1. Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017: Five Key Takeaways
There’s a wonderful story in cricket: an umpire was simply refusing to give a batsman out, despite a couple of plumb LBW strikes. So when the batsman’s stumps were knocked out of the ground, the bowler looked at the umpire quizzically:
Umpire: “He is clean bowled.”
Bowler: “I know that sir, but is he out?”
Gujarat’s election results are as quizzically inscrutable. The BJP formed the government, but did it “win”? And the Congress lost, but did it “win” a psychological upper? Whoever wants to answer these questions will have to stretch their neck out and wait for it to be chopped!
Read the full story here.
2. Next CM of Himachal Pradesh: Dhumal Lost, But What Now for BJP?
Even as the BJP emerged victorious in Himachal Pradesh, its chief ministerial candidate, Prem Kumar Dhumal, conceded defeat in the constituency of Sujanpur.
Incidentally, this election, the BJP fronted a CM candidate before the polls, out of step with its tradition of fighting elections under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name. There is enough reason to believe that, losing Sujanpur, Dhumal invariably drops out of the race for CM’s position too.
But wait, let’s not write off Prem Kumar Dhumal just yet.
Read the full story here.
3. People in Gujarat Do Not Approve of Modi’s Model: Rahul Gandhi
Newly-elected Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he accepted his party’s fate in the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. On Tuesday, 19 December, he addressed the press in New Delhi.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was suffering from a “credibility problem.” He said that the Congress responded to the Prime Minister’s anger with love during their campaign in Gujarat.
Read the full story here.
4. A Stalker Threw Acid on Laxmi and Today, She Urges You to Fight Back
In 2005, a man whose advances Laxmi Agarwal had spurned for two and a half years, attacked her while she was on her way to her summer job, and threw acid on her face. Laxmi recalls feeling like someone had burnt her alive.
Laxmi was just 15.
When the PCR van arrived to take her to the hospital, Laxmi recalls looking down at her hands and watching her skin melt away. “I could see my skin peeling away the same way plastic does when it is on fire,” she recalls.
As part of The Quint’s #TalkingStalking campaign, the feisty 29-year-old woman shares parts of her story with women and men all across, who have faced or are facing stalking – and advises on how to fight back.
Read the full story here.
5. From Tamma Tamma to Mehbooba: Songs Bollywood Ripped Off in 2017
What are the adjectives you would associate with Bollywood songs in 2017? Original? Creative?
Well, consider a rethink.
Take Tamma Tamma Again from Badrinath ki Dulhania, for instance. No, it’s not borrowed straight from the 1990 film Thanedaar. Its origins are in fact beyond this continent. It was first composed by Mory Kante, an African musician.
Read the full story here.
Video Producer: Sai Sethu
Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
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