since the BJP has emerged as the largest party in the state after the assembly election. Its estrangement with the Sena (UBT), which split in 2022 owing to Eknath Shinde’s decision to walk out of it, will be a major factor in the coming election in which the Congress will be an insignificant player, given its lacklustre performance in Mumbai and the state as a whole. Equally exasperating is the condition of the state Congress committee as its president Nana Patole is perceived as an ineffective leader by the rank and file. The BMC’s last election saw the Sena winning 84 seats in the 227-member house while the BJP had captured 82. Owing to the alliance ethics, the BJP had made no effort to bag the mayoralty of the financial capital of India. However, the BJP is not prepared to take any chance this time and a decision about its Mumbai president is likely to be taken soon. Sitting chief Ashish Shelar is among the hopefuls though his inclusion in the council of ministers could be a decisive factor in the final choice.
This was to happen one day or the other with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) putting its foot down saying it will not send its national teams to India for any signature event of the ICC, like the World Cups in the two formats in men, women and the juniors. This was the PCB’s riposte to the long-standing BCCI position — citing security concerns — that it will not send its team across the border for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and that it will play only at a neutral venue. For three World Test Championship (WTC) the two nations have taken themselves off the Future Tours Programme (FTP). The cricketers of the two countries may enjoy good relationships when they lock horns in neutral country venues and have fans across the border, but the Indian government has been steadfast in denying permission to the BCCI. The latest communication from the ICC has confirmed that in the 2024-2027 cycle all ICC events given to India and Pakistan, the matches featuring the two countries will be held at a neutral country chosen by the host country; in the Champions Trophy case the PCB is the host. What all this means is the elimination of high security arrangements that India had to do when Pakistan played last year’s World Cup matches in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata. It took hard bargaining by the PCB with the ICC — with Jay Shah in Chair since December 1, 2024 — for it to agree to a hybrid model in order to ensure that it remains the host in a neutral country venue as well and where India will play and this country is said to be the United Arab Emirates.
The massive success of Pushpa 2, has reignited the debate over screen allocation in West Bengal’s single-screen theatres. While the blockbuster continues to dominate the box office, its stronghold has created challenges for four Bengali films— Khadaan, Shontaan, Chaalchitro, and 5 No. Swapnamoy Lane—which targeted Christmas Day for their releases. The overlap has sparked a heated controversy over securing adequate slots in single-screen theatres, which remain a key audience base for Bengali cinema. Single-screen theatres across Bengal are grappling with the balancing act of accommodating these films while catering to the massive demand for Pushpa 2. Tollywood’s Christmas lineup has been significantly impacted, with producer-actor Dev expressing frustration on social media. He alleged that Khadan’s shows and advance bookings were disrupted due to the overwhelming presence of Pushpa 2. Arijit Dutta, owner of Priya Theatre, reported dividing slots among the films: Khadaan (two shows), Chaalchitro (one), 5 No. Swapnamoy Lane (one), and Pushpa 2 (one). However, veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty’s Shontaan was left out entirely, sparking outrage from its director Raj Chakraborty, who criticized the lack of consistent support for Bengali cinema. A distributor, speaking anonymously, blamed the simultaneous release of multiple Bengali films during the festive season, suggesting a lack of coordination among producers. He pointed to Bollywood’s strategy of staggering releases as a model Tollywood could emulate. Star Theatre owner Joydeep Mukherjee called for better planning within the Bengali film industry to avoid internal competition. Interestingly, allegations have resurfaced about Shontaan‘s producer, pressuring hall owners to prioritize its films. This history has led some distributors to side with independent producers in the current clash.
Sunday’s swearing in of 33 (16:9:8 ratio for BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP respectively) mostly young cabinet ministers in CM Devendra Fadnavis’ 3.0 government was not followed up by expected portfolio allocations even late Thursday (Dec 19). The unrelenting clamour for one specific portfolio by a senior BJP minister-in-waiting (in apparent conflict of interest), aspiration to improve upon earlier performance in power sector by another are in the open awaiting the Maha Chanakya to coolly decide upon. Scribes housed at the state government ‘Suyog’ facility within the Family court premises near Vidhan Bhavan enjoy the Nagpur chill over familial evenings at ‘Sneh Bojans’ hosted by these as-yet ‘Anamika’ ministers. DCM Eknath Shinde’s camp brews hostility from left out veteran MLAs and cherry-picking ministers-in-waiting who threaten boiling point anytime soon. This is unlike the chill that has set upon the near deserted NCP office at Vidhan Bhavan sans activity, notwithstanding the bustling beehive of activity right outside and within the state legislature that is hosting its winter session. It is probably the first time in Maharashtra’s political history for such an ongoing legislature session without specifically assigned ministers manning questions on the floor of the state assembly and council while responding to public interest issues of state. For now, all portfolios rest with CM Fadnavis. NCP veteran Chhagan Bhujbal, Sena’s Tanaji Sawant complain vociferously from out in the cold even as some BJP MLAs rue their bad luck despite winning big in Mumbai city where the richest civic body will face the hustings very soon.
The events outside Parliament House that led to injuries to two BJP MPs was best summed up by FM Nirmala Sitharaman in her X post. She explained how “During the INDI Alliance’s protest inside Parliament premises today, Rahul Gandhi had forcefully pushed an MP, causing a domino effect that injured 2 BJP MPs –Pratap Sarangi (Balasore, Odisha) and Mukesh Rajput (Farrukhabad, UP)” Both the MPs are now hospitalised as they have sustained head injuries. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan was surprised that the Congress had so far not even bothered to say sorry. “I was wondering what was the purpose of Kharge-Rahul Gandhi’s presser, if they can’t say sorry. Our Nagaland MP, a tribal woman leader Phangnon Konyak had voiced discomfort that was caused to her by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.” She has written a letter to the RS Chairman. Adding further he said, “We feel Rahul simply does not deserve to be the LoP. When the Opposition is holding a protest, we usually take another gate. What was the need for Rahul Gandhi to wade into the area where BJP MPs were standing? He should simply quit as LoP.” BJP MPs including Anurag Thakur and Bansuri Swaraj filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi at the Parliament Street Police station in connection with the scuffle between Opposition and NDA MPs. It is learnt that security forces repeatedly requested the Congress MP to use an alternative path, specifically arranged for a peaceful entry into Parliament. However, Rahul Gandhi declined the request. BJP’s Thakur said “The kind of attitude Rahul Gandhi has, he thinks he is above the law.” Responding to the allegations, Rahul said BJP MPs were trying to stop him and were threatening him “
Home Minister Amit Shah whose intervention in discussions on the 75th anniversary of the Constitution sparked off a row and seemed to have majorly united the Opposition. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge charged him of insulting Dr BR Ambedkar.. He accused his rivals of being “anti-Ambedkar” and “anti-Constitution”, and “spreading lies”. In his concluding remarks in the Rajya Sabha, Shah sarcastically said, “It has become the fashion to say ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…’ If they (the opposition) took God’s name so many times, they will get a place in heaven.” At a Press Conference, he charged the Congress of distorting his comments in the Rajya Sabha saying the Congress had put out an edited version of his speech. “I come from a party which follows the ideals of Ambedkar,” asserted Shah.” Rebuffing calls for his resignation by Kharge, Shah made it clear that he had no intention of stepping down. “Kharge is asking for my resignation. If that will make him feel happy, then I’ll give it. But the Congress has to sit in the opposition for at least 15 more years. “In an unusual move — perhaps underlining the impact of the Opposition’s attack on this issue — PM Modi and senior ministers rallied behind Shah. “If the Congress and its rotten ecosystem think malicious lies can hide their misdeeds of several years, especially their insult towards Dr Ambedkar, they are gravely mistaken!” said PM Modi. Amidst this, PM Modi and Shah met Rahul Gandhi and Kharge to appoint the next NHRC chief. TMC leader Derek O’Brien has moved a privilege notice against Shah in the Rajya Sabha for his remarks on Dr Ambedkar.
Ravichandran Ashwin was adroit in bowling the carom or knuckle ball or the doosra, but on Wednesday afternoon, Brisbane time, the nonconformist off-spinner of 13 years in the big league of the game deployed the “bombshell” to bring an end to his illustrious career. At the conclusion of the rain-marred third Test at the Gabba, the finger spinner with a few sobriquets, “scientist” being the most used among the media, Ashwin sitting beside his beleaguered captain, Rohit Sharma, matter of fact said: Today (Wednesday, December 18) was his last day as an international cricketer across formats and that he will be seen in action in club cricket, meaning IPL etc. The seasoned campaigner, starting his Test career in November 2011, was capped 106 times, and he missed 25 Tests after his debut; he featured in 61 wins, 47@home and 14 overseas. He read the writing on the wall about him losing the primacy as the No 1 spinner of the team in flannels after Washington Sundar was chosen for the first Test in Perth. Then being dropped to bring in Ravindra Jadeja for the third Test in Brisbane convinced him that his time was up…to hang up his boots. The home series against New Zealand that India lost 3-0 was a bitter pill to swallow for him. His numbers — 765 wickets in the three formats, including 537 wickets in Tests alone speaks of his right to be called a legend. It was a bold, practical call to take a bow while not in the field and that was an unhappy part that Indian cricket could not give one of its icons a fitting farewell. Ashwin has perhaps shown the way for a few more to bid adieu, sooner than later! They are over the hill, indeed.
The Tamil Nadu political landscape will wear a different look from now on with staunch allies of the post-Jayalalithaa era – AIADMK and BJP – going it alone. The break did not seem momentous because it occurred just before the urban local body polls but its implications are wide-ranging. The cadres of both parties wanted the split to happen with AIADMK party members wishing to test the theory that they would have done far better had they stood alone in the Assembly polls of April 2021 and the BJP cadre believing that they have greater support in certain urban areas that can be brought out only if they stood independent of AIADMK. An insider suggests that the ties will remain politically but will not stretch to elections anymore. This was the Jaya doctrine by which she chose to steer clear of the national BJP in 2016 despite her friendship with Narendra Modi. Her successors had no way of showing such independence as the party bigwigs needed New Delhi’s support to keep clear of any probes into their finances and the BJP needed all the votes they could garner in the Rajya Sabha where they don’t command a majority. The results of the local body polls this month will show where the AIADMK and the BJP stand in the minds of voters.
In the course of a momentous year we broke the story that the former cricket head honcho N Srinivasan was prepared to give up control over Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) as he had other battles to fight. Soon, his daughter resigned as President citing other commitments and it confirmed our story that Srinivasan had given the TNCA reins to DMK for a quid pro quo. In what is a done deal, it is up to TN Chief Minister MK Stalin to decide who will head TNCA – his son-in-law Sabareesh or the young gun in his party who is already in TNCA. In a battle with the corporate raider Radhakishan Damani, Srinivasan would need the help of the ruling party to ensure it is not a hostile takeover of India Cements. What he needs most is the Chennai Super Kings, the billion-dollar baby he always knew would bring him plenty of trouble in cricket because of a conflict of interests and he would like his daughter Rupa to be the honcho there. What makes India Cements ripe for a corporate raid is the cross-ownership of CSK through a shareholders’ trust. There are complications like some residences of top honchos or parts of them in the Tony Boat Club area in Chennai being in ICL’s name. Will the raider not be interested in the exposure CSK would bring him than cement factories? There are interesting times ahead when this story unravels.
It would be most ironic if a businessman of Indian origin were to become the Prime Minister of Britain. A payback for three centuries of rule by the East India Company and the queens and kings of England, some might say. Rishi Sunak, son-in-law of India’s tech czar NR Narayana Murthy of Infosys, and Chancellor during the difficult pandemic years, was the bookie’s favourite to take over from Boris Johnson if the latter were to be called to account by Tory MPs. Sunak, whose image has been taking a beating lately because of runaway inflation and high taxes, was considered to be ahead of Liz Truss, the foreign minister, as he had picked up a reputation for smart management of the economy when he unfurled big spending support when the pandemic raged. But his lukewarm support of his beleaguered Prime Minister during the ‘Partygate’ scandal may not have impressed many. But Liz took off to Australia while Sunak sat by BoJo’s side during a difficult PMQ hour in Parliament. One of the richest MPs whose business links might come in for scrutiny if he vaults into the top job, Sunak is in for a big fight with Liz. An influential Indian origin community in Britain would be rooting for him.
The Rahuls are the ones in charge of transition as Team India moves on from the Virat Kohli era. KL, the opener-captain of the ODI team, and Dravid, the coach, will be ushering in the fresh start. The alarm bells must be ringing in those who were given a long rope when Shastri-Kohli were in charge. Work ethic will have a very high value. There will be no more pampering of seniors and whenever Test matches come along both Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara can expect no more favours. Rishabh Pant may have got a renewed lease of life with his classy century marked by great discipline at the crease but he too can expect none of the old licence with Dravid in charge. Total commitment to the team cause would be the new mantra and anyone fed a false sense of confidence will know that everyone will be on trial from here on. Dravid will be the toughest task master because he was a cricketer who drove himself on in his career and his Karnataka mate Lokesh would know that very well. Committed cricketers will have a better chance as performance will count for more than players strutting about on their assumed potential. A new Team India is in the making.
The sports broadcaster SuperSport of South Africa is in the crosshairs after an “impossible” replay reprieved skipper Dean Elgar when he seemed plumb in front to off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the Cape Town Test. Visiting teams are accustomed to facing hostility from various quarters but a telecaster is an additional one on tours of South Africa. Known for commentators who are cheerleaders for the home team, SuperSport is, however, not in charge of the technology of replays that is outsourced to a technical company and whose feed is made available to the match referee and TV. On an early tour of South Africa, Kepler Wessels shocked the cricket world by swiping his bat across Kapil Dev’s shins after taking his first run. There was a huge brouhaha about it and conveniently, the host broadcaster said it had no replays to show because the cameras had been on the blink. As excuses went, that was the weakest one but the South Africans, rabid supporters of their own, were quite smug about it. It is moot whether the host broadcaster can influence the replays which have predictive elements to them but the Indians let the world know what they thought of it by using the stump microphones strategically. And KL Rahul went the farthest with his cutting comment – “Whole country is playing against 11 guys.” The occasion probably deserved it.
The England Test cricket captain Joe Root has decided to stay in the job beyond the Ashes series till he can groom a successor, it is learnt. His resignation was thought likely after his team lost the Ashes 3-0 in double quick time halfway during the third Test. But he has thought it through and believes he has to put up his hand to ensure he passes on the baton to the right player. Ben Stokes, who was being groomed for the captaincy, does not want the burden. He is a multi-format cricketer who is in great demand in IPL. He is also just back from a break to tend to his mental stress problems and would much rather be the star all-rounder contributing to the team cause rather than bearing the additional responsibility of leading the team. Root, like Virat Kohli, is a committed Test cricketer who had an extraordinary year of success in 2021 when he became Test cricket’s third highest scorer in a calendar year after Mohammad Yousuff (1,788) and Viv Richards (1,710) with 1,708 runs. He also had reason to somewhat celebrate his team’s escape in Sydney when they were nine down while managing to draw. He has declared his intention to keep facing the challenge of Test captaincy after the final Ashes Test in Hobart this week.
The world’s greatest tennis player Novak Djokovic is holed up in an immigration detention hotel in Melbourne that is famous for serving maggot-infested food and mouldy bread. The experience of being hauled through the coals for his beliefs may not, however, knock any sense into the Serbian who has been susceptible to all kinds of quackery in his life. He believes that his breathing trouble from gluten intolerance was solved by a quack who held slices of bread on his stomach and used kinesiological arm testing as a diagnostic tool. A great believer in alternative medicine, he once copied a page from Chinese traditional medicine that said – “Each organ in our bodies is undergoing repair in roughly this order: Lungs 3-5 am, Large intestine 5-7 am, Stomach 7-9 am…” The lover of nature and seeker after truth considers a Brazilian fig tree in the Fitzroy Park near Tennis Australia as his best friend in Australia. He once supported a quack on his Instagram Live Channel selling bottles of Advanced Brain Nutrients for $50 a bottle. It is curious that a professional athlete of his standing would believe in such mumbo-jumbo but not trust science enough to take a Covid vaccine that is doing so much for public health around a world beset by a coronavirus pandemic for more than two years now. “No vax, no entry” might be the verdict in his case.
The reasons for Rupa Gurunath’s resignation as President of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) run deeper than the BCCI resolution citing a conflict of interest. This is one of the battles former BCCI and ICC chief honcho N Srinivasan is fighting to retain control over his billion-dollar brand — CSK. Earlier, Radhakishan Damania of DMart fame picked up a nearly 20% stake in India Cements. Was it to wrest control? Currently held by Indian Cements Shareholders Group Trust, CSK would become vulnerable if Srini is unable to ward off raids on India Cements. His plan is to move daughter Rupa to a key post in CSK after restructuring its ownership so that the IPL franchise stays in the family, regardless of developments in India Cements’ shareholding pattern. There is still a lot of fight left in the old cricket lover and corporate czar who once fought a pitched battle to wrest back control of the cement company with the help of Murasoli Maran. But if the tide turns against him, Srini would rather keep CSK in the family and leave the TNCA presidency to the DMK first family. V Sabareesan, the son-in-law of Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, is one of the frontrunners for the post after it was found that son Udhayanidhi was ineligible as he holds public office as an MLA.
Some of the sharpest questions are being asked by one of their own but the BJP will not move against Varun Gandhi unless and until the big two take it up. To have a Gandhi name in the party was seen as a prized trophy when Maneka Gandhi, the estranged daughter-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, moved over to the saffron camp. While she has taken to staying off the limelight her son is making up for various insults to his mother by speaking up boldly on issues. His question on the paradox of polls in pandemic times contains such logic as to defy retorts. He asks if it is not ridiculous to impose curfew at night in Uttar Pradesh, one of five States heading to the polls in 2022, while rallies comprising thousands of cadre, party workers and the general public are attending poll rallies by day. With Covid cases going up in the State which has the most impact on who may get to rule in New Delhi after the general elections of 2024, UP has hit upon curfews to try and stop its fragile healthcare system from being overwhelmed. The EC is to take a call soon on polls in 2022 but word is it will only ask for a special vaccination drive in the poll-bound states where Omicron cases are still in very low numbers. Meanwhile a young BJP Gandhi is proving to be a cat among the pigeons.
It’s nostalgia time as the splendidly made movie 83 starring Ranveer Singh recaptures the spirit of India’s greatest cricketing achievement, which was to dethrone the two-time World Cup winners West Indies at Lord’s. The 83 World Cup team members, with only the departed Yashpal Sharma absent, gathered to celebrate the great moment again ahead of the film’s release on December 24. The one unanswered question that remains about the morning of the match against Zimbabwe in Tunbridge Wells is about why Kapil Dev chose to bat. Recalling the day, journalist R Mohan who was the only reporter from India who watched all the India matches in that World Cup, said he was the most nervous person at the picturesque Tunbridge Wells ground in Kent because he had spoken to Kapil before the toss and may have unwittingly prompted the decision to bat by speaking of how the Net Run Rate might improve if India got in and put up a 300-run total. Kapil, who said the wicket was wet – “thoda geela hai” – still chose to bat and soon was in with the scoreboard reading 9-4. It was soon 17-5 and he went on to craft one of the greatest fightback innings in limited-overs cricket history with his 175*, India’s first ever ODI century. That innings transformed the team into believing it could achieve anything and it went on to beat the world champs within a week beating Australia, England and the mighty West Indies.
The firebrand Navjot Sidhu is on the warpath again. He has seized upon the two incidents of sacrilege and subsequent lynchings as his ticket to dominating the Punjab poll scene. Amid the silence of Punjab’s political faces over the two lynchings, Sidhu is demanding public execution for those accused of desecrating religious texts. Sidhu knows this is a topic on which opposing political parties can tread only softly as they can’t be seen justifying lynching in a civilized country. The space is thus open for the Congress chief Sidhu to exploit the emotions that are attached to anyone playing the fool with religion and attempting sacrilege by attacking the holy text. Sidhu is alleging a “conspiracy against one community” and that fundamentalist forces are trying to disturb peace in Punjab. He had made an issue of the inaction over past attempts at the desecration of the Granth Saheb against which the government had not acted in time with due prosecution. Sidhu made it his plank against the then Congress CM Captain Amarinder Singh and dethroned him and got Charanjit Singh Channi installed. The CM has slammed the alleged sacrilege attempts but, chosen to remain silent on the lynchings. Sidhu has no qualms about it. He is virtually giving a license to the public to go after sacrilege while giving lip service to making laws stringent with a death sentence for sacrilege.
After raiding 69 premises linked to P Thangamani, a former AIADMK minister of Tamil Nadu, the Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption (DVAC) revealed that the minister, his son, and kin had made huge investments in cryptocurrency. This must be a first in India in the world of investments from ill gotten money. While it is common enough for I-T raids to unearth huge investments in gold and properties across the State, assets in newfangled cryptocurrency, Bitcoins, and the like which have been unearthed lends a new dimension to the sophistication of those who find themselves showered with new riches. Tamil Nadu has always been suspected to run openly corrupt governments in which ministers and their offspring have made huge money from deal-making and fixing contracts for government contractors and suppliers. It is no secret that TN regimes led to many Dravidian politicians making quick money, as is evidenced in huge properties and assets being taken over by ED or I-T after raids on politicians once they lose power. Protests hinting at revenge politics in DVAC raids by succeeding governments mean little because disproportionate assets are in black & white and show a trail of corruption. It is suspected to be even more so in electricity purchases to make up for the deficiency in production because the kickbacks every summer are said to be huge.
Justice Krishnaswamy Chandru is in the limelight after the critically acclaimed movie Jai Bhim, based on the human rights abuse case that he handled to expose police brutality in Tamil Nadu, is not popular with the judges of the Andhra Pradesh high court at the moment. A division bench of the AP high court was up in arms about comments made by the outspoken retired judge who is championing public causes in his speeches these days. Speaking at an event in Andhra recently, Justice Chandru had said, “We need judges who will protect the rights of the people. Now, what do we see in AP? Today, an elected government is fighting for survival not from rivals, not from political rivals or mass movements, but from the judiciary itself!’’ He had gone on to say that the judiciary, whose duty is to defend the rights of the people, “is doing something different, which is not expected.” The AP HC chief justice blamed the celebrity without naming him, saying remarks made against the judiciary were just to be in the limelight. Why should a judge from another state come to Andhra and make comments on the functioning of the court, the CJ asked. He explained that contempt of court proceedings are not being contemplated now in consideration of the judge’s contribution to the judiciary in the past.
Word is out already that Virat Kohli is ready to step down as Test captain at the end of the tour of South Africa. He is disappointed at the way things have turned out as he was stripped of the ODI captaincy, which he wished to retain. He had given up the T20 captaincy of his own volition but without realising that was signal enough for the selectors to split the captaincy and empower Rohit Sharma with the white ball captaincy. The aura around Kohli was lost after India was wiped out of the T20 World Cup after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand. He was no more the Kohli who was in command along with Ravi Shastri when taking India into the World Test championship. Losing that was bad enough and the abandoning of the England Test series meant he could not even claim victory there though India was leading 2-1. This is a judgment call by the selectors. Kohli just can’t read the white ball game quickly enough to make a difference in fast-paced games when mental agility is called for. The laidback Test match format might be more his cup of tea but in a world moving on to the instant delights of T20 there is no patience left. Kohli’s reign was great in some ways, but it has ended with no ICC trophies in the bag.
DMK leader Kanimozhi has found her voice again. She upbraided the Centre for inequitable distribution of taxes from the central pool while pointing out that the system was blatantly unfair to southern states, particularly Tamil Nadu. Since share of taxes is linked to State population, the progressive southern States, which promoted family planning and controlled the population for five decades from the 1970s, is suffering, she said. This was an unusual outburst as the DMK has been taking the pragmatic line that it will not be openly antagonistic of the Centre. It has told leaders below the top deck to go easy on political criticism and stick to elaborating any charge with facts and figures. Even in Parliament, the DMK, while being very much part of the UPA alliance led by the Congress, has been playing it soft. During the ruckus that saw Congress take on the ruling party in Parliament in the winter session, the DMK was not unduly demonstrative but joined the walkout whenever the alliance required it. Unlike the TRS MPs who were prominent in the well of the House, DMK members were content to stay seated while scoring debating points. Kani’s criticism does of course follow the release of the findings of the national family survey which proves the point about fertility rate and fall in population in the South.
Rumours are flying thick and fast that Udhayanidhi Stalin might be in the running to head the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). It might be a long term plan as elections are only in the 2022 summer but heading a cricket body is a route that many young politicians have been known to take to gain popularity and a bit of national prominence. Remember both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah were presidents of the Gujarat Cricket Association and Shah’s son has gone further to become the all-powerful BCCI secretary. N Srinivasan is not one to give away such a prized post that remains now in his family with his daughter Rupa heading the TNCA. He is very close to the DMK top brass after years-long association with ‘Murasoli’ Maran. But, after years of fighting a losing battle with the Supreme Court, NS had to give up the BCCI presidency, formal ownership of Chennai Super Kings as well as step down from TNCA. To cement his position as South India’s leading cement manufacturer, NS might loosen his grip on TNCA to allow the CM’s son an entry into the glamorous world of cricket with its Bollywood and corporate links. After all, Udhayanidhi’s grandfather M Karunanidhi was a keen cricket fan who never missed a Pongal Test at Chepauk in the old days.
Lionel Messi won a record seventh Ballon d’Or to add to further his reputation as one of the world’s greatest footballers ever and young German Robert Lewandowski was runner-up. The highly regarded Oscar of football was a prize Messi thoroughly deserved this year after having led Argentina to the Copa America title. Having believed the 2019 prize could be his last, Messi said he was, however, not surprised after Argentina’s victory over Brazil in the final. Messi’s contemporary, long term rival and five-time winner, Cristiano Ronaldo was also the centre of attention. He made public his feud with Pascal Ferre, the editor-in-chief of France Football whose organisation oversees the star-studded ceremony. Ferre had told the New York Times in an interview that Ronaldo’s only remaining ambition was to win more Ballon D’Ors than Messi. Ronaldo contested the claim that he had told Ferre so. He reiterated that his only goals are to do with his country and club and to be a good example for all those who are or want to be professional footballers. Ronaldo signed off saying he likes to win for himself and his teams and not win against anyone. He also resented Ferre’s suggestion that Ronaldo did not attend the event because of quarantine rules. He conveyed sportingly his best wishes to the winner.
Tamil Nadu would like to believe it is the home of white ball cricket. Ever since MS Dhoni took up residence here in 2008 with the advent of IPL, the State has picked up the glamour formats as its favourites, with T20 taking the pride of place. But when chasing 152 to keep the title, the defending champions had fallen behind in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final. That was when they found a hero in Sharukh Khan, not of silver screen fame but of the ‘last ball six’ club. Needing five, the 26-year old batter moved his front foot out and made room to clear square leg and Tamil Nadu became the first team to win the T20 trophy thrice. Another chapter in the reputed Karnataka-Tamil Nadu rivalry had ended on a dramatic note in New Delhi but it appeared Karnataka had the upper hand when 16 were required off the last over bowled by seamer Prateek. It was up to another “finisher” in Dhoni fashion to settle the issue and bring another trophy home to TNCA which had just finished celebrating Chennai Super Kings’ victory in IPL 2021 with a grand public show at its Chepauk Stadium and the CM MK Stalin in attendance as well as Kapil Dev, Krish Srikkanth and Ravi Shastri from the World Cup winning team of 1983.
Ravichandran Ashwin has a lot to say within his circle. He can be vociferous at team meetings because he loves to discuss things and dissect ideas. But he is best when he lets the cricket ball do the talking. Which is what he did in the first T20i when he starred with the white ball in a match-changing over taking out New Zealander’s Mark Chapman and getting the dangerous Glenn Philips to scotch the visitors’ hopes of a 170-plus total that could have challenged Team India. What Ashwin’s deeds with the ball have done since he was reluctantly brought into the side as an afterthought in the T20 World Cup after India had been virtually eliminated was to expose the prejudiced view of Virat Kohli towards off spin in general and against its leading proponent Ashwin in particular. Having decided that wrist spin was the answer to counter the big hitters in T20 cricket, the Kohli-Shastri duo had dumped Ashwin four years ago from white ball cricket and then simply refused to admit they could have been wrong even after the novelty of wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav had worn off. It is a tribute to Ashwin that he never gave up on honing his white ball skills. It is his good fortune that Team India is making a fresh start with a new captain and coach.
Virat Kohli leaves behind a stirring record as captain in international T20 matches but without a single IPL win with Royal Challengers, Bangalore. His record in bilateral series is quite phenomenal and he won away T20i series in New Zealand (5-0), Australia (2-1), England (2-1) and South Africa (2-1), besides countless series at home and in Sri Lanka. The blot on his record book is to do with there being no ICC event victories under him. This may denote not only Team India’s failures in these high-profile events but also Kohli’s inability to inspire his team in high-pressure situations when the bowling intensity of opposing teams is far higher. Kohli’s prejudices as captain in selection situations abroad when his sway in picking the playing XI is highest tended to tell but more relevant was his tactical failures in tricky match situations in which MS Dhoni excelled with his instinctive decisions. For instance, in his first big final in the Champions Trophy of 2017 his bowlers lost control to Pakistan batsmen in the early overs and fell to heavy defeat. The story was to repeat in the chase in the 50-overs World Cup of 2019 and the World Test Championship final in both of which India lost to New Zealand. Best to say, critics won’t be sorry to see him relinquish the white ball captaincy.
The selfless ways of thousands of workers who rose to deal with the emergency created by a couple of days of extraordinary rainfall in Chennai came in for high praise. This was a redeeming feature of life as the Tamil Nadu capital was inundated incommoding the lives of lakhs of people. The one who stood out as thousands of relief workers toiled to take on the conditions rendered extremely difficult by the rain and water-logging was Police Inspector Rajeshwari. She saved a man in a cemetery who was injured by a falling tree by carrying him on her shoulder and running to the road to try and hire an auto rickshaw to ferry him to a government hospital. She became an internet sensation as her response to a situation beyond the call of duty was recorded on a mobile and made it nationally. Known to be committed to social service while working in the police force, she had been awarded medals for her dedication. There were also many a nameless worker who waded into the water to rescue people, handle electricity problems and outages, man row boats and dinghies to offer help to the stranded and strove to bring back a semblance of normalcy so people could manage to live through a city in the grip of a crisis caused by a natural disaster.
The head honchos of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been collaborating on keeping the alarmists at bay over the Mullaperiyar Dam issue. The States are at loggerheads over the permissible height of water storage in the dam with Kerala wishing to build a new dam and take the 125-year-old dam out of the equation even as TN insists on its water rights from a perennial treaty. Alarmists are having a field day spreading rumours of impending disaster even as the opposition AIADMK is whipping up a campaign on TN’s water rights. The CMs are seeing reason in a tense scenario. The Supreme Court may have said the dam is safe and water can be stored upto 142 feet. Taking into consideration the fear of Keralites living below the dam in Idukki district, TN is keeping the water level only at 139 feet or less. The irrigation and drinking water needs of TN’s southern districts may be great but they will not be met by endangering the safety of a dam that stops a west-flowing river to take the water eastwards through giant pipes from the dam built by British engineer Penniquick who pledged his wife’s jewels to complete the work on his limestone masterpiece that has stood the test of time.
Team India is facing the classic do-or-die situation in the T20 World Cup. Failure to beat New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday (October 31) would mean elimination as other results are expected to go by the form book. A couple of changes in the playing XI are bound to be there for the key game. India is grappling with two major problems in its bowling. The woes go beyond how flat the bowling looked against Pakistan because of the heavy dew factor. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was seen to be too ineffective, so too the mystery finger spinner Varun Chakravorty. An interesting thing to look out for would be whether the team would be wise enough to accept its bowling failures and reinforce the attack with Shardul Thakur coming in for Bhuvi and Ravi Ashwin for Varun. It may be time for skipper Virat Kohli to keep aside any prejudices against Ashwin and play him in the hope that his cleverness can help get over the conditions if Team India are forced to defend a total again at night. And then the question of bringing in in-form batsman Ishan Kishan remains but will the team dump Surya Kumar Yadav and play Kishan? Hardik Pandya’s place can’t be assured if he can’t turn his arm over.
Indian Premier League (IPL), an estimated $7 billion property, became richer by close to $1.5 billion as the bids for two new teams touched Rs 12,715 crore. Kolkata-based Sanjiv Goenka, who had owned the Pune IPL team for two years, bid a phenomenal Rs 7,090 crore and chose the AB Vajpayee stadium in Lucknow as his team’s base while CVC Capital, a US firm which was running Formula 1 racing till recently, got India’s biggest stadium in Ahmedabad. Annually, the new team bids would fetch an additional Rs 1,200 crore to BCCI for next 10 years. But does shelling out so much money as a team’s franchise fee make business sense? Goenka thinks so, though industry estimates put prospective losses at around Rs 350 crore per year for the Lucknow franchise even if the team gets Rs 350 crore from the IPL central pool. IPL figures show that teams are currently earning around Rs 200 crore a year from central pool, Rs 100 crore from gate collection besides sponsorship and merchandising. The profitability prospects for the teams are likely to brighten with the next IPL media rights auction – and they could be big winners in the valuation game with individual IP teams rated as high as $1 billion. But, experts hold that the new teams may have to withstand losses even if the future share of central pool revenues is higher when the new IPL bidding cycle for media rights kick in.
The electric car maker and space enthusiast Elon Musk is on course to become the world’s first trillionaire. Analysts at investment banks are going gaga over the prospect of a trillionaire on earth as Tesla raced to a record quarter with revenues of $13.8 billion and profits of $3.7 billion despite a global chip shortage cramping car production. The potential of Musk’s rocket company SpaceX places Musk in pole position for gathering wealth to a stupendous trillion dollars. Thanks to its surging share price which went up by 18% just this year, Tesla is still the main driver behind Musk’s wealth whereas SpaceX comprises only around 17% of his $241.4bn fortune, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. While SpaceX comprises multiple different companies, from earth observation and space infrastructure to deep-space exploration and other industries, his satellite communications business Starlink is behind a $200-billion valuation estimate. It is almost like Star Wars now as satellite broadband market players are launching satellite constellations that will blanket the earth with high-speed connections. Tomorrow’s broadband is likely to come down to earth from satellites, replacing expensive optic fibre cable laying. The race for number one ranking on the personal wealth index is loaded in favour of Musk who has made so many sunrise industries viable, most of all the Tesla electric car that the world laughed at when it made its debut.
The de facto head honcho of Chennai Super Kings summed it up all by saying “Dhoni is CSK and CSK is Dhoni.” That is how much Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain with the magic touch, has captivated the IPL franchise as well as its host city. Dhoni might appear to be well over the hill but T20’s short duration gives him a chance to keep himself in the thick of action as wicket-keeper and a batsman who can finish a game with just his experience and the awesome power of his willow when he connects. Dhoni would love to have an emotional farewell season at CSK as a player and the team is willing to use its first available retention card to keep him out of the general auction pool. It’s only the lack of clarity on player retention for IPL-15 that keeps the guessing games going. In his 12 seasons with CSK in which time he led them into nine finals winning four, Dhoni has become a fixture of the franchise and the host city where his once famous night rides on super bikes kept cops on tenterhooks. Chennai’s favourite son will be seen in canary yellow as a player again and we have the word of vice chairman & MD of India Cements, N Srinivasan, for it.
Not for nothing is he known as Captain Cool. CSK coach Stephen Fleming said that Dhoni had that look in his eye which said: “I will take this on.” In the match against Delhi Capitals on October 10, Dhoni went out to bat with that intent when 24 were needed off the last two overs even if he wasn’t in the best of nick. That didn’t mean anything though as Dhoni dispatched the ball to the fence whenever it was within his sight and reach. That sight and reach may have dimmed or shortened but it didn’t matter as Dhoni made 18 off six balls and miraculously led his CSK into a ninth final in just 12 seasons — Remember his team was banned for two years. Dhoni never explains what he does at the batting crease. There were several revelations: “I wasn’t thinking too much. If you think too much while batting then you mess your plans up.” Also, Dhoni revealed a Sehwag-like code to batting, “My plan was simple, see the ball, hit the ball.” Dhoni can make that Sehwag plan seem even simpler while captaining too as he backed his bowlers even on a hard day when the ball was flying all around like when Hetmeyer and Pant were batting. But nothing is beyond Dhoni, the magician, not when it comes to the finish.
What? No more statues? Would Tamil Nadu, or any State for that matter, exist without feeling the need to put up statues for venerated leaders? An order from a Madras High Court judge to the contrary would have sent shivers running down the spines of various people, from social reformers to politicians. While disallowing any new statue to be installed, the judge would like to send all existing statues on roads and public places to a “Leaders’ Park” where presumably the erectors of statues would pay for their upkeep and people would line up to pay homage to saints and demigods, social thought leaders and tall political leaders, including most of all of actor-politicians in cinema-crazy Tamil Nadu. This is a tall order in a State that is crowded with statues of Gandhi, Nehru, Periyar, Ambedkar, MGR, Jaya, M Karunanidhi et al in public places including the Marina Beach that is the world’s longest drive past an array of statues to saints and leaders. The erection of statues and paying homage to them is intensely political too. Not a day passes by without a political group paying homage to a departed leader by adorning his statue with flowers. It does appear that the order will be quickly challenged in court one before the State prepares the ground for creating ‘Leaders’ Parks’ in several places.
In what could be dangerous for police forces, Apple has launched encrypted browsing at the touch of a switch on its iPhones, iPads, laptops and desktop computers. It is called the Private Relay feature and criminals could have a free run on it with law enforcement rendered helpless in tracking them. Broadband and mobile companies may be unable to assist police investigations into dangerous suspects like terrorists or child abusers. Hitherto, criminals had to be extremely computer savvy to use the DarkNet to carry out their nefarious activities. With all Apple devices giving people encrypted protection, it could be a virtual invitation for the criminally minded to use them with the anonymity they seek in working the Internet. As technology improves to offer the hiding of digital footprints, investigating authorities might struggle even if Apple is offering to “respond productively” to any police requests for information. When people browse the web, their browser takes them directly to the website they seek, leaving a digital footprint with their broadband or mobile operator. Apple’s Private Relay service uses technology similar to the “dark web”, to ping people’s traffic between different servers so no one entity can see where they have been. Even Apple will not be able to see who you are either and what sites you are visiting.
It may be easy to understand what Ravichandran Ashwin is saying but it is not easy to appreciate him. He thinks differently, speaks his mind and is not afraid to face the consequences. They wouldn’t give him leadership roles in teams he plays in and the few who have tried have backed away quickly because he can say truths in everyone’s face. When the issue cropped up over a run stolen off a deflection from batsman Rishabh Pant’s pad in IPL, Ashwin was bound to take a stand. What he said also makes sense because the laws of cricket support him. But sportsmanship dictates have largely been followed – like warning a non-striker when he is attempting to steal ground by leaving his crease before the ball is bowled and in declining overthrows when the throw hits a batsman and deflects. Ashwin would rather go by the rule book and there is nothing in them that prohibits ‘Mankad’ run outs and overthrows off deflections. In fact, as pointed out, England won the 2019 World Cup because of the ball deflecting off the stumps to the boundary. Ashwin believes it is unfair to point to him as the rebel who ratted on Virat Kohli’s leadership style to BCCI bigwigs. Many have apparently done it as well, but none has the guts to stand up for their views like Ashwin.
The buzz again is all about James Bond, a character born in a book in 1952 and who came to films 10 years later. Delayed by 18 months because of the pandemic, the spy caper is about to take the world for a billion dollars at the box office, with a premiere in the UK on September 28 and worldwide release September 30. Daniel Craig, the latest to play the Bond character with great success, prepares to take his bow even as the talk is about his successor who could be a woman going by the plot of the film in which a black female character inherits the 007 designation. As the world grapples with the rise of women power, there is a demand for a female Bond but Craig and the film’s executive producer, Barbara Broccoli, inheritor of the family franchise from granddad Albert, are convinced that the central role should remain male. This despite a debate on Bond triggered by the film’s director Cary Fukunaga expressing the opinion that the early Bonds were rapists as portrayed on screen. Sean Connery was seen thrusting himself on a nurse in the 1965 Thunderball and virtually blackmailing her into sleeping with him while in Goldfinger, the heroine was named Pussy Galore and the subject of Bond’s sex drive. The age of Bond’s endless libido may be over.
Virat Kohli has set himself one goal and that is to become the world’s No. 1 batsman in all formats. He has another long-term aim and that is to crack Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of 100 international centuries, but he has to make another 30 centuries just to catch up with the Master. Towards meeting his goals, he has taken decisions like quitting T20 captaincy. The crown is not sitting squarely on his head and the intense focus on the Indian cricket captain hasn’t helped though it must be said the debate is running at a time of grand success for Team India in Australia and then in England. The loss in the WCT final was the only sore point, which also led to personality clashes within the team. As Test captain since 2015 and ODI skipper since 2017, Kohli averages 56.1 in Tests, 72.7 in ODIs and 48.5 in T20s. But the hundreds have dried up, his last coming in November 2019 since when he has been averaging just 26.8 in Tests and 46.7 in ODIs. He would love to let his bat do the talking again. Since most of the cricket will be on pitches more amenable to his style of batting, Kohli will be among the runs again and the noises around captaincy may just stop.
The DMK boss Stalin is caught between a rock and a hard place as he joins the battle against the national common medical and dental entrance test. Having upbraided the AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa for years about The National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the student suicides it has triggered in the state as students fall short against the challenge of multiple-choice tests, DMK took a stand before the polls that it would abolish NEET the day it came into office. It isn’t quite that simple as this is a national test now and outside the ambit of the State list which has Education but the Concurrent list rules medical studies. Stalin has tried everything, from a retired judge-headed committee to study the invidious test that beats rural and State Board students to counselling sessions and yet another resolution in the Assembly to exempt Tamil Nadu. The Supreme Court has, however, ruled that NEET should prevail and the President had twice sent back legislation from TN on the subject in 2017. The TN Chief Minister MK Stalin is hoping other non-BJP states would pick up on its stand on the test that has excluded the rural and urban poor while it hasn’t stopped the elite rich from buying private medical college seats. The suicide rate is stinging the state but right now it is a lone fighter against NEET.
Cricket may make a comeback into the Olympics by 2028 in Los Angeles and not in 2024 in Brisbane which, however, has great infrastructure for the game. But long before cricket gets Olympic recognition again after figuring in the Paris Games in 1900, it may be born in the USA in an international avatar as the Second Season of IPL. Plans are afoot to build infra in the West Coast of USA for cricket not only with an eye on the Olympics but also to get into the lucrative IPL market by offering great venues for the game in Los Angeles and the Bay Area around San Francisco. In fact, these venues may be up and running in a couple of years so that the IPL Second Season can take off in the US summer of 2024. Those planning the IPL Second Season in the USA are perfectly aware that there is no dearth of CEOs of billion-dollar IT companies whose czars are all PIOs and so the game won’t be lacking in sponsors. A Second Season of IPL every year might leave little space for traditional Test cricket but the administration is unlikely to be bothered too much about it as the IPL is the game’s biggest money spinner that leaves BCCI with more money than all other cricket boards put together.
Selection is a matter of judgement and not about rendering justice. The Team India tour selection committee dominated by skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri took this to extremes with the studied exclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin. The picture of Ashwin sitting alone during India’s victory march was a poignant image from the series. To be in the playing XI regardless of the vicissitudes of form is about chemistry more than competence. In Ashwin’s case, that chemistry was missing during Dhoni’s regime itself when his debut was delayed even as Harbhajan Singh’s career was fading. Despite his rating as the world’s top spinner and a batsman with five Test centuries he was benched for four England Tests after playing in the WTC final and performing well enough, that too in June when English conditions were skewed in favour of seam bowlers. “Horses for courses” is the dictum that Kohli-Shastri enforced and proved their point with even Shardul Thakur, the fourth seamer for the Oval Test, exceeding expectations with ball and bat too. The two men in charge of Team India chose stubbornness over received wisdom and stuck to Ravi Jadeja as batting all-rounder who bowls spin. It was upto the selectors to render justice by picking Ashwin for the T20 World Cup, which perhaps least suits him at this stage of his career.
Two reverse swinging yorkers settled the issue as they crashed into the stumps behind Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow. Both yorkers flowed from the bowling arm of India’s smiling assassin who keeps his emotions well in check. As Jasprit Bumrah literally waddles in off a deceptively lazy run-up, the batsmen can be forgiven for mistaking him for a bowler of military medium pace. But a ramrod straight bowling arm can deliver reverse swinging yorkers at 90 mph, scattering stumps and breaking reputations. Reverse swing had been missing for days at The Oval as the sun smiled on late English summer days. But a 70-overs old ball roughed up by Jadeja pithing in the bowlers’ dusty footmarks was weaponised by Bumrah who opened up the England batting for fellow pace bowler Umesh Yadav to mop up. England, after a century opening stand, had been fancying themselves to chase down a fourth innings target. It was a team effort that saw India come from the depths of 127-7 and then a 99-run deficit to win, almost 50 years to the day since a famous victory at The Oval in 1971. Rohit Sharma, at the age of 34, got his first century away from home and Shardul Thakur shone with bat and ball, but it was Bumrah with his thunderbolts who stole the show.
The civility will remain, but it is the end of the bonhomie between the Opposition AIADMK and the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu. When former chief minister O Panneerselvam, on his wife’s death, wept in the close presence of current chief minister MK Stalin, it was a sign that maturity in Tamil Nadu politics is here to stay. But the DMK is bent upon pursuing its own interests as a few actions betraying agenda pursuits were witnessed. The first was the move to affiliate the Jayalalithaa University in Villupuram to the Annamalai varsity, which is seen as a move by the rulers to suppress Jaya’s name. The second was the announcement that the Karunanidhi statue would be restored to its original place on Mount Road from where it was removed during the Jayalalithaa regime. “Traffic hazard” was quoted as the reason to move a centrally placed tribute to the late DMK patriarch in his bronze statue with the trademark tinted glasses to cover for a childhood eye injury. Stalin was more than civil in allowing ration and condiments bags with the portraits of Jaya and EPS to be in continued use until they are exhausted in order to save Rs 10 crore for the government. But he is pursuing other things close to his dad’s heart like hiding the Assembly in the Omadurar building rather than Fort St George.
Virat Kohli has been under greater pressure in his career as captain and batsman than in the ongoing England series. But his tactical errors are coming to haunt him more often. He chose to bat at Headingley where in the last 20 years no Test captain has done so. The high-water table has a way of allowing the new ball to swing like crazy and Team Indian were down and out in the first three overs from the sultan of swing – James Anderson. Kohli may have been blindsided by the Lord’s experience as his team batted first on being inserted. Having picked four seamers, perhaps correctly for Leeds, he may have predetermined the course of batting first. There is time yet for course correction and if Kohli gives up his seamer obsession at least for The Oval, a famous hunting ground for spinners, he might even pick the world’s best contemporary spinner – Ravi Ashwin. In an era of poor technique against the moving or spinning ball, batting collapses are dime a dozen and affect all teams. But England may have tactically put one over Indian batsmen by picking bowlers for their height and hence higher ball release points as they did with Overton in the third Test. India can regroup if the captain and coach can set their thinking straight.
Passing his first 100 days in office with the felicity of a seasoned politician destined to hold the highest office in his state, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is drawing praise even from his opponents when his regime is long past the honeymoon stage. He showed how he values his dad’s contribution with a Rs 40 crore tribute in a grand memorial on the Marina Beach while retaining the one lesson M Karunanidhi taught him. There is no need to be vituperative in politics; and cordial relations with the Centre are conducive to the State’s welfare because the purse strings are in New Delhi. Stalin backs Opposition unity with the same intent as he did in promoting Rahul Gandhi as his choice for PM if the coalition forces make it but he will not be a street fighter in the Mamata mould. He makes his political points in cool language and devoid of theatricals. The Tamil Nadu CM lets the power of data figure in everything that his government does, which is probably something he has picked up from his finance minister. Statements are laced with facts and figures to support arguments made in sane fashion. He leads the Treasury benches saving most of his talk for the Assembly while delegating powers to his ministers. Stalin is in the running for the CM of the year accolade.
The son of an auto-rickshaw driver did not get his name on to the honours board at Lord’s but he led his fellow quicks to make that famous victory possible with eight wickets in the Test. Mohammed Siraj’s intensity has undone England’s Test batsmen as much as Jasprit Bumrah’s pace. His steep angles into the right handers, but more importantly away from the left handers have had a consistently unsettling effect as they are not able to pick him. Siraj, a champion bowler in tennis ball street cricket around Hyderabad, started bowling with a hard ball only after he was 20 when in 2015 he joined Charminar Cricket Club. And when the IPL bidding stopped at Rs 2.6 crores from Sunrisers, Siraj’s first instinct was to tell his father to stop driving his 3-wheeler for a living. Siraj will be one of the charged-up skipper Virat Kohli’s main weapons as Team India goes into the Headingley Test convinced that they are the better side and must press on to win the 5-Test series. A fuller length that suits English conditions best, a deadly yorker developed from bowling the tennis ball, stamina and persistence are Siraj’s plus points. As the 5-day format gives him time to work on the batsmen, his only regret is that his dad passed on before his Test debut.
The 2017 Kodanad case is back in the limelight years after J Jayalalithaa died and one of her drivers led a break-in on the tea estate nestling in the Nilgiris. The latest turn in the case may be entirely political with the new regime headed by MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu seeking to put pressure on former CM Edappadi Palaniswami wondering if he could be named a conspirator but the fact remains that a Hitchcockian suspense over events were never satisfactorily explained. Two major gang leaders of the break-in met with road accidents at virtually the same time on the same day. While the prime accused Kanagaraj died in a two-wheeler crash in Salem, the first accused MV Sayan survived a car crash but lost his wife and daughter on a Kerala road when another vehicle bumped suspiciously into his. The key to the mystery lies with Sayan now who is much wanted as the ruling DMK seems very interested in the outcome of reinvestigation. A hunt is on for the main conspirator who may have set a gang of nine to break in and see if they could get into locked rooms of the bungalow which were supposed to contain great treasures including jewels and cash. The CCTVs were conveniently off at the time leading to the suspicion of an inside hand.
Two men with Test batting averages of 11 and 3.6 helped themselves to an unbroken 89-run partnership to first take the Lord’s Test away from England and then conspired with their fellow fast bowlers to carve out a famous victory. Mohamed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah were the unlikeliest batting heroes on the final day even as England failed tactically by bowling bouncers at the tail, hitting them on the body and helmet, but not getting them out. An ill-tempered Test match saw England play like 15-year-olds, as Michael Vaughan said, in bouncing at the tailed batters, all because Bumrah had bounced James Anderson often in a 10-ball over. The same men who showed such great heart at the crease then bowled England out in under two sessions for only India’s third triumph at Lord’s. India’s pace bowlers have taken 39 of 40 England wickets in two Tests even as their captain Joe Root scored more runs than the rest of his batsmen put together. England were trapped in a scrap with Virat Kohli, a captain who revels in cricket as war. There is nothing wrong with emotion and passion on the field even if he tends to overdo it. Kohli joins Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni as the only Indian captains to win a test at Lord’s.
India’s unlikely opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, eternally on Test comeback trails, have forged into a fine combination to be the bedrock of India’s campaign. They have added 257 runs so far in five innings in the English summer, including the WTC final. While Rahul put his name on the coveted honours board at hallowed Lord’s, Rohit is yet to make his first century away from home even as he improves his away average that is at least 50 runs worse than his imposing 79.50 at home. Standing a foot outside his crease is Rohit’s adaptation of the Virat Kohli technical template for English conditions while Rahul stays crease-bound and yet masterful in his ability to drive the ball through the offside and in the classical V. Dark skies with hints of moisture to aid swing and seam of a virtually black Test Dukes ball and pitches that are spicier than ever before and offering variable bounce are the challenge India’s openers are facing up to with elan. India’s batting dominance thus far has also been helped along by the presence of Ravindra Jadeja as the batting all-rounder, which comes at the expense of the controversial omission of Ravichandran Ashwin. Crucially, India have been on top of England after the disappointment of the WCT final.
You may love him or hate him but you can hardly ignore him. That is the message Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh may have learnt from his long running feud with the cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu. The maverick opener’s innings as politician has transformed into a formidable presence from a quiet beginning much like his cricket career in which he was dubbed the “Strokeless Wonder” before he trained himself to become “Sixer Sidhu.” Debuting in the World Cup 1987 in Chennai, he thrashed the defending Aussies for an explosive 73, studded with five sixes. This was followed by three consecutive half centuries, all marked by the big hits that have become the staple of white ball cricket today. Having called truce in the war for Punjab Congress turf, the Gandhis are still seen encouraging younger Sidhu, 57, against Captain, 79, though the latter was the powerful regional chieftain who brought them to power in a big state. Sidhu’s threat of leaving for the AAP seems to have rattled the younger Gandhis who backed him to the hilt against the stalwart CM. Now Captain is scurrying to New Delhi to complain once again that Sidhu is still baiting him in public even after he had conceded ground to allow Sidhu to become the Congress Committee chief in Punjab. Truth is Sidhu will never tire of speaking.
The story of the rise and fall of one of the most powerful Democrats of the USA might culminate in his impeachment as Governor of New York: Andrew Cuomo is also facing possible criminal charges that he sexually harassed 11 women. Once married to Robert Kennedy’s daughter Kerry, with whom he had three daughters, Andrew, son of Mario, a three-time New York Governor, was once seen as a possible replacement for Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination for President. At the height of the pandemic last year, a staggering 60 million used to tune into his daily briefings on the Covid outbreak as he promised leadership in the crisis. He won an Emmy and a book deal and had the admiration of half the nation until the women emerged with horror stories of work inside a toxic Governor’s office environment. Cuomo is now under threat of becoming a poster boy for reviving #MeToo movement. Cuomo says his actions had been misconstrued, his words misunderstood. He said it was cultural: He hugs, he kisses, he says, “Ciao, bella.” He said it was generational: Sometimes he lapses into “honey” or “sweetheart” or tells bad jokes. Now even President Joe Biden is calling for his head as the 63-year-old went from hero to zero with a speed only ultra-ambitious politicians suffer.
Kamala Harris has become the most unpopular U.S vice president six months into an administration since at least the 1970s, according to polls. The disappointing numbers are worrying Democratic strategists who were hoping she would run for President in 2024. Recent polls showed only 46% of Americans approved of Kamala with 47% and 48% disapproving of her. In contrast, Joe Biden’s approval rating in a polls average is 51.3%, and disapproval 44.9%. The only recent vice president to have such poor ratings after six months was Mike Pence, but he did not have more people disapproving than approving him. Kamala’s unpopularity among young people is a source of concern to the White House. As many as 41% of young voters (18 to 29) held an unfavourable view and she is seen particularly struggling with the Hispanic voters because of her role in the U.S. border policy and her reluctance to go to the border where migrants are eternally trying to enter the USA. Ahead of midterm elections in 2023, the White House might send her on foreign visits to boost her image. Indian Americans who played a major role in getting her on to the Biden ticket and helped enable the victory of the Democrats are a worried lot now.
With his father BS Yediyurappa’s (BSY) aide and minister Basavaraj Bommai in the saddle, BY Vijayendra is still a force to be reckoned with as Karnataka comes under a new regime. The central BJP leadership tried its best to bring a more amenable CM in Bengaluru who would listen to New Delhi. But with elections not far away and the Lingayat factor too strong to ignore, BJP’s top brass had to compromise. Under the new dispensation too, Vijayendra will still be a powerful factor, operating from behind the scenes. BSY, the principal architect who created a foothold in the South for the BJP, had to be kept on the right side of equations despite BJP’s compulsion in not sending the party into the polls under an 80-year-old two years hence. With his non-communal approach and his inclusive vision, BSY was a tall regional chieftain who took an independent stand. Faced with rising cases after the lifting of most lockdown restrictions, Bommai has his task cut out in his State to control Covid first and then raise his sights on the elections. This is where he will be leaning on Vijayendra the most as he was the architect who brought Congress and JD(S) MLAs on board for his father to win back the State.
The Lingayat supremo and Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyuruppa (BSY) who built up the BJP from scratch in Karnataka was ousted for the fourth time when well short of anything close to a full term, but on this occasion by his own party BJP. With his son BY Vijayendra operating as an extra constitutional authority, Yediyurappa was under pressure from critics within his party even more than the central leadership in New Delhi. Too many ministers took offence at the ‘virtual CM’ role played by his son and were bent upon using the age of 75-year rule of BJP to target BSY saying he was too old to be able to stop his son. However, BSY’s mission since making an offer to PM Modi to resign on health grounds on July 10 was to get his son into any post, at the Centre or as Deputy CM in succession plans, including those which envisage bringing a non-Lingayat as CM. The observers feel that the BJP is being held to ransom by the numerically strong (upto 17%) and influential Lingayats and their seers. With BSY being asked to associate with finding a successor, it would be interesting to see who will be the CM. It is a remarkable story for a 78-year-old who had spells of seven days, three years, three days and two years in four terms as CM.
UK’s new cricket competition – The Hundred – kicks off July 21, seeking diversity among its audience. It aims specially at the inclusion of Asian Brits who are not so much into the county game, which is mostly white, in fact 94%. Eight teams based on city lines for tribal loyalties as in the IPL, a draft system and a focus on overseas players as Afghans, Pakistanis, Nepalis and five Indian women cricketers swing into action. England and Wales Cricket Board’s 100-ball competition borrows heavily from IPL thanks to PIO Sanjay Patel who is its MD. English cricket is looking seriously at attracting more South Asians not only as spectators but also players. Take the case of Moeen Ali, who had to move to Worcestershire from Warwickshire to take off on his career. He grew up on tape ball cricket near Edgbaston before becoming a sought after T20 player currently with Chennai Super Kings. The Hundred is hoping to bridge the gap between English cricket and Asian spectators, mostly from the subcontinent. No Indian men are allowed to participate yet by the BCCI but that could change when there is less international cricket during the summer for India. Tactically, it is only a little different from T20 but a bowler can be kept on for ten balls at a time rather than stop with five balls.
The local BJP chief K Annamalai seems to have got off on the wrong foot when he took on the media soon after succeeding L Murugan, who got promoted to the Union Cabinet in a junior minister’s role. In an official warning, the BJP threw cold water on talk of dividing Tamil Nadu into two parts to create a Kongu Nadu. But that seems to have had little effect on the former cop who lambasted the media for false news saying that his former boss would soon control all media from Delhi while in the I&B ministry. The talk of a Kongu Nadu in western Tamil Nadu, which showed some interest in electing a couple of BJP MLAs while being a long time bastion of AIADMK, was built up by the media but shot down by New Delhi where leaders sent word down to the rank and file that they would not countenance the idea of carving a region out of the old State. “Kongu Nadu is not BJP’s idea. A prosperous Tamil Nadu and a strong India is the BJP’s goal,” the party’s State media unit president, ANS Prasad said in a statement, urging party members not to express their personal views at party meetings, media interviews and social networking platforms.
Rumours about who will take over as Governor in Chennai’s Raj Bhavan are swirling. The incumbent Banwarilal Purohit, from a newspaper-owning family in Nagpur, is nearing the end of his term. An interesting name doing the rounds for Governorship in DMK-ruled Tamil Nadu is that of the former Communications & Information Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who was dropped from the Union cabinet. Any number of names kept coming up when the rulers decided to move on after a temporary Governor from Maharashtra C Vidyasagar Rao was given additional charge of Tamil Nadu for long. That Governor proved his mettle when he sat on J Jayalalithaa’s confidante V Sasikala’s application to become Chief Minister until the top court order came out but when Purohit came to Chennai it was a bit of a surprise. Enjoying the perks of a massive Raj Bhavan in the midst of the Guindy national park while AIADMK, friendly alliance partner of BJP ruled was easy enough but, with a change in regime, New Delhi might be looking at a tougher Governor, which is why Ravi Shankar Prasad’s name is bobbing up. The only inhibiting factor could be that Prasad will have to resign as Lok Sabha MP and BJP may not want to conduct by polls in Patna in the current situation.
TRENDS & VIEWS
Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack
It is the Third Anniversary of Short Post and as a news media startup launched during the Covid-19 pandemic it certainly feels better than good to find ourselves where we are today. Here, I must cite the unstinted support of our seasoned contributors, all senior editors in the country, who brought a great degree of maturity and sagacity to the Short Post newsroom. But for them, our tagline “Authentic Gossip”, an Oxymoron, would not have matured viably. Our user numbers may be small but our stories have created the desired impact among people who matter — decision makers and influencers. We offer a big punch in a small pack and Short Post with its 225-word stories has been punching above its weight category. Having posted close to 3,000 stories in the last 36 months, Short Post, I feel, is an idea whose time has come.
And this is vindicated by our two marquee advertisers – IDFC FIRST Bank and ICICI Lombard. Both believed in our story and have supported us from Day one. A big thank you to both.
If you look at the media landscape – print, TV and digital — it is a mixed bag. There are job losses as some outfits have closed down while a lucky few were bailed out by large corporate houses. Yes, there is a lot of action in the digital space. However, the entry of corporate houses has raised the question of independence of news media outfits. Sadly, there are just a handful of independent media outfits in the country that are highly respected for their neutrality. At Short Post, our credo is not to take sides, prejudge issues or be biased but, informing readers of behind-the-scenes happenings. In essence, Short Post strives to be a neutral editorial platform — neither anti-establishment nor pro-establishment.
As I said last year, disruptions in the media world are moving at a fast and furious pace. Technology is playing a very big role in how content is generated and consumed. But, we are neither alarmed nor perturbed as it is all a part of the evolution process. What gives us comfort is that AI is unable to create original gossipy content. And that is the news arena where we have achieved a distinction.