Adding injury to insult: Indian politics hits a new low as vitriol reaches new high

Hello readers, wlecome to another edition of DH's Political Theatre!

The Winter Session of the Parliament limped to an end this week as insults and injury dominated proceedings, resulting in repeated adjournments and derailing the Modi government's plan to introduce 'One Nation, One Election' bills for passage.

The last week ended with Priyanka Gandhi's maiden speech in the Parliament, and the political sphere quickly descended into chaos after Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on Dr B R Ambedkar sparked vociferous Opposition protests.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who typically avoids making direct political statements on X, put out a flurry of posts attacking the Opposition as pressure over the Ambedkar comment mounted, while Home Minister Amit Shah held a special press conference to drive home the point that his remarks had been cast in a wrong light.

What began as a week of politics centred around alleged 'insults' to one of the founding fathers of the nation ended in injuries, courtesy the result of a scuffle in Parliament.

Join us, as we take you through this week's political drama.

Insult, injury, and indignation

Saturday saw the conclusion of the two-day debate on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha, with PM Modi taking the lead in tearing into the Opposition.

The Constitution has been changed 75 times since PM Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure, the PM said, alleging that the Congress had "tasted blood" when it came to altering the Constitution.

Acrimony over the Constitution debate, however, escalated into a full-scale agitation this week after the introduction of the 'One Nation, One Election' bills and Shah's comments on Ambedkar.

The Opposition was quick to dismiss the 'ONOE' bills as "dictatorial" and "anti-federal", while PM Modi said that the bills would be sent to a JPC for further scrutiny, which was subsequently formed with 39 MPs from the ruling NDA and the Opposition.

The BJP, however, found itself on the backfoot a day later, after Shah's comments on Ambedkar blew into a issue of perhaps unexpected proportions.

Vociferous protests against what the Opposition called "casteist" and "anti-Dalit" comments gripped the Parliament, resulting in repeated adjournments that massively hit the legislature's productivity in the Winter Session.

With the Opposition calling for Amit Shah's sacking over the alleged 'insult', the BJP swung into the Home Minister's defence, with the PM taking it on himself to defend Shah.

In a flurry of posts on X, the PM attacked the grand old party, slamming its "rotten ecosystem", "malicious lies", "misdeeds of several years", and the "worst massacres against SC/ST communities", and defended his no. 2 for exposing the "Congress' dark history of insulting Dr Ambedkar."

But that was just the start.

Flaring tempers led to flailing limbs on Thursday as BJP and Opposition MPs clashed in the Parliament, resulting in injuries to two BJP MPs and a supposed injury to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's weak knees.

Rahul Gandhi found himself at the centre of the scuffle, with the BJP accusing the Congress leader of pushing its MPs, while another woman BJP MP accused the 54-year-old of being "very close" to her and giving her an earful.

FIRs were lodged and accusations and counter-accusations followed, resulting in a quick adjournment of both Houses on Friday, which marked the end of a rather frigid Winter Session.

Bitter Bhujbal

After weeks of indecision over Cabinet members, Maharashtra on Sunday finally saw 39 ministers sworn-in at Raj Bhavan on Nagpur.

Veteran NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, however, was dropped from Fadnavis' Cabinet, much to his ire.

Not one to mince words, the 77-year-old seven-time MLC did not hold back, publicly saying, "I am sidelined, humiliated."

Bhujbal, for now, has promised to go on a tour of Maharashtra to rally his supporters, and is likely to up the ante against NCP chief Ajit Pawar.

Temple run

The discovery of several ancient and/or abandoned temples across the country caused a flurry of excitement among certain excitable sections, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath jumped on the opportunity to attack a long-dead Mughal emperor and his clan.

"What happened in Bangladesh, in Pakistan and Afghanistan?," asked Adityanath to a perplexed and long-dead Aurangzeb and his even more perplexed descendants, while asserting that Sanatana Dharma was the only way to "safeguard humanity"...without specifying from what.

In a related (and unrelated) development, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat surprised everyone (and possibly even himself) by criticising the rising incidences of temple-mosque disputes. Not mincing words, Bhagwat said, "If we want to provide this harmony to the world, we need to create a model of it. After the construction of the Ram Mandir, some people think they can become leaders of Hindus by raking up similar issues in new places. This is not acceptable."

“Every day a new matter (dispute) is being raked up. How can this be allowed? This cannot continue. India needs to show that we can live together,” the 74-year-old said.

Delhi duel

With Assembly elections fast approaching in Delhi, this week saw the AAP release its final list of candidates, confirming that Arvind Kejriwal would be facing off against former CM Sheila Dikshit's son Sandeep, a Congress leader.

AAP's choice to field Kejriwal against Dikshit was perhaps a sign of tense ties between the two I.N.D.I.A. bloc partners.

A formula for disaster

The Formula-E race organised during the BRS regime in Telangana came back to haunt the K Chandrashekar Rao-led party, with former minister K T Rama Rao coming under the scanner of the present government over alleged irregularities in payments and the misuse of government funds.

KTR, however, asserted that the Formula-E race had been free of the taint of corruption, and to prove his point, demanded a discussion on the same in the state Assembly, accusing the Congress government of levelling "baseless" allegations.

Chaos in Karnataka

The Waqf issue reared its head again in Karnataka this week, with the ruling Congress and the opposition trading barbs over the contentious issue of lands under the Waqf board.

Attention, however, got diverted later in the week after BJP leader C T Ravi was arrested over alleged derogatory remarks against state minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, prompting widespread protests by the saffron party. While Ravi managed to secure bail quite quickly, he did so after accusing the cops of police brutality.

The I in I.N.D.I.A. and other developments

Amid a tussle over the leadership of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek this week backed the Bengal CM to lead the alliance, asserting that the maverick TMC chief was the "senior-most" politician in the patchy grouping.

Up north, protesting farmers were once again met with tear gas and water cannons, forcing them to call off their Dilli Chalo march. Of course, the matter did not escape the attention of political parties, with the Congress accusing the BJP of ignoring farmers, and PM Modi accusing the grand old party of the same.

This week also saw Amit Shah following up on the promise of a Uniform Civil Code, and asserted that such a code would be imposed in every BJP-ruled state eventually.

New beginnings and a looming shutdown

Beyond borders, Israel continued to bomb places across West Asia amid ceasefire efforts, while Russia and Ukraine continued to trade blows.

In France, Macron named close centrist ally Francois Bayrou as the new Prime Minister in an attempt to steer the country out of a seemingly never-ending political crisis.

PM Modi's "friend" and US President-elect Donald Trump, meanwhile, threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs on imports from India, before calling for the elimination of the debt ceiling, something that could result in a US government shutdown and throw global markets into chaos.

Far east, South Korea ousted embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol after he imposed martial law, paving the way for interim President Han Duck-soo to take the reigns.

This week also saw some hope for an end to the conflict in Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing willingness to talk to Trump about a ceasefire.

That's all for this week. Join us next week as we take you through the fallout over the Ambedkar row and the build-up to the Delhi elections.

Exit Stage Left,

DH Newsletters Team