Left, Right & Centre

The new, hiked GST rates come into effect today and this triggers outrage in the country at a time when retail inflation has remained high. The opposition says it is completely unacceptable that daily-use items like rice, wheat, curd, grains and jaggery, among other items have seen a GST hike from 0 per cent to 5 per cent.

Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair today got another bit of temporary relief from the Supreme Court, which noticed a "vicious cycle" of arrests and told the Uttar Pradesh police not to take any action in five cases against him until the next hearing on Wednesday. This on a day when Nupur Sharma has moved the Supreme Court again seeking protection from arrest in the nine FIRs that have been filed against her. In her plea, she says that after the unexpected and strong criticism from the Supreme Court last time fringe elements have renewed their threats against her.

Efforts are on to make booster doses available at fairs, religious congregations, even railway station platforms, says Dr NK Arora, Chairperson of the COVID working group, adding that it has been observed that uptake goes up when vaccine is available next door and is free. The Covid panel chief said the polio and measles programme has given policymakers a lot of confidence. On India completing 2 billion Covid vaccine doses, Mr Arora said it is a "journey of atmanirbharta and atmavishwas and now it is also a matter of atmasamman as well".

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the Centre to give clearance for his visit to Singapore for the "World Cities' Summit", due at the end of this month. Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party has also raised the matter at the all-party meeting held ahead of parliament's Monsoon Session. Also, on the show, the Centre may soon roll out Covid booster doses at religious gatherings, railway stations.

Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who died two years ago, plotted against PM Narendra Modi with arrested activist Teesta Setalvad following the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Gujarat state police said today in a charge strongly refuted by the Congress party and Patel's family. Opposing activist Teesta Setalvad's request for bail, a Special Investigation Team of the Gujarat Police told a court that said she was part of a 'larger conspiracy' to dismiss the BJP government in Gujarat, led by then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, at the instance of Ahmed Patel. With a panel of experts, Left, Right And Centre breaks down the intricacies of the case that will next be heard on the 18th.

'Jumlajeevi', 'Covid spreader' and 'Snoopgate' have joined everyday expressions like 'ashamed', 'abused, 'betrayed', 'corrupt', 'drama', 'hypocrisy' and 'incompetent' in a list of words deemed unfit for parliament ahead of a new session starting Monday. The opposition is fuming, saying it amounts to censoring their criticism of the government in the House. But the Lok Sabha Speaker has clarified that this is in keeping with a long tradition of compiling "unparliamentary words" and that no words have been banned. 

As the Parliamentarians are handed a new list of unparliamentary words, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien takes on the government in the latest war for words. The MP says he will continue to use all the "banned" words and dares the government to suspend him.

A day of dramatic developments in Sri Lanka, as emergency was imposed following spiralling protests. The protests intensified hours after it emerged that president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife had fled to the Maldives. He is likely to be moving to another country from there: Singapore or the UAE. Anger swelled since Gotabaya had promised to resign as president today (Wednesday) but has not. Protesters stormed the PMO, as police brought in teargas shells to control the crowds. Gotabaya has appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe, the PM, as the interim president but protesters want him to go as well. India has denied any involvement in getting Gotabaya out. In this discussion on LRC, panelists take us through what could happen and what's in store for the region.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that we cannot be a 'police state', and that the government should consider bringing in a special bail act so that bail is the rule, and jail the exception. That's how it's supposed to be even now; yet, people languish for years in jail. It is also important to examine the case of fact-checker Mohammed Zubair - he was arrested for a 4-year-old tweet on June 27, and has since then been unable to get bail as he faces a series of cases against him. Tonight on Left, Right & Centre, we ask the question: is India now a police state?

After barely getting through the political crisis of defections in Maharashtra, is another crisis brewing for the opposition Congress in Goa? Senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik was rushed to the state today amid speculation that some of the Congress MLAs in the state may be crossing over to the BJP. The party has accused two of its senior leaders - Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat - of 'conspiring' and 'hobnobbing' with the BJP to engineer a split in the legislative wing. As the firefighting continues, tonight on Left, Right & Centre we ask the bigger questions emerging about the politics of defection, and what this means for democracy.