Off the record: October 12

A celebration

The ‘Quad’ ministerial meet in Tokyo on October 6 did result in much to celebrate. The US bid to turn the informal four-nation coalition into a formal “NATO-like bloc” for Indo-Pacific fell flat. India, Japan and Australia were not yet ready to overtly gang up with the US to take on China. The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, slammed China, but neither India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, nor Foreign Ministers of Japan and Australia, Toshimitsu Motegi and Marise Payne, echoed him directly. The mood in the meeting room, however, lightened when a when a cake was brought in and Pompeo, Jaishankar and Payne wished Motegi a “Happy birthday”. The officials also joined in the celebration and greeted the host of the meet. The fact that Japanese Foreign Minister was to turn 65 the next day, did not stop them from celebrating.

Anirban Bhaumik, New Delhi

A message

The farmers’ agitation over three agriculture sector reforms has prompted the Modi government to walk the extra mile to procure the Kharif crop, in a bid to send the message that the MSP regime will continue. Besides procuring, the Centre is also on overdrive on communicating the purchases made every day. The Agriculture Ministry has been releasing statements every day on the quantity of paddy purchased from farmers in Punjab and Haryana and the amount disbursed to them. However, the procurement overdrive does not appear to have moved the farmers, who continue to agitate against the three laws in Punjab.

Sagar Kulkarni, New Delhi

A political weapon?

During the initial months of Covid-19 outbreak in Kerala, the state faced criticism for not conducting enough tests. Political opponents even alleged that the state was trying to gain appreciation by deliberately keeping the figures low. Later, the state enhanced the number of tests rapidly and is now conducting nearly 70,000 daily. Now the whisperings in the political circles is that the government is trying to keep the figures up in order to divert attention from the embarrassing reports against the government in connection to the alleged nexus with the gold smuggling case accused. The government also used Covid-19 surge to flay the stirs against the government by highlighting the number of Covid-19 infection among police personnel and opposition activists.

Arjun Raghunath, Thiruvananthapuram

Flipkart shocker

E-commerce giant Flipkart drew brickbats on social media after an employee handling its social media handle recently said that their service was not available outside India when a customer from Nagaland capital Kohima asked why it was not delivering goods in Nagaland. “We still didn’t get independence and we are still a part of India. Treat all states equally areeh!,” the user said in a comment. Replying to the customer, the Flipkart handle replied saying “Sorry to hear that. We appreciate your interest in shopping with us. However, sellers do not provide our services outside India.” Flipkart issued a statement, apologising for the incident but netizens, particularly many from the Northeast had already aired their anger and scoffed at the Flipkart employee’s ignorance.

Sumir Karmakar, Guwahati

Testing times

The assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh are a test of the influence Jyotiraditya Scindia wields in the Gwalior-Chambal region. Scindia made a shock exit from the Congress in March along with 24 MLAs owing allegiance to him, bringing down Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s government. BJP has fielded 22 Congress rebels in the by-polls, prompting the Congress to make the election campaign Scindia-centric. Congress leaders hit out at Scindia for the grand betrayal and have filled social media with memes mocking the erstwhile royal, asking him whether he acquired certain theatrical qualities after joining the BJP. The test of the Congress campaign as also Scindia’s popularity will be known on November 10.

Sagar Kulkarni, New Delhi