Innholdsfortegnelse for April 15, 2019 i India Today

Beginning next week, 900 million Indians will have an opportunity to exercise their franchise in the country’s largest-ever election. Several interesting trends are unfolding ahead of what promises to be a closely fought election. One clear trend is that regional parties are here to stay. This has been the case since the defeat of the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989 heralded the era of coalition governments. As the Congress shrank, the regional parties grew in strength and often determined who would form the government in Delhi. This trend might seem to have ended when the BJP under Narendra Modi won a simple majority of 282 seats in 2014. Regional parties have now become even more powerful because they have realised the only way to challenge the BJP behemoth is to…

History has a strange habit of repeating itself in Indian elections. Though no one can predict with accuracy when it will do so. In 1996, the Congress-led government of P.V. Narasimha Rao was looking for a second term. But Rao made a fatal mistake by aligning in Tamil Nadu with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK), headed by the late J. Jayalalithaa, despite stiff opposition from the state Congress unit which wanted a tie-up with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK). It led to a split in the party, with G.K. Moopanar, the state Congress leader, forming a new party and aligning with the M. Karunanidhi-led DMK and the Communist Party of India. The newly-formed alliance went on to sweep all 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state. At…

AKHILESH YADAV AND MAYAWATI The SP has a strong support base among the Yadav and Muslim communities and the BSP among the Dalits. Their pre-poll alliance targets a combined vote bank of 35 per cent plus YOGI ADITYANATH AND KESHAV PRASAD MAURYA The loss in their Gorakhpur and Phulpur bastions still rankles, but the party’s respective Hindutva and OBC faces plan to respond with more than 100 rallies PRIYANKA GANDHI AND JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA Congress national general secretary and eastern UP in-charge Priyanka is looking to expand the party’s support base this election. She has finalised alliances with smaller parties such as the Apna Dal (Krishna), Mahan Dal and the Jan Adhikar Party. Western UP in-charge Jyotiraditya is providing organisational support. Strategy moves are reportedly backed by careful homework…

CAPT. AMARINDER SINGH The CM is confident of taking the fight to the opposition after the bypoll wins PARKASH SINGH BADAL The SAD patron, despite his age, has the final say in the party SUKHBIR BADAL former deputy CM and party president, he is the SAD’s main strategist MANPREET BADAL Finance minister and strong opponent of the SAD Badals SUNIL JAKHAR Gurdaspur MP and state Congress president is not afraid of taking on the SAD and BJP leadership NAVJOT SIDHU Urban local bodies and tourism minister is the Congress’s most fiery orator and Badal-basher…

At a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) convention in New Delhi on January 12, party president Amit Shah had compared the upcoming general election to the third battle of Panipat. The defeat of the Maratha army at the hands of Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Abdali, he said, led to 200 years of colonial rule. Coming just days after the BJP’s electoral defeat in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the analogy was a sort of clarion call. Shah was also reaching out to his party’s traditional allies—most notably the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, where 48 Lok Sabha seats are at stake. The Sena, the BJP’s oldest ally, had been playing hard to get in recent months. The two parties had jointly contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election, in which the BJP won…

ASHOK GEHLOT The Rajasthan chief minister (left) is the face of the Congress in the state. Gehlot has played a key role in the distribution of tickets, and the Lok Sabha results will be a mandate on his four-month rule SACHIN PILOT The deputy chief minister and state Congress chief resisted the absolute authority of Gehlot in selecting candidates, but could get very few of his nominees tickets. He may question Gehlot’s continuance as CM if the Congress gets less than 20 seats VASUNDHARA RAJE The former BJP chief minister’s suggestions carried weight in several seats, if not all. She will hold two rallies in each constituency. Watch out for her in national politics if the BJP does not perform well…

The state where the BJP lost one of its tallest leaders, Manohar Parrikar, is a key battleground for two reasons. It has two Lok Sabha seats—North Goa and South Goa—both held by the party. Simultaneous byelections to three assembly seats—Mandrem, Mapusa and Shiroda—could decide the stability of the minority BJP government in the state. Parrikar’s demise on March 17 has left the party in a disarray right ahead of the elections. The BJP-led government headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has 14 seats in the 40-member House and depends on ally Goa Forward Party (GFP), with three seats, and three Independents for survival. The BJP managed to induct two of the three MLAs of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) last month, raising its tally to 14. The MGP has quit…

For Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy of the Congress, wresting the lone Puducherry Lok Sabha seat, which he lost to R. Radhakrishnan of the All India N.R. Congress (AINRC) in 2014, is a prestige issue. He redeemed the defeat partially when the Congress-DMK alliance won the 2016 assembly poll and he became the CM. But it is in regaining the Lok Sabha seat that the veteran leader is determined to show his political prowess. V. Vaithalingam, twice chief minister and once Leader of the Opposition, is the experienced Congress contestant from the politically influential Reddiar community. The AINRC has fielded K. Narayanasamy, a doctor who runs a group of educational institutions, as the common candidate of the AIADMK-led alliance, banking on the powerful Vanniyar community that accounts for 43 per cent…

For the first time, the big fight is between regional players—the 37-year-old Telugu Desam Party (TDP), led by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, and the eightyear-old Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress (YSRC), steered by Naidu’s rival Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. The Congress and the BJP are fighting for their survival. If there is anyone who can alter the fortunes of the TDP and the YSRC, it is the Jana Sena of actor Pawan Kalyan, who is making an electoral debut. In 2014, he joined hands with the BJP and the TDP as a part of the National Democratic Alliance. Changing tack with a well-articulated campaign since 2018, Pawan now presents himself as a symbol of hope and of the youth. While the TDP is seen as a party dominated by the…

NDA NITISH KUMAR From 2005 till now, every election barring 2014 has seen Nitish on the winning side SUSHIL MODI The deputy CM is the BJP’s top state leader and has clout among the Vaishya and OBC groups THE PASWANS Known as Mr 6.5 per cent for the LJP’s consistent vote share, Ram Vilas Paswan himself is not in the ring, for the first time since 1977. Family members, though, are contesting three seats Grand Alliance LALU PRASAD AND TEJASHWI YADAV Upbeat after the 2015 assembly poll performance, the father-son duo is leading the battle for the grand alliance MUKESH SAHNI His VIP party, which split from the NDA, will be trying to prove that the Nishads are as influential as the Paswans Newbie KANHAIYA KUMAR Ex-JNUSU president (CPI) takes…

The entire Northeast erupted in protest when the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, in the Lok Sabha. The bill seeks to make illegal immigrants—Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan—eligible for citizenship in India. The people of Northeast fear that this will lead to granting citizenship to a large number of illegal Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh, posing a threat to the demography, culture and languages of the region. The bill caused massive public outrage against the BJP and even its allies—the AGP, NPP, NPF, NDPP and MNF—rose in protest. The Centre did not introduce the bill in the Rajya Sabha, letting it lapse, and in the process ensuring the AGP’s return to a pre-poll alliance in Assam.…

Two weeks ago, comedian Kunal Kamra uploaded a 12-minute clip lampooning the Ambanis. “Why is Modiji coming between me and Ambani? Why can’t I directly vote for Ambani?” asked Kamra as he took the stage wearing a ‘Wah, Modiji, Wah’ T-shirt. The video, till now, has got 6.1 million views. “That piece was really basic and basic things work,” says Kamra at his home in Mumbai. “It’s a basic premise. An election is around the corner. Everyone is discussing this stuff, so they can relate to it.” Kamra, 30, a former advertising professional and now full-time comic, is known for mining politics for his punchlines. His Twitter timeline is a drip-feed of BJP- and Congress-bashing. His podcast, Shut Up Ya Kunal, has had politicians and young leaders as guests. “I…

I remember the utter surprise and unbridled pleasure of reading Paul Zacharia’s Malayalam stories in translation in the early 1990s, in a volume titled Bhaskar Patellar and Other Stories. I relived some of that pleasure as I read Zacharia’s first novel written in English, A Secret History of Compassion. In Malayalam, Zacharia is known and loved for his shorter writings—novellas, essays, short stories, travelogues and screenplays—but in English, it would appear he has found a more expansive voice. This novel careens along at breakneck speed—Spider, “renowned author of mysteries, thrillers and romances” and owner of several other fanciful noms de plume, has been commissioned to write an essay on compassion for the local Communist Party’s fundraising souvenir, and, as you might expect, he has a writer’s block the size of…

Chairman and Managing Director of T-Series, Bhushan Kumar says that until six months ago, he didn’t even know how many subscribers his label’s You-Tube channel had. He has since taken notice. Today, the number of subscribers is quickly moving towards 100 million. Having recently surpassed Swedish comedian PewDiePie for YouTube supremacy, Kumar spoke to us about the battle that has gone viral. Excerpts Q: You and PewDiePie had both been vying for the spot of the No. 1 YouTube channel, but the contest became bitter… I don’t know why he is taking it so personally and seriously. I read somewhere that he is getting hackers to push people into subscribing to his channel. You are the biggest independent YouTuber, and we are the biggest in the world, so just chill,…

Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa Group Creative Editor Nilanjan Das Group Photo Editor Bandeep Singh Deputy Editor Prachi Bhuchar Senior Editor Chumki Bharadwaj Editorial Consultant Jahnavi Chakravarty Sr. Art Director Sanjay Piplani Art Director Angshuman De Assistant. Art Director Rajesh Angira Chief Photo Researcher Prabhakar Tiwari Principal Photo Researcher Saloni Vaid Senior Photo Researcher Shubhrojit Brahma Production Harish Aggarwal (Chief of Production), Naveen Gupta, Vijay Sharma Publishing Director Manoj Sharma Associate Publisher (Impact) Anil Fernandes Senior General Manager (Impact) Jitendra Lad (West) General Managers Upendra Singh (Bangalore) Kaushiky Gangulie (East) Group Chief Marketing Officer Vivek Malhotra…

Feather Light Sliders are not just for the pool anymore. These John Elliott fleece slides can be paired with both denims and shorts. Just slip on a casual shirt to complete the summer day look. Price £225 Availability www.johnelliott.com Easy on the Feet Featuring the signature Missoni zigzag , these Castaner espadrilles are the casual footwear you need to keep it stylish this summer. Price On request Availability www.mrporter.com Speed Demon These Maserati MC12 driving shoes are instantly recognisable, thanks to the air vents and signature trident on the sides. Price On request Availability Brand boutique, New Delhi…

Light. Uncomplicated. Easy. These are not words one associates with traditional French food. Although the world of gourmet food has long since moved on from the heavy creaminess that was the hallmark of French cuisine, back-to-basics cooking is still finding its feet, especially in the arena of Michelin star cooking. A vocal supporter of simple food styles, Julien Royer brings his signature cooking style from Singapore to India in collaboration with Masters of Marriott. Excerpts from an interview. On food theatrics We are coming back to basic and true flavours. I feel that people are a bit tired of food that is too gimmicky, too playful. They are saturated with restaurants putting their “stories” before their food. The job of a chef is to translate beautiful ingredients to delicious food.…

For the entire fan base of Tom Ford, the brand, there’s yet another reason to celebrate with the launch of Tom Ford cosmetics and signature fragrances in India, exclusively with Sephora. The new luxury counter will feature the latest releases from the brand and the exclusive Private Blend Collection as well. While the launch will roll out in Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi and Kolkata first, the next phase will include four more doors in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Chennai respectively. In addition to the Tom Ford Signature fragrances for women and men, the Tom Ford Ombré Leather Fragrance—part of the Signature Collection— and Tom Ford Fucking Fabulous—part of the Private Blend Collection are also being launched in the Indian market. Available at www.sephora.nnnow.com A Sparkling Tale From the feral magnificence of…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on March 27 that India was now one of just four countries with the capability to shoot down a satellite. The Election Commission ruled the speech as not having violated the model code of conduct by seeking electoral advantage. The US issued a statement that was broadly understanding of the Indian test. However, NASA’s highest-ranking official described it as “terrible” and “not compatible with the future of human spaceflight”. Part of the problem is the danger posed by the debris from the test, particularly to the International Space Station. But a representative of the US military’s space command told a senate hearing that it was aware of and had tracked the test, and that the ISS was “not at risk”. For India, the implications of…

Army chief General Bipin Rawat’s week-long official trip to the United States this week was to follow the defence ministry’s okay for a Rs 1,000 crore arms purchase for the army’s special forces. Sadly, an overly cautious senior MoD bureaucrat refused to sign on the proposal, suggesting that the assault rifles, parachutes, night-vision equipment and two million rounds of ammunition be broken into smaller proposals of Rs 300 crore and bought under the army’s special financial powers. It delays the fast-track case by over six months, well after the babu retires. No wonder the army can’t wait to see him leave.…

Total seats 120 Uttar Pradesh 80 Madhya Pradesh 29 Chhattisgarh 11 Total states in the Heartland 3 Statesruled by the BJP 1 Stateswhere the BJP is arulingpartner None Statesruled by anNDA ally None Statesruled by others(theCongress) 2…

Total seats 45 Punjab 13 Haryana 10 Himachal Pradesh 4 Uttarakhand 5 J&K 6 Delhi 7 Total states in the North 6 Statesruled by the BJP 3 Statesruled by the Congress 1 Statesruled by AAP 1 President’srule 1…

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, of the 432 candidates that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded across the country, only four contesting from Punjab could win their seats. Twelve of the 13 seats where the AAP candidates were either first or second in the race were in Delhi and Punjab. Arvind Kejriwal, the party chief, was second in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi against the prime minister designate, Narendra Modi. This election, having learnt from its past experience, the party has decided to test waters in not more than 100 parliamentary constituencies, including all the seats in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Goa. In Delhi, where it enjoys a thumping majority in the assembly, the AAP has already started its campaign and its leaders are promising complete statehood for Delhi while attacking…

DEVENDRA FADNAVIS Sole planner and executor of BJP strategies. Will be the party’s torchbearer in this election. His imprint is visible, right from choosing the candidates to planning the campaign. The only BJP face in the state UDDHAV THACKERAY The Shiv Sena chief could be instrumental in wooing voters disenchanted with the government. But all eyes would be on how he sells the Fadnavis government to the public after consistently criticising its performance SHARAD PAWAR (Left) Despite not contesting the Lok Sabha election, the veteran NCP chief’s political acumen and ability to pick the right people for a job is the biggest advantage for his party. If Pawar can get the caste arithmetic right, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will have a hard time repeating its 2014 performance ASHOK CHAVAN The…

Total seats 130 Tamil Nadu 39 Karnataka 28 Andhra Pradesh 25 Kerala 20 Telangana 17 Puducherry 1 Total states in the South 6 States ruled by the BJP 0 States ruled by the Congress 2(in alliance) States ruled by the AIADMK 1 States ruled by the TDP 1 States ruled by the TRS 1 States ruled by the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front 1…

For the BJP, which has won more Lok Sabha seats (16 in 2014) in Karnataka than anywhere else in the South, improving its tally in the state is a daunting task. It is alert to potential cracks in the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance to drive a wedge, having narrowly missed the chance of forming the government after the 2018 assembly poll. The BJP’s persistent efforts to destabilise the coalition have not paid off while the ruling coalition has stayed afloat with typical knee-jerk responses. Both constituents of the coalition are also eyeing the Lok Sabha election prospects since the assembly poll last year. In fact, on assuming charge as the chief minister in May 2018, H.D. Kumaraswamy had described it as a precursor to “the big change in 2019”.…

The 2018 assembly poll saw the K. Chandrashekar Raoled Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) win 88 of the 119 seats with 47 per cent vote share, against the grand alliance of the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party, the Communist Party of India and the Telangana Jana Samithi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had contested the poll on its own. Riding high on this victory, KCR is now predicting a ‘key role’ for himself in Delhi. “Give me 16 MPs and I’ll change the face of the country,” he said on March 17 at Karimnagar. KCR is leaving no stone unturned to bag 16 seats, having left the 17th—Hyderabad—to ally Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. Owaisi has also backed KCR as the prime ministerial candidate. On March 21, barely four days…

Darjeeling GJM MLA Amar Singh Rai gets TMC ticket. GJM furious, says it will support BJP candidate Raju Bista Raiganj Congress’s Deepa Das Munshi up against sitting Left MP, Mohammed Salim. TMC, BJP have low-profile candidates Malda (North) Congress MP Mausam B. Noor defects to TMC. The BJP has Left defector Khagen Murmu. Congress’s Isha Khan of Ghani Khan family to take on cousin Mausam Hooghly BJP’s feisty heroine Locket Chatterjee takes on TMC’s Ratna De Nag. District BJP leader Raj Kamal Pathak, a ticket aspirant, quits post…

When the Lok Sabha election was held in 2014, the Congress ruled five of the eight Northeast states while the BJP was politically insignificant with just nine MLAs and four MPs across the region. But in the past five years, the political landscape has dramatically changed. The BJP is in power in five states while the Congress is nowhere in the picture. On paper, the BJP looks even more solid as most of the regional parties are part of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), an umbrella outfit led by the BJP. Only the Left, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) are outside it, but these four parties have not joined hands with the Congress either. But electoral politics in the Northeast…

On March 24, when the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Jharkhand chief Annapurna Devi skipped the mahagathbandhan press conference held at Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren’s Ranchi home, it was seen as a mark of protest against her party being offered just one Lok Sabha seat despite its demand for at least two. But Devi had other plans. Barely two hours after the press briefing, she met Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das at his official residence. The next day, accompanied by Das, Lalu Yadav’s once-trusted aide arrived at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, where party president Amit Shah welcomed her entry. Now, Annapurna Devi is tipped to contest from the Koderma or Chatra Lok Sabha seats. If she contests from Koderma, she will pose a huge challenge to Jharkhand…

BHONSLE Director: Devashish Makhija After its first screening at Cannes last year, Bhonsle premiered at Busan, and has since been shown in Rotterdam, at MAMI and will soon be screened in China. The story of a retired hawaldar, this Manoj Bajpayee-starrer again pits the common man against a hostile political environment, asking the question—who amongst us is not a migrant? NEXT STOP: Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles BULBUL CAN SING Director: Rima Das It won the Golden Gateway Prize at MAMI 2018, and has since bagged awards at Singapore, Berlin, Dublin and Osaka. In this film, the Assamese director brings to the screen a story of three teenagers discovering their unorthodox sexuality and identities. NEXT STOP: Cleveland International Film Festival AAMIS Director: Bhaskar Hazarika His horror anthology Kothanodi (2015)…

YouTube Premium Till now, the YouTube app didn’t allow multi-tasking. However, its new ‘background play’ feature will let you play music even while using other apps or while the phone is locked. The feature is available for a monthly Premium membership of Rs 99 (Android) or Rs 129 (iOS). Along with being ad free, Premium will also give users access to more content. Spotify Spotify came to India with lots of razzmatazz despite a legal tussle with Warner Music Group. Warner artists (like Ed Sheeran) are unavailable to Indian users. Still, there is lots to choose from, including podcasts. Serious about India, Spotify is also collaborating with T-Series to make their music available world over. Apple Music It might not be popular in India, but much like Apple’s other products,…

DOES FASHION HAVE TO ALWAYS BE provocative? Can it stun through metaphors or blow you away with its ingenuity without being risqué or ramp-happy alone? The point of fashion is to make clothes that can be flaunted as just for you even though millions around the world may be wearing them. While the world over, fashion has gradually evolved a language and idiom of its own, in India, there has always been a tendency to take cues from across the seas rather than from one’s own backyard. It has taken years of dedicated Indian designers making a mark globally before they have finally been given their due at home. In this issue, our cover story harks back to the decade in fashion that has just spun by. How have Indian…

Imagination gets a free rein with the Big Bang Meca-10 from Hublot. The luxe watchmaker has created a new manufacture movement that took almost two years to develop and refine. Atypical architecture with Meccano-type design, entirely conceived and developed in house, the HUB1201 is a skeleton mechanical movement with manual winding and a 10-day power reserve. There are 223 components, straight and curved perforated metallic strips, crown gears, racks, plates, axes, and ratchet wheels. An original assembly with ultra-stylised mechanics inspired from childhood memories, it is a delightful object that harks back to a child’s excitement at continuous discovery. The movement is fitted with two parallel barrels with a power reserve indicator using a rack system. At 12 o’clock, two racks slide on a 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock axis…

shown fine results and today, he has managed to marry both his love for fashion and that for images. In fact, Varma exhibited a selection of 32 of his images in collaboration with Indie Eye as part of the Lotus India Make Up Fashion Week AW 19 in Delhi this March and the images showed the seasoned designer in a new light as he chose subjects and details that excited him. He says, “I have always thought in imagery and can almost see a picture before I shoot. What comes through is my obsession with creating something perfect in that moment, through a lens; something that defines my aesthetic and love for detail no matter what I do.” Having worked closely with photographers like Prabuddha Dasgupta and Farrokh Chottia, Varma…

A model turned entrepreneur is hardly a head turner, but when that collaboration results in the inception of Africa's first global luxury jewellery brand, you know you've unearthed a gem. Such is the story of the brand VanLeles and its founder-owner Vania Leles. Born of African and Portuguese descent, Leles proceeded to London to begin her modelling career, after schooling in Portugal. As an international model in New York, London and Paris modelling for fine jewellery brand campaigns, she honed her instincts to spot the extraordinary and unique and trained these instincts into a talent with an industry master at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Armed with a degree, she worked with some of the biggest names in the jewellery business such as Graff Diamonds, De Beers and Sotheby’s…

“We are not like any other state of India... Our handshake with the Indian Union was subject to certain conditions... We won’t allow any more attacks on our special status.” Speaking in Bandipore, OMAR ABDULLAH, leader of the National Conference and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, warned the BJP off its perennial hobbyhorse of repealing Article 370 of the Constitution, which grants J&K special autonomous status. Abdullah earned the ire of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks about a separate PM for J&K. But, on a point of history, Abdullah is correct. Perhaps, it’s fair to ask why the BJP is so eager to deprive Kashmir of its promised constitutional rights without even the pretence of wider consultation.…

For many of my generation who fancy themselves as pollsters, Prannoy Roy and Dorab R. Sopariwala invoke both awe and inspiration. The duo, by far, is the gold standard of election analysis in the Indian television space. Their long-awaited book, The Verdict, offers a succinct analysis of India’s elections using a wealth of statistical insights. The book not only generates lots of new hypotheses about Indian politics, but also rescues the art and science of election polling from further becoming an object of derision. They analyse the 833 opinion and exit polls conducted in India since 1980 and demonstrate that, contrary to public perception, pollsters have done a fairly decent job in predicting election outcomes. The authors show that the success rate of exit polls is higher in comparison to…

Launching the party manifesto, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he was fighting from Wayanad to send a “message to South India that we are with them”. But he has been doing that already: Tamil Nadu’s P. Chidambaram headed the manifesto committee; Kerala’s K.C. Venugopal was recently appointed organisational secretary; Karnataka’s Nikhil Alva handles his Twitter account and state-mate Divvya Spandana heads the party’s social media cell; Kerala’s Shashi Tharoor is chief of the Professionals Congress.…

KAMAL NATH As chief minister and state Congress president, he will be looking into seats other than his traditional Mahakoshal strongholds of Jabalpur, Chhindwara and Balaghat. He’ll provide strategic inputs to finalise candidates in the Bundelkhand seats of Sagar, Khajuraho and Damoh as well as Indore, Bhopal, Hoshangabad and Ratlam DIGVIJAYA SINGH A trusted friend of Nath’s for decades, the former CM is contesting from Bhopal at Nath’s behest, upping the stakes for the BJP. He also has a say in candidate selection and poll strategy SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN As a member of the BJP’s central election committee, the ex-CM will have a say in final ticket selection. Also a key campaigner in the state, he is forever on the campaign trail, highlighting issues related to farmers and women…

Two nascent political parties, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM) and the Dogra Swabhimaan Sangathan (DSS), helmed by IAS officer-turned-politician Shah Faesal and former BJP legislator Chaudhary Lal Singh, respectively, have been making their presence felt ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Faesal’s party had earlier said they would contest the LS poll, but opted out later, probably as tacit support to the secular parties to keep the BJP at bay. Singh, meanwhile, is giving the BJP the jitters after he filed nomination papers for the Jammu-Poonch seat on March 25. The controversial leader, who had taken out marches in support of the accused in the horrific Kathua rape and murder case last year, has public backing with his emotive Jammu-centric issues. Analysts say Singh could make things difficult…

Over the past 20 years, Rajasthan has witnessed an interesting phenomenon. The party in power in the state assembly has won the most seats in the Lok Sabha election. This has been the case in the three general elections held after 1999. The BJP, which won the 2013 assembly election, swept all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2014. Now, both the BJP and the Congress, which runs a three-month-old government in the state, are tweaking their strategies and looking to maximise their gains. A common hunting ground for both parties are the votes Independents and others won in the state polls. In the closely contested 2018 assembly election, Independents and others cornered 22 per cent of the vote share, winning 27 seats. The Congress’s 38.8 per cent…

VIJAY RUPANI The Gujarat chief minister enjoys a clean image despite questions over his grip on the government. He is seen as a sincere administrator PARSHOTTAM RUPALA The Union minister is the BJP’s star speaker in Gujarat. During Modi’s days as state chief minister, Rupala would hold the crowd at rallies if Modi was running late AMIT CHAVDA Gujarat Congress president and the party’s young OBC Kshatriya face. Chavda is a four-time MLA BHARAT SOLANKI The former Gujarat Congress chief and Union minister never lost an election in his 24-year-long electoral career except once; is known for his deft strategies…

April 18, 2019, is a big day in the calendar of the state of Tamil Nadu. The outcome of 18 bypolls to the 234-seat legislative assembly, being held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha election, will decide the future of the three-year-old AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) government, the prospects of its primary adversary, the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), and possibly the future of Dravidian politics too. In 2014, the AIADMK, with 37 of 39 seats from the state, had emerged as the third largest party in the Lok Sabha, behind only the BJP and the Congress. This election, both the AIADMK and the DMK, without their tall leaders—J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi, respectively—have struck deals of convenience with other parties—the DMK with the Congress and the AIADMK with…

Election debates in the state had been all about whether the Reds would be able to hold on to their last remaining bastion, and whether the BJP had done enough to polarise voters on the Sabarimala issue to finally wrangle themselves a seat. Till a little blip appeared in the proceedings. Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced he would be contesting a second seat from the state, from hilly Wayanad. The BJP and Left frothed angrily, but soon the dust settled, and Kerala was back to asking the basic questions. The growing presence of the BJP has cast a shadow on what till now was a direct fight between the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-steered United Democratic Front (the Left took eight seats to the UDF’s 12 in the 2014 Lok…

Total seats 142 West Bengal 42 Bihar 40 Northeast 25 Odisha 21 Jharkhand 14 Total states in the East 12 States ruled by the BJP 5 States where the BJP is a ruling partner 3 State ruled by an NDA ally 2 States ruled by others 2…

HIMANTA BISWA SARMA The BJP brass denied him a Lok Sabha ticket despite his public announcement that he would be contesting. It will be interesting to see how he responds after the snub. Sarma is the chief architect of the BJP’s expansion in the Northeast and the party’s electoral ambitions still hinge on him CONRAD SANGMA The Meghalaya chief minister and NPP leader has been spreading his wings steadily; his party is in the ruling coalition in three states in the Northeast; has offered tickets to a few BJP rebels PRADYOT M. DEBBARMA The new Tripura Congress chief has ensured the high-profile inductions of ex-chief minister Samir R. Barman, Tripura BJP’s Subal Bhowmik, ex-minister Prakash Das and firebrand leader Debashish Sen…

Humayun had difficulty ruling because he was overly generous to his brothers. He was, sadly, a good human being. Akbar, like his buildings, was a touch too manly. Jahangir was fiercely proud of his connoisseurship. When Mumtaz Mahal died, Shah Jahan cried so much he needed glasses. Listening to Ebba Koch is fascinating and entertaining. For her, the Mughals seem family. Koch, an art history professor at the University of Vienna, is certainly interested in the history of art but as she begins talking about the Mughals and their artistic predilections, art soon becomes history. Sitting in a cafe on Delhi’s Lodhi Road, so close to the tombs and gardens she knows well, she says, “Very often I find in visual sources, ideas and concepts not expressed in written sources.”…

Q. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s 2019 campaign slogan is ‘ Namumkin ab mumkin hai’ (The impossible is possible now). Did you come up with it? I won’t be able to tell you that. As an advertising consultant to them at various junctures, we have given a lot of suggestions. A lot of people work on it. In the whole of the BJP, I think the most creatively fertile person is Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. He has a lot of ideas. Q. What has been the plan for the 2019 election campaign? It’s a work in progress. This time, we’ll have to think on our feet. Things are changing every day and you have to be relevant. The long-term brand vision and the short-term goal have to be married well.…

Patched Up This funky seersucker shirt from Beams Plus will give you the vintage look and feel you crave. Wear it with matching shorts to make a statement. Price £427 Availability www.mrporter.com The Cincher Inspired by the sport of polo, La Martina’s spring line is all about sharp classics. This brown belt can be paired with most closet staples to create a new look. Price On request Availability DLF Emporio, New Delhi Zero Bulk This backpack from Tumi’s futuristic Revamped Arrive collection is functional, sturdy and stylish; everything a frequent traveller needs. It also comes with a USB port. Price On request Availability Brand stores and online Carrying Style Elevate your everyday look with Da Milano’s classic leather briefcases. Crafted in faux ostrich, elephant and crocodile textures, our favourite is…

The last decade has seen the emergence of a unique signature that is sparse on frills but abundant in abstract and academic expressions in fashion. Modern Indian Minimalism—unadulterated by overwhelming embellishments, the hitherto obvious hallmark of most Indian designers—is a language that relies on pattern-cutting, experimentation with yarns, geometry of shapes, non-figurative design garnishes and unorthodox traditional techniques. FASHION OF QUIETUDE What makes this movement uniquely Indian is the prominent role Indian textiles play in the minimalist designers’ practice. The resurgence of handmade textiles of India in fashion design—with their invaluable cultural, social and environmental narratives—is what makes this industry exciting today. Indian textiles give designers the tactility to explore the relationship between wearer and weave. These young designers, who graduated from pedigreed design schools across the world, use a…

There is something deeply poetic about having a glass of whisky in the Scottish Highlands, its birthplace. As one sips on a eighteen-year-old single malt, one is profoundly aware of the history in one’s tumbler and all around. While the Highlands are dotted with picturesque distilleries, Glenlivet in Ballandiloch, one of the oldest, remains particularly isolated. Set amidst the rolling hills of Moray, this distillery, set up by George Smith is famously the first to be officially licensed. Birth of the Bottle Every bottle of Glenlivet made here is created unhurriedly; almost as if trying to capture over 200 years of flavour in every single whiff. Very few things have changed here since Glenlivet became the first officially licensed distillery in Scotland in 1823. The whisky made here is made…

It’s not everyday that you celebrate the march of an icon, and what better way to toast its success than to capture its magnificence trough a tribute collection. Bvlgari marked the twentieth anniversary of its legendary B.zero1 by dazzling its iconic ring with a five-band, white gold spiral completely encrusted in sparkling pavé diamonds. The five-band ring also comes in yellow gold and solid white gold, like the original 1999 edition, but for the first time offers a rendition in rose gold as well. All four designs are engraved with XX Anniversary on their internal ferrule, making them a collector’s item. Built into the design DNA of these lavish limited editions is the B.zero1’s ethos: Be a rule-breaker, be daring, be unconventional. Totally B.zero1; totally Bvlgari too. Price On Request;…