Left, Right & Centre

Three days after the Uri attack, India continues to weigh its options as it prepares for the diplomatic offensive against Pakistan. Afghanistan's ambassador to India tells us that a joint boycott of the SAARC summit in Islamabad can't be ruled out, but other members need to be taken on board. Is boycotting SAARC a viable option? And what more can India do politically and economically to isolate Pakistan?

For over 24 hours now, India has been deliberating just how it should respond to Pakistan after the Uri attack which killed 18 soldiers. Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting and decided a knee jerk response was not the answer. The first move, sources say, will be to isolate Pakistan globally but will it work?

Chikungunya has claimed five more lives today in Delhi, taking the total number of deaths to 10. But the state government remains in blame mode, when asked tough questions. Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung, who had been abroad, came back and held a meeting this evening to review the situation and appealed to the people to help control the spread of mosquitoes. The Health Secretary, who was on leave cleared by Najeeb Jung, cut his leave and rushed back to work. Arvind Kejriwal has a point because the Delhi High Court ruling has essentially made Najeeb Jung Delhi's boss, but that doesn't mean Mr Kejriwal and his government should abdicate. Instead of answering questions, the AAP has been abusing the media instead.

Who were the people leading the violent protests in Bengaluru on Monday, the police have arrested over 300 and believe fringe groups are responsible. Home Minister of Karnataka says pro-Kannada groups have anti-social elements. Did the vandals have political patronage? Can Karnataka government rein in the fringe troublemakers?

It has been quite a day for the Aam Aadmi Party. First, Arvind Kejriwal went off to Punjab for the first time since open dissidence in the party which is threatening to derail its 2017 campaign. As he took the Shatabdi to Ludhiana, there was plenty of drama - from protests in Delhi when he boarded to protests when he arrived, both from workers of opposition parties. An angry Mr Kejriwal says his security has been compromised by the Delhi Police. More significantly, as the AAP campaign runs into trouble, Mr Kejriwal has now decided to virtually camp in Punjab becoming Delhi's non-resident Chief Minister. And to add to Mr Kejriwal's problems, Navjot Singh Sidhu launched his own party in Punjab today.

As the UN General Assembly approaches, Pakistan steps up the anti-India rhetoric with their army chief now stepping in, talking of Kashmir as their lifeline. Pakistan's envoy to India is also summoned after India's High Commissioner to Pakistan is snubbed at a Karachi event. As the war of words intensifies, the US calls on Pakistan to do more against those behind 26/11. Should India diplomatically isolate Pakistan or do we need a totally new tactic?

It is an almost a do or die battle for the Congress as it campaigns in Uttar Pradesh for elections early next year, because it is this election that could tell us which way things will go in 2019. And so today, Rahul Gandhi kicked off his campaign, starting a 2500 km long yatra, aiming to cover 223 of Uttar Pradesh's 403 assembly constituencies over the next month. His main focus: farmers - an issue the Congress feels it can highlight effectively. But will it work? Much of the focus today was from Rahul Gandhi's 'khaat sabha' where cots were laid out for farmers while he interacted with them, and then when Rahul Gandhi left, the cots were stolen.

The Aam Aadmi Party finds itself in the middle of another row today and once again. One of the party's own legislators is hitting out. AAP legislator Devinder Sehrawat has written to Arvind Kejriwal, complaining that senior AAP leaders are exploiting women in Delhi and Punjab and promising government offices in return. The AAP has hit back calling the allegations absurd and baseless. Meanwhile, senior AAP leader Ashutosh is under fire and has been summoned by the National Commission for Women for his blog on ndtv.com regarding the sex tape with ex-minister Sandeep Kumar. On day one, before rape charges were filed, Ashutosh had argued that the CD was no one's business if it involved consensual sex. In all of this, Arvind Kejriwal himself has barely been here, he's now on his way back from Rome.

This Independence Day, celebrations will be like you've never seen them before. There is a week-long Tiranga Yatra where BJP lawmakers have been asked to carry the Tricolour which should be at least eight-feet-high, and there will be shows by celebrities at the borders. The education ministry is celebrating an independence festival till August 23. Schools will have a mass singing of the national anthem at 11 am on August 23 and have to stage patriotic plays and that's just part of the story. Is this patriotism or hyper nationalism? We debate on Left, Right and Centre.

Ever since he took over as Bihar Chief Minister less than a year ago, Nitish Kumar has made it his mission to promote prohibition not only in his home state but made a strong pitch for it in other states too. Earlier this year in April, Bihar brought in a prohibition law which first banned only country liquor but then extended to all kinds of alcohol. The ban has got huge support in many parts of the state, especially among rural women, but new amendments recently brought in have shocked many with their near draconian provisions. All adults of a family are going to be held responsible for the consumption and possession of liquor at home by any member of the family. All sections of the Act are non-bailable. Has Nitish Kumar gone too far? We debate on Left, Right and Centre.

16 years ago, on November 2, 2000, a feisty woman named Irom Sharmila began a fast unto death after ten civilians were killed by the Assam Rifles at a bus stop near Imphal airport. Irom began a long, hard fight against the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act which gives sweeping powers to the army in Manipur and in Jammu and Kashmir, where too there has been a long standing demand for its revocation. So when days earlier Irom suddenly declared that she would end her fast and join mainstream politics, it came as a shock to many of her supporters. Today, Irom burst into tears as she licked some honey to break her fast. This is my life, she said, adding "I am not a Goddess, I want to be Chief Minister of Manipur to make a positive difference."

Over the last two years, if there is one thing Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been repeatedly criticised for it has been his silence on key issues. Many times he has ignored the calls to speak out, and sometimes he has, like he did over the weekend on the cow vigilante groups and the attacks on Dalits. The Prime Minister finally broke his silence and made a dramatic appeal - shoot me, not Dalits, he said. But a day later, as the RSS backed him, other groups of the Sangh Parivar have not - warning of consequences in 2019. So what does one make of the PM's appeal? And can he afford to speak only on some issues and not others like the situation in Jammu and Kashmir?

Home Minister Rajnath Singh came back from Pakistan today after a hard hitting speech on terror at the SAARC meeting, but was anyone in Islamabad listening? Probably not. From open protests by terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin to cold vibes with his Pakistani counterpart, the home minister's visit has been marred by the freeze in India-Pakistan ties. He had barely landed in Islamabad and Nawaz Sharif was telling envoys Kashmir is not an internal matter of India but the main pillar of Islamabad 's foreign policy.

On Friday night, as they drove along the busy Delhi-Kanpur highway, a gang of men stopped the car of a family and then after tying up the father, went on to brutally rape the mother and her 13-year-old daughter. More than three days later, a distraught father says they will all commit suicide if the accused are not punished within three months. That night, as they were assaulted, the victims desperately called the police for help but no one answered, they were rescued only hours later. With elections in UP now months away the issue has blown up for Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. His senior minister Azam Khan has waded in, calling the rapes a political conspiracy. Calls for the chief minister's resignation echoed in Parliament.

The BJP would have watched with a great degree on unease as Dalit groups gathered in large numbers in Ahmedabad on Sunday to protest against the flogging of Dalit men in Una last month by a cow vigilante group for skinning a dead cow. The unrest in the Dalit community has been growing and with elections in Gujarat, a hugely politically important state, over a year away and the UP polls just around the corner, the party knows it is in deep trouble. Now, today, in a dramatic development, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has resigned, though she says the reason is that she's turning 75 soon.