While Modi’s government approved their release, the Supreme Court took up the matter at Bilkis Bano’s urging and sent the killers and rapists back where they belong — to prison.

The fact that Nikhil Gupta's alleged handlers in India told him they had the ‘go-ahead’ to murder Pannun as early as June 21, the date of Modi's arrival in the US, borders on political insanity.

The election has set in motion two potential changes to the fundamentals of that state’s politics. If either or both become lasting realities, the Congress Party stands to benefit.

As the state heads to polls in May, the BJP may face headwinds due to corruption allegations and its overreliance on communal polarisation. For Congress, its AHINDA strategy may work, but it is beset by internal strife. The JDS may still retain its domination in the Old Mysuru region.

It is a matter of urgency that doctors and nurses be informed that the problem in hooch tragedies is always methanol, and that the antidote to methanol is ethanol.

Despite the energetic creation of booth-level party committees as elections approach, the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah management style has severely disempowered BJP activists.

The BJP faces a difficult election in UP – in the wake of the farmers’ protests and concerns about the Yogi government’s brutish, chaotic ways – and has responded by stoking communal polarisation which fosters a sense of impunity among extremists.

The absolute top-down control that Modi exerts over the BJP has fostered deep resentment amongst MLAs and party members at lower levels.

Chopra was the first Indian editor-in-chief of The Statesman.

Chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak saw first-hand the manner in which Infosys Foundation – run by his in-laws – was unfairly targeted, until Narayana Murthy stopped making critical comments about the Modi-Shah regime.

The EPW is a unique and rich trove of sophisticated arguments and counter-arguments – and of fundamentally important data-sets.

If policy makers trusted local authorities, they would have better guidance on how to tackle the crisis. Their fixation with top-down control lets them down.

After radically centralising power, the Indian PM runs the risk of taking the blame if the health crisis spirals out of control.

One of Narendra Modi’s proudest promises, that he will restore India’s prestige across the world, now proves more difficult to deliver than ever.

The elites that Boris Johnson denounced in the campaign are leaders in the courts, the civil service, parliament and civil society – over which he now seeks one-man control.

India's head of state, who must must act independently in the event that no party or alliance secures a majority, could soon find himself caught in several political cross-currents.

They range from business slowdown due to demonetisation and GST, to the denial of crucial services due to mandatory Aadhaar linkage.

It appears impossible for the BJP to win a majority on its own in 2019. It may still win enough seats to form a coalition government, but it will have to bargain with allies deeply frustrated with Modi’s wilful, unresponsive ways.

Both of them appear unable to hold back from denouncing and humiliating political rivals, and other people and things that they dislike, even when it is tactically wise to show restraint.