July 11, 2025 – Sidharth Bhatia
Source: The India Cable
As tens of thousands continued their pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath and days ahead of Jammu and Kashmir’s Martyr’s Day, moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was stopped from delivering his weekly sermon at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid and put under house arrest by authorities on Friday. In a post on X, Mirwaiz, who is also the chief cleric of Kashmir, attributed his detention to the alleged fears of “mention of the martyrs of 13th July 1931” in his sermon. “The sacrifice of these martyrs and all the martyrs since, is etched in the collective memory of Kashmir and cannot not be undone by restrictions and bans. No living nation can forget the supreme sacrifice of life of its martyrs against tyranny and injustice,” he said.
Mirwaiz appealed to the authorities to lift the restrictions and allow people to pay homage to the martyrs. “Inshallah if allowed as per our tradition, we will visit the martyrs graveyard on July 13th after Zuhr prayers and pay homage to the revered martyrs,” the post said. The ruling National Conference (NC) and the lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha’s administration’s disagreements over the former’s plans to commemorate July 13 as Martyr’s Day seem to have reached a boiling point. LG Manoj Sinha controls the top echelons of bureaucracy and the police department which, going by past instances, is unlikely to allow the commemorations this year.
The upcoming Martyr’s Day, which was scrapped as a public holiday in January 2020 after Article 370 was read down in August 2019, is the first after chief minister Omar Abdullah was sworn into office in October 2024. The NC, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), People’s Conference (PC) and J&K Apni Party have demanded restoration of July 13 as a public holiday to honour the 22 Kashmiris who were shot dead in Srinagar in 1931 by the Dogra army while protesting against the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh. The BJP has opposed the July 13 commemoration with senior party face, and leader of opposition in J&K assembly, Sunil Sharma triggering outrage across Kashmir last year after calling those killed by the Dogra army in 1931 as “traitors”.
A sadhu from Uttar Pradesh, Swami Yashveer Maharaj, has turned the Kanwar Yatra route into his personal stage for vigilantism – now armed with the Yogi Adityanath government’s high-tech QR code system meant for security and transparency, reports The Telegraph. On Wednesday, Yashveer and his associates roamed through shops and dhabas in Ghaziabad’s Mohan Nagar, scanning the QR codes meant to identify owners and staff, effectively using a government tool to further a communal agenda. Claiming a mission to “cleanse the Kanwar Yatra routes of non-Sanatanis,” he openly harassed shopkeepers, put pictures of Hindu god Varaha and also the bhagwa (saffron flag) at the shops – all under the guise of “guiding” kanwariyas on where to eat and shop. “I am not conducting any raid, but I am giving the shopkeepers a picture of Varaha and also installing the Hindu flag with ‘Om’ written on it. It is my mission to guide the kanwariyas on where they should take their meals or buy anything during the Yatra,” Yashveer told reporters. “I’ll not allow any activities against Sanatan Dharma and will continue to purify the Kanwar routes,” added Yashveer, who receives security cover from the state government in the form of two constables.
A high-level Chinese defence delegation led by Lieutenant General Wang Gang, Chief of Staff of People’s Liberation Army Air Force called on Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force earlier this week at Air Headquarters Islamabad. During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, regional security dynamics and avenues of enhanced bilateral cooperation, particularly in the domain of airpower and operational synergy were discussed. Lieutenant General Wang Gang was given a comprehensive briefing on PAF’s modern force structure, strategic initiatives and the evolution of its operational doctrine. Chief of the Air Staff also reaffirmed the strong bond of friendship between the two Air Forces and reiterated Pakistan Air Force’s commitment to expanding cooperation in training, technology and operational domains. General Wang Gang expressed deep appreciation for the high state of operational readiness and the cutting-edge capabilities of the Pakistan Air Force.
India may soon see a fresh round of banking licences being issued after nearly a decade, as officials from the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are discussing ways to expand the banking sector to support long-term growth. These discussions are still at an early stage and no final decision has been made, the report said. According to Bloomberg, options being considered include allowing large companies to apply for banking licences with restrictions on shareholding, encouraging non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) to convert into full-service banks, and making it easier for foreign investors to raise stakes in state-owned banks. There has been no official comment yet from the Finance Ministry or the RBI. However, market reaction was visible. Key benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined for the third session in a row on Friday, dropping nearly 1%, dragged by heavy selling in IT, auto and energy stocks. Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 19 paise to 85.89 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday.
Gautam Bhatia, acclaimed constitutional law scholar, writes on the ‘judicial order’ of yesterday’s hearing in the Supreme Court regarding Bihar’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. While noting the piece of abstract art that the SC produced, Bhatia writes,
“Ambiguity plays a vital role in art, where proliferating meanings and open endings can enrich the process of interpretation. But in a case of a judicial order, where the voting rights of masses of individuals turn upon words, ambiguity is the most profound exemplar of judicial abdication, of a court failing to do its job. And ambiguity is not neutral: it favours the party that holds power, the party that can shape ambiguity to its own ends – in this case, the Election Commission.
And finally, evasion completes the trinity of ambiguity, deferral and evasion: the Court gives no reason for its observations on these three documents (leading, once again, to civil rights becoming the gift of judicial patronage and negotiations rather than enforceable rights, as I’ve previously written), and does not engage with any of the other issues raised in the petitions (what, one might then ask, was this four-hour hearing for?). In short, the Court does not do its primary job, which is to pass a reasoned, judicial order on an important and urgent constitutional case brought before it. One may ask: if the Court is unwilling or unable to pass a reasoned order in this case – which goes to the heart of the democratic process – when will it ever do so?”
Yet another Indian team is going to visit the United States to continue the saga of trade negotiations and seek clarity on the new announcements made by President Trump’s latest stunt: a proposed 10% tariff on imports from BRICS countries. Despite a recent round of negotiations (June 26–July 2) led by Rajesh Agrawal showing “progress,” key issues in agriculture and automotives remain unresolved. Apparently, all these meetings still cannot seal even an interim deal.
Speaking of the India-US trade deal, in The Economist’s Essential India Newsletter, Emma Hogan touches on a bigger and important question:
“how will India fare now that America has a president who seems keen to strike deals with anyone—including, potentially, China? Under Mr Trump’s first administration, and then Joe Biden’s, India seemed destined to benefit from cooling ties between China and America. In a messier, multipolar world—with an American president who wants to be remembered both as a great dealmaker and a great peacemaker—it would lose some of that advantage. But as we’ve all seen in the past year, a lot can change in 12 months.”
Earlier this week a Delhi court sentenced one Lokesh Solanki to three years in prison for promoting enmity during the 2020 Delhi riots. Additional sessions judge Parveen Singh found that Solanki “added fuel to the already simmering tensions by spreading messages which were intended to promote enmity and hatred for [the] Muslim community”. Since he has already spent more time in jail as an undertrial, he was ordered freed subject to paying a fine of Rs 25,000.
A court in Gurugram on Friday sent Deepak Yadav, arrested for killing – at the family’s double-storey home in the upscale Sushant Lok area – his daughter and state-level tennis player Radhika Yadav, to police custody for a day. Deeepak Yadav has confessed to the crime. Outside the court, a police official told reporters that they had sought a two-day remand of the accused. Police said they were investigating all possible angles in the murder, including what the player’s mother was doing when the incident occurred. According to an FIR registered based on the complaint of the deceased’s uncle, Kuldeep Yadav, Radhika’s mother Manju Yadav was present on the first floor of the house when the shooting took place.
The controversy around the blocking of Reuters handles in India has reignited concerns about the opaque online censorship of journalists and social media accounts in the country. This week, in another standoff with the Modi government, X said it had blocked access to Reuters and over 2,300 other accounts on orders from the IT Ministry – a claim later denied by the government. This came months after X pointed out that the government had similarly ordered the blocking of over 8,000 accounts after Operation Sindoor. Among those temporarily blocked online included news portals like The Kashmiriyat, Free Press Kashmir, Maktoob Media, and BBC Urdu, as well as those of several journalists. Now, replies to an RTI application again point to the government’s refusal to share details of these blocking orders, citing “national security”.
The Supreme Court will hear cartoonist Hemant Malviya’s petition against a Madhya Pradesh High Court order denying him anticipatory bail on Monday, reports LiveLaw. Malviya was reportedly booked last month under various sections of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita and section 67(a) of the Information Technology Act over a complaint that alleged his cartoon tarnished the image of the RSS, incited violence, and hurt Hindu religious sentiments. The complainant reportedly identified himself as a member of the RSS and the Hindu community.
The Allahabad High Court reportedly observed that merely expressing support for Pakistan without referencing any specific incident or mentioning India by name does not prima facie constitute an offence under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). According to Bar and Bench, a bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal noted, “Merely showing support to Pakistan without referring to any incident or mentioning the name of India, will not prima facie attract the offence under Section 152 BNS…” It further stressed that spoken words or social media posts fall under the right to free speech and should not be narrowly interpreted unless they clearly threaten the nation’s sovereignty or promote separatism. “…before invoking the Section 152 BNS, reasonable care and standards of reasonable person should be adopted as spoken words or posts on social media is also covered by the liberty of freedom of speech and expression, which should not be narrowly construed unless it is of such nature which affect the sovereignty and integrity of a country or encourages separatism,” the bench was quoted as saying.
Udaipur Files was scheduled to hit the cinemas today but the Delhi high court yesterday stayed its release, giving the petitioners – who argue that the film vilifies Muslims and amounts to hate speech – two days’ time to seek the cancellation of the film’s censor board certificate. The makers of the movie, which is about the 2022 murder of a Hindu tailor in Udaipur by two Muslim men, claim that it is actually about attempts by ‘external influences to sow seeds of hatred in India’, reports Shruti Kakkar.
RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra appeared before the parliamentary finance committee yesterday where, according to Animesh Singh, he brought the panel’s attention to the central bank’s finding that the number of counterfeit Rs 500 notes in the banking system in FY25 increased by 37% year-on-year to 1,17,722 banknotes; the total number of counterfeit notes of any denomination detected decreased by 2%. Singh also reports that MPs suggested the RBI not expand its remit and avoid conflict of interest; and discussed the declining number of banking mitras in rural areas.
The Calcutta high court sought a response from the Delhi government regarding the alleged detention of a migrant family from Bengal and their reported deportation to Bangladesh. The matter was heard by a division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra, reports LiveLaw. “We have had a similar matter yesterday, in that we said that before issuing a rule, we can seek a response from the state, so we will do the same in this case,” the bench observed during the hearing. The court also directed the Union home ministry to submit a report by Wednesday on the alleged deportation of six individuals, including minors, by the Delhi police, according to The New Indian Express.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said that if people write Bengali instead of Assamese as their mother tongue in the census, the government will be able to identify the number of “foreigners” in the state, reports The Hindu. “Nobody is affected by the threats ahead of every census about listing this or that language,” the chief minister told reporters. “They were made to believe that if more people do not speak Assamese, the language will become extinct. But the Assamese language will remain where it is.” He claimed that writing Bengali in census entries would “quantify the number of foreigners in the state”, not threaten the standing of the Assamese language. His remark came following a statement by student leader Mainuddin Ali who, during a protest against the state’s eviction drives, urged Bengali-origin Muslims not to list Assamese in census documents.
Buldhana MLA Sanjay Gaikwad has not only justified his beating a canteen employee in Mumbai earlier this week, he has tried to give the incident a Maharashtra-versus-South India hue. The Shiv Sena legislator told India Today TV: “Why was a contractor named Shetty given the contract? Give it to a Marathi person … South Indians run dance bars, ladies’ bars and spoil Maharashtra’s culture.” He also said: “My method [beating the employee on the grounds that he was served stale food] may have been wrong, but the goal was right. I will hit again if someone repeats such an act.”
Meanwhile, those associated with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have been attacking people from north India in recent weeks. Now that its leader Raj Thackeray has publicly reconciled with Uddhav Thackeray, whose Shiv Sena faction is in the INDIA bloc, will the opposition alliance’s prospects as the Mahagathbandhan face a setback in Bihar, migrants from where are victims of such attacks? Speaking to Anant Gupta, some opposition leaders in Bihar soft-pedalled the issue, but the Congress’s Kaukab Quadri admitted that it was a big deal in his state.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann during a press conference yesterday mocked Modi’s visit to a number of countries over the last week, suggesting that these nations were obscure and that Modi should have instead been in India, where (as per Mann) the same number of people gather to watch bulldozers in action as the entire population of those individual countries. The ministry of external affairs, although not naming Mann directly, said that his “irresponsible” and “regrettable” statements “undermine India’s ties with friendly countries” of the Global South.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) sparked a controversy by cutting a 33-second kissing scene between Superman (David Corenswet) and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) from James Gunn’s ‘Superman’, set for release today. According to media reports, the CBFC found the kissing scene, sensual and inappropriate for the U/A 13+ rating. The move aligns with the CBFC’s history of trimming intimate scenes in Hollywood films to cater to Indian sensibilities, but it has drawn criticism from fans and viewers who argue that the board applies double standards.
After the rescheduling of India’s tour of Bangladesh, Cricbuzz reports that Sri Lanka want to play a white-ball series with the Men in Blue in the same window. Notably, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently postponed India’s upcoming white-ball tour to Bangladesh, which was originally scheduled for next month. In light of this schedule change, it has been known that at least two cricket boards, one of them being Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), have put forward proposals to host a limited-overs series to fill the newly created void in India’s calendar.
As Modi turns 75 in September, RSS chief’s remarks stir discussion on retirement
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat’s remark on stepping aside at the age of 75 has sparked a sharp debate on if these words were actually meant for Modi, who, along with Bhagwat, turns 75 this September. Speaking at a book release dedicated to late RSS ideologue Moropant Pingle in Nagpur on Wednesday evening, Bhagwat said, “Moropant Pingle once said that if you are honoured with a shawl after turning 75, it means that you should stop now, you are old, step aside and let others come in … This was his (Pingle’s) lesson. Moropant Pingle taught the RSS to work without any propaganda and to retire after seventy-five years,” Bhagwat said.
Bhagwat will turn 75 on September 11 this year, just six days ahead of Modi, who the Opposition has been speculating will retire after getting there. Following Bhagwat’s comment, the Congress’ communications chief Jairam Ramesh said on Friday that Modi had been reminded by Bhagwat that he will turn 75 in September. Ramesh added: “But the prime minister could also tell the RSS chief that he too will turn 75 on September 11, 2025! One arrow, two targets!” Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi said that “preaching without practice is always dangerous”. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi told ANI that it was a “clear message” that was “directed at the person who is going to celebrate his 75th birthday in September…”
Allocations for Modi-heavy Pariksha pe Charcha rise as other schemes see declining funds
Expenditure on the Pariksha pe Charcha initiative, the centrepiece of which is programmes where the prime minister interacts with students, teachers and parents, has increased by 522% over the last seven years – from an allocation of Rs 3.67 crore in its inaugural year in 2018 to Rs 18.82 crore this year. Allocations under this initiative typically go towards managing events, producing broadcast content, digital promotion as well as setting up ‘selfie points’ featuring cutouts of Modi. This increase in allocation comes even as a number of other schemes, such as those of the Department of School Education and Literacy, as well as scholarships for minority students or overseas studies, have suffered tightening purse strings, writes Ankit Raj.
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After the truth-shower 