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With the Gujarat election propelling his party into the big league, Arvind Kejriwal’s dream of becoming the BJP’s main opposition is growing. What does reality look like?

In this issue

13-01-202341 STORIES

AAP continues to expand its national base unlike other regional parties

It rides high on general distrust of traditional parties and anti-incumbency, among other factors.

Ashutosh Sharma,Anupama Katakam

Silence of AAP on crucial issues leaves Muslims in a dilemma

There have been rumours of disillusionment with the AAP’s alleged “soft Hindutva” agenda.

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Sandeep Pathak on AAP: ‘Our agenda is clear: hospitals and schools’

Interview with the national general secretary (organisation) of the Aam Aadmi Party.

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Confident AAP presents national narrative as challenger to BJP after Gujarat gains

However, it has deliberately kept the ideological contours of this challenge open to interpretation.

AAP: Regional gains, national aim

The party’s growth and metamorphosis is built around its electoral gains in Punjab and Gujarat.

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The intriguing failure of AAP in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana

It seems to defy logic given the party’s recent performances in Delhi and Gujarat.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

Pasmanda gamble by BJP to pose a challenge to Grand Alliance in Bihar

It is unlikely though that economic largesse alone will win it the community’s vote.

Shahnawaz Hussain: ‘We are the party of OBCs, Dalits and tribals’

In conversation with the BJP leader and former Union Minister.

Wooing the Vokkaligas: Cracks appear in JD(S) vote base in Karnataka

The BJP is pulling out all the stops to get them to its side in the 2023 Assembly election.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

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Editor’s Note

One watches AAP’s rise with a degree of anticipation because of the absence of a strong opposition.

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With no place to call home, the Gutti Koya tribe fights for survival

Displaced from Chhattisgarh and seeking refuge in Telangana’s forests, they face a grim future.

Wildlife Act amendment misses chance to free captive elephants

But the amendments pertaining to CITES and the schedules are largely viewed as an improvement.

Rishika Pardikar

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Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus seek India’s support as Sinhala government targets temples

Sacred sites are under attack by the establishment’s deliberate policy of cultural sanitisation.

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Digital rupee not the magic bullet Central government is hoping for

Societal transformation is not possible without addressing inherent structural inequalities.

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Science & Technology

Researchers explain how wet surfaces can exhibit more friction than dry ones

During their experiment the relative humidity was varied from 0.6 per cent to 80 per cent.

R. Ramachandran

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Science & Technology

Aerosolised particles shoot out of a lid-less toilet when it is flushed: study

The particles can carry pathogens and potentially expose users of public bathrooms to disease.

R. Ramachandran

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Science & Technology

Rocky meteoroid that exploded over Canada came from the edge of the solar system

This is an extraordinary finding because scientists thought only icy bodies existed there.

R. Ramachandran

‘Bofors pales into insignificance’: Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Ravi Nair

In conversation with the authors of ‘The Rafale Deal: Flying Lies?’.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

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The lived realities in Aban Raza’s art

Her emphatically social paintings make us see the “invisible” people whose labour fuels the economy.

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A chat over tikki

“The language of your heart and soul is English, but you wander about in Hindi and Urdu.”

Amitabha Bagchi

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Sex, lies, and chicken curry

Racy but insightful, action-packed but convincing, this is a potboiler with a difference.

Debate over old pension scheme divides State governments and Centre

The Centre has launched a propaganda war to discredit this decision against the new scheme.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

Small-print India: The time is now

Our passion for democracy is explicit in “small-print” publications brought out by local communities.

A quixotic academic misadventure

This book argues English is now a vernacular language of India but fails to make a persuasive case.

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Readers respond

Readers write in

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A taste of Bihar

This valuable anthology makes some of Bihar’s astounding literary output accessible via translation.

New books on the shelves

A literary tour de force, India’s tryst with public policymaking, an anthology of narratives, and more.

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FLQ - The Frontline Quiz

Paintings, TV programmes, AI models, and scores of zero.

Sumant Srivathsan

Running between raindrops

How to get where you want to by finding the safe and sweet spots through all manner of hazards.

Legends of Hindustani classical abound at Dover Lane Music Conference

It is the experience of hearing and watching them live all through the night that draws audiences.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Hinglish, stirred and shaken

The commingling of English and Hindi in a globalised world opens up spaces and undermines linguistic elitisms.

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Exploring the Sangh

It is an important intellectual attack on the times we are going through.

Bihar, Nitish Kumar, and the prohibition debate

Curtailing basic liberties on a presumption that individuals tend to abuse them is self-defeating.

Sukumar Muralidharan

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Why Netflix reality show ‘Dubai Bling’ is a voyeuristic ode to a post-global city

It fetishises a culture of smoke and mirrors.

Prathyush Parasuraman

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Walls of defiance in downtown Srinagar

Graffiti is a statement of both resistance and remembrance in Kashmir.

Mehak Wani ,Hassnain Riza

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Enigma of arrival in Kashmir

Returning to Srinagar in the fall.

Language politics resurges in Karnataka, Maharashtra over border dispute

It presents the opposition in both States a chance to use it against their respective governments.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

Custodial death of Rampurhat massacre accused a loss of face for CBI

It comes at a time when Trinamool Congress appears all but cornered in multiple corruption cases.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

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Aggressive Koreas leave peninsula tense

Recent tensions have undone the gains of the past few years, when relative calm prevailed.

Mangroves to be cut for Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project after court order

The rail corporation has undertaken to carry out compensatory planting of 1,10,000 saplings.

Late start to Kochi Muziris Biennale exposes organisational fault lines

Even 10 years after it first opened, the Biennale still lacks a permanent venue.

Nidheesh M.K.,Frontline Bureau

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