Daily Briefing: Exclusive interview with Amit Shah; Kolkata Knight riders clinch 3rd IPL title; and more

‘To form the government, we already have the numbers from the first five phases.’

In an exclusive interview with the Indian Express Union Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah expresses confidence in his party’s “comfortable position” after 6 phases of polling. He delves into topics such as unemployment, the escalating bitterness between the ruling party and the Opposition, and why he holds Rahul Gandhi responsible for the declining standards of politics in the country.

In today’s Opinion piece, Suhas Palshikar writes about the role of the Hindi heartland in shaping the political power in India and the possible limitations that might unsettle the BJP’s electoral hold over this region. “Will the voters in spite of their love affair with Hindutva begin to exercise agency and explore alternatives?” he contemplates. 

👉 Only in Express 

In this week’s Idea Exchange, economist and former RBI governor D Subbarao speaks to the Indian Express about how the central bank has dealt with multiple crises, the internationalisation of the rupee and why corporates are not investing yet.

📰 From the Front Page

🏏 After 10 years, including a near miss in 2021, the IPL trophy is now headed to Kolkata Knight Riders as Shreyas Iyer’s boys came up with a power-packed show to down Hyderabad by eight wickets and 57 balls to spare to make it the shortest final ever. Read the full analysis of the match here. 

The fire at the Rajkot gaming zone may have been initiated by sparks from a welding machine that landed on “piles” of flammable material, a senior official informed The Indian Express, citing preliminary investigations based on CCTV footage. The blaze, which occurred late Saturday afternoon at the TRP gaming zone and amusement park, tragically claimed the lives of 28 individuals, including seven minors.

In an unusual move, the government extended the tenure of Army Chief General Manoj Pande by a month, who was scheduled to retire on May 31. According to protocol, the Army chief retires upon completing three years in the appointment or upon reaching the age of 62, whichever comes first. Read our report to understand the reasons behind this extension and whether similar occurrences have happened earlier.

➡️ Must Read

Six newborns died when a fire raged through the Baby Care New Born hospital in Delhi’s Vivek Vihar on Sunday. Many of them were first-born, some were miracles born after their parents lost their children earlier. They all had a single question — Why did no one inform us of the incident? We speak to the families.

In our Opinion section today, Ashok Gulati and Ritika Juneja write on curbing inflation through trade policy, especially with respect to food inflation: “What could be rational trade policy that dovetails well with domestic MSP policy? First, instead of a sudden drop to zero import duty, it could have been more calibrated…”

Election Rewind: After the Congress pulled down the United Front government in late 1997, the elections in 1998 gave the BJP a second chance at power in less than two years. 1998-2004 were the years of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Indian politics. We take a look at how India flared under Vajpayee’s six-year tenure.

🔴 And Finally…

The buzz at the sleepy campus of the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune hasn’t died down ever since its alumna Payal Kapadia won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. But Kapadia’s journey to this milestone has hardly been a smooth ride. From run-ins with FTII administration to her feat at Cannes, we look at Kapadi’s long journey.

Delhi confidential: Among Delhiites who turned up very early to vote during the sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls on May 25 were some Union Ministers. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was the first male voter at his booth in New Delhi constituency. Don’t miss today’s column!

In the latest episode of our 3 Things podcast, we discuss BJP and what challenges it might face when it comes to Rajasthan, a post-Raisi Iran, and the massive fire that broke out in a children’s hospital in east Delhi. Tune in here!

Until tomorrow,

Ayesha Jain and Aradhana Kalia

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