Of personal attacks, freebies, and their repercussions

It is said that a week is a long time in politics. And the week that went by, when India was in a festive mood, was indeed a long one filled with drama and action. Campaigning for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections gathered momentum and the political battle sometimes turned too personal, thereby crossing the thin line between aggression and arrogance.

In Tamil Nadu, Kollywood star Vijay is trying to turn his reel-life saviour image into real after launching his political party while Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee lit up the Diwali lamp a little too early, claiming that that his action of breaking a glass bottle during a Waqf Board JPC meeting was a result of provocation by BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

Elsewhere, while America is the cynosure of all eyes with the stage set for the US Presidential Elections, it was a Halloween party which stole the limelight.

Here's a quick recap of the week's action in DH Political Theatre.

Personal attacks, foul and ennui

In the run up to the Maharashtra Assembly elections bad blood between the Maha Yuti and Maha Vikas Agadhi reached a culmination point when BJP spokesperson Shaina N C switched loyalties and filed nomination as a candidate of Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena from the Mumbadevi Assembly constituency. This led to an acrimonious war of words with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MP Arvind Sawant reportedly saying, "Imported Maal Nahi Chalta Yaha"(Imported item does not work here), in an apparent reference to the fashion designer-turned politician, for which he is likely to be booked.

After the statement made by Sawant, Shaina took a jibe at him and expressed how she does not need his or his party's 'certificate', and later filed a complaint at the Nagpada Police Station in Mumbai.

She also went on add, “This reflects the mindset of Arvind Sawant and his party. Does he think every woman of Mumbadevi is a maal? On one side there is Eknath Shinde’s Ladki Behan Yojana, on the other side there is Prime Minister’s Ujjwala, Mudra Banking, Housing Scheme, where women are empowered. Droupadi Murmu, a tribal woman, becomes the President and on the other side Mahavinash Aghadi’s Arvind Sawant calls me ‘Imported maal‘," she added.

In the run up to polls, personal attacks have sometimes stooped to new levels and the sexist barbs allegedly aimed at Shaina is another pointer in the case.

ECI vs Congress stand-off

There seems to be no end in sight for the Election Commission of India (ECI) vs Congress stand off. The grand old party has had numerous face offs with the polls body this year, including the one after the Lok Sabha elections and the recently held Haryana Assembly Elections over the alleged 'misuse' of voting machines. Things reached a boiling point last week when the ECI, while rejecting Congress' allegations of irregularities in Haryana elections, asked the party to conduct itself responsibly at sensitive electoral stages.

In a strongly worded letter to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, the ECI also asked the party to take concrete steps, matching with the party’s long and illustrious standing, to amend their approach and responsibly conduct themselves at sensitive electoral stages so as “to avoid possibilities of precipitation of public unrest and chaos”.

Congress hit back at the election body for the “tone” of its communications targeting it, saying the poll body’s recent history “do(es) not shroud it with glory” and the party refuses to take it "lightly any more”.

With Assembly polls for two states coming up in the next fortnight, friction between ECI and the principal opposition party is the least Indian democracy needs at this stage.

Of freebies and their repercussions

One of the main reasons why Congress came back to power in Karnataka in the 2023 Assembly polls was its the flagship 'guarantee' schemes which included free bus rides for women, free electricity for consumers using less than 200 units per month, and so on.

But it looks as though the Congress (state leadership) is having a rethink over it, for which they were taken to task by the Central leadership.

It all started with Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar saying (which he himself backtracked later saying he was misquoted) that the government would rethink the 'Shakti' scheme of free bus travel for women as some of them want to pay for their tickets, something which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also denied later. However party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who plans to make a similar promise to voters in Maharashtra ahead of the ensuing Assembly polls there, put Shivakumar in his place by saying "You have given some guarantees. After seeing them, I too said in Maharashtra that there are five guarantees in Karnataka. Now you (Shivakumar) said you will withdraw one guarantee."

Shivakumar quickly did a damage control exercise by saying, "Karnataka guarantee model is a model for the entire country. BJP and other parties are also adopting it and we are proud that we could implement that and we could deliver that. The people of Karnataka and the country are very happy with our model".

The fact that he made the statement on the Kannada Rajyotsava day put things into proper perspective. Yes, it takes two to tango!

Kalyan's tantrums and U-turns

Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee was in the news for all wrong reasons this week. During a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Banerjee lost his cool and reportedly smashed a glass bottle of water, which led to his eventual suspension from the next meeting of the committee.

Calling the incident “unprecedented”, chairman of the committee BJP MP Jagdambika Pal had said that Banerjee had flung the broken bottle at him.

But in a sudden turn of events, Banerjee said that his action of breaking the glass bottle was a result of a provocation by BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay. He also sought to clear the air by saying that his kin was abused by Gangopadhyay and that he never intended to hurt Pal.

Banerjee is a man never stranger to controversies and his latest clarification on the 'bottlegate' may not be the last in this series! Wait and watch folks!

Thalapathy's political plunge

In Tamil Nadu, politics and films have always been strange bedfellows. It is said to succeed in politics in the southern state, a general pre-requisite is to be an actor—with classic examples being the late charismatic actor-turned politicians who became chief ministers—MG Ramachachandran, M Karunanidhi, and Jayalalithaa. Mani Ratnam's multi-starrer film Iruvar epitomises just that. After a highly successful career in films where he has donned the role of politicians occasionally , Vijay aka Thalapathy has also taken the big plunge into politics by finally launching his much-awaited political party -- Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam.

The 50-year-old had been talking about launching a political party for sometime, and an announcement was expected before the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. But in true filmy style, Thalapathy played it safe, especially after seeing what happened with the political career of three film personalities in recent times—the late VIjayakanth, and the two most influential names of Kollywood -- Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan. Vijay, who says DMK is his main opponent, is eyeing the 2026 Assembly Elections in Tamil Nadu. There was a sea of humanity on the day of the launch of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam at Vikravandi in Villupuram. But there is a general saying that stars can gather crowds, but not garner votes. Will that hold true in Vijay's case? Only time will tell. We'll have to wait for two years to see if Vijay's magic finds its way to the ballot box.

Halloween politics in the US

The whole world is waiting with bated breath for the elections of the year -- the US Presidential Elections 2024. Will Donald Trump make a return to White House or will Kamala Harris become the first woman to become the US President? That's the lingering question in the minds of every average American.

As discussions and debates amid rising tension in Middle East continues, there was a weird side to the elections, when the incumbent US President Joe Biden, in a Halloween party at his official residence played a prank with the children.

At a party which was attended by nearly 8,000 guests, Biden reportedly bit the leg of one child as his mother held him, while the theme of the movie Jaws played in the background, as per a New York Post report.

Trump loyalists took up the cudgels on behalf of the Republicans in their fight against Democrats. Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn even went to the extent of saying "Keep you kids away from this man!"

That concludes the drama for this week folks! We will be back next week with more. Till then, stay tuned to DH.

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DH Newsletters Team