Left, Right & Centre

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's visit to Nepal to attend a friend's wedding has triggered a barrage of tweets from the BJP, whose members are taking potshots at him for attending a party while criticising the government on social media. AICC in-charge for the Telangana Congress Manickam Tagore took aim back at the BJP, saying, "The real issues are the power & coal shortage and rising fuel prices - but 'saheb' (PM Modi) is out while India is suffering." Editor of ANI Smita Prakash said, "AAP, BJP, TMC, NCP, Shiv Sena and DMK are fine and winning elections, but you won't find them partying."

The Vice Chancellor of a medical college in Tamil Nadu was suspended because medical students took an oath in Sanskrit instead of the traditional English Hippocratic oath. Left, Right & Centre explores the fallout at a time when the language row is back in the headlines.

DW correspondent Biresh Banerjee from Berlin remarked on PM Modi's visit to Germany, saying, "The trade equation has been the cornerstone of the strategic partnership between India and Germany. The past three years have dramatically realigned priorities in Berlin; Berlin has realised the importance of diversification of supply chains and markets, and a focus on security in the Indo-Pacific."

 

Two of the passengers injured in the turbulence faced by a SpiceJet flight from Mumbai during landing in Bengal's Durgapur on Sunday, have been admitted in the Intensive Care Unit, the Director General of Civil Aviation said today. The aviation regulator has de-rostered two SpiceJet employees who later allowed the aircraft to move from Durgapur to Kolkata before a formal inquiry. On tonight's episode of Left, Right & Centre, we explore the seriousness of the incident.

With the BJP, Shiv Sena and MNS embroiled in a battle for Hindutva identity in Maharashtra, tonight's episode of Left, Right & Centre analyses the nature of polarising calls to chant the Hanuman Chalisa, remarks by former BJP Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the demolition of the Babri Masjid and Raj Thackeray's loudspeaker threat

It's been more than 60 days since the war in Ukraine began - 60 days in which we have seen clear signs of how warfare has evolved. From drones playing a decisive role in the war to the vulnerability of tanks, which have been such as essential part of the battle zone for more than a century, to the role of shoulder-fire missiles which can easily knock down tanks and aircraft, to information warfare. On a day when India has a new Army Chief, General Manoj Pande, we look at where India stands in terms of the technology curve in war - based on what we have been seeing in Ukraine. What are the lessons we can learn from the Russia-Ukraine conflict?

In this segment of Left, Right and Centre we look at the brewing letter versus letter war in the country. After 108 Ex-Bureaucrats wrote to PM urging him to call for an end to what they termed a "politics of hate" allegedly practised by the governments under BJP's control, 8 former judges, 97 former bureaucrats, and 92 former armed forces officers have now issued a rejoinder. In the counter-letter, the former civil servants have been accused of "orchestrating a false narrative." We speak to signatories of both letters to know more.

In this segment of Left, Right and Centre, we look at the storm that has erupted over British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's visit to the JCB factory in Gujarat, a day after bulldozers razed homes, carts and shops in Delhi''s Jahangirpuri. Two MPs in the UK parliament have questioned his visit and also asked if he brought up the issue of communal clashes and human rights violations with Prime Minister Modi. On the show we speak to Labour MP for Nottingham East, Nadia Whittome, who had questioned if Prime Minister Johnson's recent visit to India had helped legitimise the demolitions carried out by the BJP-led administrations in various states, and also BJP's Ranbir Singh Pathania.

There is an intense heatwave across the subcontinent - record temperatures for this time of the year in some areas. Gurgaon is at nearly 46 degrees Celsius. Is this a random extreme weather event or a direct link to climate change?

There is passion and anger about Hindi being put on a pedestal vis-a-vis other languages, this time in Karnataka. After Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn tweeted that Hindi is India's national language to Kannada actor Kichcha Sudeep, there is an outpouring of support for Sudeep from Karnataka's Chief Minister, two former chief ministers, and scores of others, with the controversy taking on a political colour. It started with a debate triggered by the runaway success of Pushpa, RRR and the latest KGF Chapter 2, movies from south India that have done way better than Bollywood releases, and it's ended up being a political debate on language.