16 THE WEEK^ • JULY 29, 2018
APERITIF
PARTY SNACKSRETURN TICKET
Ever since he failed to help the Congress win
last year’s Uttar Pradesh elections, Prashant
Kishor has been keeping a low profi le. But
now, the election strategist is looking for a
comeback at the national level. His Indian
Political Action Committee has launched a
campaign that would ask at least one crore
citizens to set the agenda for the next general
elections. Th e announcement has, predictably,
led to widespread speculation about which
party, or front, Kishor would eventually join.ILLUSTRATIONS JAIRAJ T.G.ROOTING FOR
THE UNDERDOGS
Surely, Nirmala Sitharaman is aware of India’s
important defence ties with France. Regardless,
minutes before the FIFA World Cup fi nal on July
15, the defence minister tweeted, “Let the best
team win! Best wishes to Croatia.” Perhaps she
thought the underdog needed more support. Or, it
could be interpreted as her admiration for Croatian
president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who was a big
attraction at Russia 2018.SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
Prakash Javadekar is one of the best crisis
managers in the BJP. However, this time,
the crisis is in his own human resource
development ministry. For the past one
month, students of Manipur University have
been on strike and have shut down the Central
university. Th ere are allegations of fi nancial
and administrative manipulation against the
vice chancellor.
After Javadekar’s poor handling of the
Jawaharlal Nehru University agitation, many
campuses are closely watching how the
minister handles the current crisis.ILLUSTRATIONS JAIRAJ T.G.Surely, Nirmala Sitharaman is aware of India’s
important defence ties with France. Regardless,
minutes before the FIFA World Cup fi nal on July
15 , the defence minister tweeted, “Let the best
team win! Best wishes to Croatia.” Perhaps she
thought the underdog needed more support. Or, it
could be interpreted as her admiration for Croatian
president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who was a big
attraction at Russia 2018.