- 2025: A Year of Consolidation and Contrast
- The “State of the Union” Choice
The year, 2025, is ringing out showing no light at the end of the tunnel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going strong with no sign of leaving the throne even after reaching 75 years, the benchmark he has set for senior leaders like Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi for joining the Marg Darshak Mandal. RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat showed the courage of asking the PM to retire for a brief while only to deny later that he had ever said anything like that.
He himself is not likely to retire after reaching 75. Amit Shah and/or Yogi Adityanath has to wait for his promotion for some more years. A very young minister from Bihar was selected as the national chief of BJP as though to compensate for the ageing leadership of the government. In contrast, the Congress has a president, Mallikharjun Kharge, who is older than any office bearer of any party.
Modi, la jawab
The centre is taking all possible risks to implement RSS agenda like doing away with Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir. Modi government is entirely different from that of Vajpayee. The revival of statehood for the valley, which was cancelled by Modi government, is being delayed as far as possible. The BJP has learnt the trick not only to survive but win with huge margins in elections in state after state starting with Haryana, continuing with Maharashtra and Bihar.
Now it is aiming at winning West Bengal and Tamil Nadu while keeping Assam with itself. In Kerala too, it was able to win Tiruvanantapuram corporation and is eying the state to considerably improve its position. While it has re-established in North and West India, it is likely to improve its foothold in the South.
The Congress party, on the contrary, is going from bad to worse. Under the virtual leadership of Rahul Gandhi the party is likely to get back Kerala and there is little hope in any other state including Assam where the party has a very good leader in Gogoi. Rahul Gandhi’s leadership is being questioned by seniors like Digvijay Singh and Shashi Tharoor. Ananda Sharma, Manish Tiwari and other leaders remain skeptical about the leadership of the Family.
Mallikharjun Karge is doing a fine job within the limitations he has to reckon with. But the party is not able to give a modicum of fight to the BJP. It is not able to throw up an alternative leader. Even Shashi Tharoor and others are not the leaders to take on Narendra Modi. They are ultimately indirect supporters of Modi and the BJP. Among Mamata, Akhilesh and Yasashwi Yadav there is none who is likely to emerge as an alternative leader to Modi.
Among the family, Priyanka is able to make a mark but Sonia is not prepared to give up on Rahul who himself does not seem to be keen on the top position. Even Priyanka is not prepared to take the mantle away from her brother. That is a the sad state of affairs in the Congress.
It is not fair to blame Rahul alone for the lackluster performance of the Congress. He has been working hard. The strategy of BJP in projecting on Hindutva as a philosophy and Modi as the leader seems to be unbeatable combination. Added to this, the deliberate way in which the BJP has been diluting the democratic institutions and using them for perpetuating in power could not be countered by the Congress or other opposition parties.
Operation Sindoor
On 22 April 2025 a Pakistan based terrorist organization The Resistance Front (TRF) has perpetrated a devastating attack at Pahalgam in Kashmir killing 26 innocent tourists in cold blood. TRF is an offshoot of the notorious Pakistan based terrorist outfit Lashkar -e-Taiba. On 7-8th of May, the government of India retaliated with Operation Sindoor killing as many as one hundred terrorists in bases located in Pakistan, particularly Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The operation was non escalatory and not aimed at military targets. It was stopped after four days of fighting at the instance of Pakistan. In the meanwhile, Pakistan has got closer to the US. Its army chief Syed Asim Munir had the distinction of having lunch alone (without any political leader being present) with US president Donald Trump at the White House. It was first of its kind.
In Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu is ruling the state with his son Lokesh calling the shots. His deputy Pawan Kalyan is not a chief minister material. He is aware of his limitations. He is eager to get closer to the BJP and become its friendly leader to look after the South. He does not have a clear cut political ambition. He has been trying to turn a sanatani. YS Jagan does not give any indication whether he has understood the reasons for his defeat in 2024 and is prepared to make amends to get the mandate again in 2029.
Naidu has no plans or the wherewithal to implement his election promises. The people of Andhra are concerned about their welfare under Naidu’s administration. The Private Public Partnership (PPP) model sought to be promoted by Naidu is not likely to go well with the people. Privatization of ten medical colleges planned by Jagan’s dispensation in public sector may boomerang if the opposition YSRCP is able to organize the protest movement successfully.
Corruption is continuing in a different form today compared to Jagan’s rule. There are three leaders (Naidu, Lokesh and Pawan) who try to impress the people by criticizing one and only opposition leader, Jagan Mohan Reddy. The distinction with Andhra Pradesh politics is that all the four major parties – TDP, YSRCP, Jana Sena and the BJP– are supporting the ruling party at the centre. The opposition Congress does not have a single seat in the assembly for the last three elections.
Revanth, Messy play football
Telangana is seeing a fierce battle of words, rather foul, between the Opposition BRS and the ruling Congress with the BJP acting as an umpire. Revanth Reddy has got stabilized in power and has been concentrating on mega events. Having made election promises which are impossible to implement, he has been trying to hoodwink the people and carry them with him on new promises like Mission 2047 when India completes 100 years as an independent nation. Future city is another promise.
Hyderabad city has seen all the colours in 2025. The Hyderabad Book Exhibition has concluded on the 29th on a very successful note. It has drawn a record crowd of 16 lakhs. Most of the visitors are young people giving a lot of hope on future. The sales also created a record. Justice Sudershan Reddy who was the chief guest in the closing function on Monday commented that some sort of revolution is taking place in Telangana. Miss World pageant was a global event with the contestants from all over the world visiting many important places in Telangana.
The twin tragedies that afflicted the city took many lives. The inferno at Sigachi industries took 54 lives some six months ago. Its CEO Amit Raj Sinha has been recently arrested for negligence. The other fire accident was at the ancestral home of Modi family at Gulzar House near Charminar in old city that has claimed 17 lives.
Yet another glorious event organized by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on a grand scale was Telangana Rising Global Summit to draw the corporate sector in a bid to pitch the state as an investment destination. Revanth Reddy dribbling the ball in an exhibition football match involving the world football legend Lionel Messi was another event of which the CM can be proud. Creating 63 ft tall Bathukamma got a Guinness World Record. The last week of the year saw former chief minister KCR attend the Assembly session, though briefly, and shook hands with the CM.
Prominent Journalist
Dr. K. Ramachandra Murthy is a versatile journalist with a distinguished career. Dr. Murthy began his extensive career with Andhra Prabha of The Indian Express group in Bengaluru. He was editor of Udayam, Vaartha and Andhra Jyothy. Dr. Murthy founded and edited HMTV news channel and The Hans India, an English newspaper. He was also editorial director of the Telugu newspaper, Saakshi. He was awarded Ph. D for his research work in rural reporting. Dr. Murthy’s five decades in journalism showcases his influential roles across both print and electronic media. He wrote the political biography of NTR published by Harper Collins.
