Reached the Moon, but at what cost; Onions make eyes water and mouths run

The curtain rises, and India is on the Moon. However, as is the case with Indian politics, an otherwise historical moment was slightly marred by political mudslinging and a focused attempt by the Opposition to ensure the limelight-loving PM didn't steal the show - an attempt that wasn't much too successful.

At the same time, onion prices in the country is the latest thing that has made eyes water (much like the vegetable itself) and tempers run hot.

Let's take a look at all that has happened.

India reached the Moon, but at what cost?

Even as India reached the Moon with the Chandrayaan-3 mission, Congress alleged that the Modi government is yet to pay the people behind the launchpad at Sriharikota.

When Congress tried to sell the idea that the current success of ISRO can be traced back to the efforts by its party members who became PM, namely Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, and Manmohan Singh, BJP's Nalin Kohli commented that this showed the party was 'stuck in the past'.

Onions make eyes water and mouths run

The Centre's decision to impose a 40 per cent export duty on onions raised sharp critique from various quarters. Congress staged a protest in Pune demanding withdrawal of the export duty, while NCP locked horns with the saffron party over the matter.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) claimed that the Modi government's policy was ultimately neither beneficial to farmers nor to consumers.

Amid the brouhaha over the onions, one Maharashtra minister commented that it would make no difference if people didn't consume onions for a couple of months. Perchance, the Sena man was a step away from stating something along the lines of 'If they have no bread, let them eat cake!'

Get set poll

With the Lok Sabha 2024 polls coming up, apart from Assembly elections in some Indian states, many parties have been strategising about the same.

In Telangana KCR released the list of candidates who'd be contesting, and seeing as he is running from two seats, the opposition in the state has dubbed it as the CM's 'insecurity' at play.

Congress, meanwhile, finally reconstituted its Working Committee, which many believe is party president Mallikarjun Kharge's way of keeping CMs in check.

In poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Amit Shah unveiled the state's report card which lauds the progress under the BJP govt. Cong's Digvijaya Singh, however, hinted that Nuh-like riots might be 'engineered' ahead of the polls.

Raid, raid against the dying of the light

In poll-bound Chhattisgarh there has been an uptick of ED and I-T raids with those in the Bhupesh Baghel government in the crosshairs (there is absolutely no coincidence here) but the CM alleged these were just efforts to defame his government and he would ensure the BJP was wiped out from the state in the upcoming elections.

InJUstice in the east and south

West Bengal's Jadavpur University (JU) is mired in controversy again after a student died under suspicious circumstances and the state BJP didn't take much time in dubbing the University a "hub of anit-national elements" before walking out of the Assembly.

In Kerala, a Congress minister who dared allege corruption on part of CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter has come under the scanner of the authorities. The timing of the incident is bound to raise a few eyebrows.

What's up with I.N.D.I.A?

The I.N.D.I.A bloc is readying for a more consolidated opposition with their official logo likely to be revealed on September 1. AAP and Congress, despite being in the same boat for now, are still bickering with Arvind Kejriwal recently taking shots at the Baghel government.

Congress and TMC, meanwhile, have decided they need to come up with a unified strategy at the next party meet, which will be in Mumbai.

On that note, Maharashtra politics is seeing a tussle after Ajit Pawar split from his uncle, thus dividing the NCP. Sanjay Raut of Sena (UBT) recently claimed that Ajit has no influence without his uncle's backing, and Sharad's sway as the party supremo became evident once again when Walse-Patil apologised soon after launching an offensive against the veteran politician.

In Bihar, the Nitish Kumar government is taking on the centre over the freezing of bank accounts of varsity officials and with the JD(U) promising to expose the BJP on caste survey, this acrimony is only likely to deepen.

The many claims by Mani Shankar Aiyar

Mani Shankar Aiyar made several claims in the past couple of days among which he expressed how 'appalled' he was when Rajiv Gandhi became PM. However, it was his comments on P V Narasimha Rao that drew flak from the BJP. Aiyar claimed that the ex-PM was 'communal' and the 'first BJP PM' of the country.

The BJP hit back saying that Aiyar badmouthing Rao is Congress's idea.

Wagner chief Put-in his place? Unsure, but Trump's chickens come home to roost

It has been a big week globally with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin apparently dead in a plane crash - which came months after he staged a short-lived uprising against Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Reacting to his death, Putin offered his condolences saying the private military group chief was a "talented man" who "made serious mistakes".

Elsewhere, Donald Trump made history again after he was arrested for conspiring to overthrow the Georgia election in 2020. The Fulton County jail also released a mugshot, which might not be the kind of publicity that the former President was looking for, but he has gone with the oft-repeated phrase that no publicity is bad publicity, and has returned to X (formerly known as Twitter).

Elsewhere, the BRICS is likely to get a new name after announcing that six new members would be joining the bloc. At the summit, Modi met Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping wher both leaders decided it was important to disengage along the LAC.

That's it for this week folks, but as the polls near there will be more drama, mud-slinging, and maybe even shoes being thrown (all sympathies with Swami Prasad Maurya). We will be there for it, and follow DH's Political Theater so you can keep up with it too!

Moonwalks out....