India’s eventful Independence Week

The government faces a pushback on inflation, and this week is going to make things worse. The wholesale price index (WPI) for July is expected to grow in double digits again, underlining the threat of inflation getting entrenched in the economy. The silver lining could be the Nomura India Business Resumption Index (NIBRI). It is expected to cross 100 for the first time since the pandemic.

India’s Independence week is going to be pretty eventful, politically speaking. After stormy Parliament sessions last week, the next five days will possibly be dominated by a conversation around the August 20 meeting convened by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi with opposition party leaders, including chief ministers Uddhav Thackeray of Maharashtra, Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, MK Stalin of Tamil Nadu, and Hemant Soren of Jharkhand. Banerjee has been talking about a united non-BJP front for the 2024 elections. Will this be discussed in Friday’s virtual meeting?

Rashtrapati Bhawan illuminated on the eve of Independence Day in New Delhi on Saturday. (HT PHOTO.)

The BJP government’s new ministers, meanwhile, will start their Jan Ashirwad Yatra (People’s Blessings March) this week. In Madhya Pradesh, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and social justice and empowerment minister Virendra Khatik will hold a Jan Ashirwad Yatra from August 16 to 24.

The government faces a pushback on inflation, and this week is going to make things worse. The wholesale price index (WPI) for July is expected to grow in double digits again, underlining the threat of inflation getting entrenched in the economy. The silver lining could be the Nomura India Business Resumption Index (NIBRI). It is expected to cross 100 for the first time since the pandemic (it was at 99.4 in the week ending August 8), breaching a psychological post-pandemic barrier.

There is no doubt about what the region of focus will be this week for international affairs observers. Afghanistan has been on the brink this past week, and with government forces offering little or no resistance anywhere, it is only a matter of time before the Taliban wrest Kabul as well. The US, perhaps after immense international pressure, has decided to send 1000 troops to safeguard the capital, but in all likelihood, it is too little too late. India will take a call on withdrawing its diplomats and citizens, believed now to be a few hundreds, from Kabul, and also decide on the status of its embassy.

Around 8000km west is where India’s playing one of its most difficult cricket tours in recent times. The two big takeaways so far? The celebrated Indian middle order of Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane are all in trouble; their averages started falling in 2018 and have kept falling. Second, the Indian pace attack has just got better, if that was possible, with the addition of Mohammed Siraj. In football, the video of Lionel Messi’s mural being taken down from Barcelona was one of the most poignant images from sport last week, but European football season resumed this weekend and suddenly there is more interest than ever in the fortunes of PSG because of Messi joining the high-profile French club.

Back in India, the country’s two most important cities – Delhi and Mumbai – began a crucial phase of their reopening process. Mumbai’s suburban railways are now open to fully-vaccinated people and in Delhi, students from Classes 10 and 12 resume school from today. The big question in everyone’s mind: will the reopening possibly lead to a third wave?