About: the world this week, 30 June 2024 to 6 July 2024: Israel grinds; US gasps; France swings; Britain labours; India stampedes; and Team India wins a nail-biting T20 Cricket World Cup Final.

Everywhere

Israel Grinds On

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the idea of starting a ceasefire in Gaza while Hamas remains in power. This comes in the background of talks about a truce that would give Israeli troops time to prepare for a potential land war with Iran-backed militant Hezbollah, operating in Lebanon.

Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander on Wednesday, the second top field leader killed in less than a month, and Hezbollah retaliated by firing scores of rockets at Israeli military positions near the border. This is anyway a regular sideline feature in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The over 120 Israeli hostages in the captivity of Hamas, for over 270 days, are yet to see freedom. Negotiations for a possible deal to secure their release appears to be alive, walking in the shadows.

The United States Gasps

The first Presidential debate-ahead of the upcoming US Election in November 2024-left viewers gasping for breath; actually it was the Democrats’ candidate, incumbent President Joe Biden, who struggled to find air. He delivered a shaky, halting performance, while his Republican rival Donald Trump battered him with a series of attacks at a debate last Thursday. The two oldest presidential candidates ever, exchanged personal insults; traded barbs on abortion, immigration, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza; growled on each other’s handling of the economy; and even put stick to their golf games. Later, standing on firmer ground, Joe Biden said, he can do the job even though, “I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to.” Time to send him home? Reusing has its limits!

Meanwhile, in a landmark ruling, the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump cannot be prosecuted for any actions that were within his constitutional powers as President, but can be, for private acts. This ruling recognises for the first time, any form of presidential immunity from prosecution.

Then, Biden, this time quick on the draw, and reading from a teleprompter, thundered, “This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each, each of us is equal before the law. No one is above the law. Not even the President of the United States”. He called the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, a ‘dangerous precedent’ that could turn Presidents into kings and called on the American people to ‘dissent’ by rejecting Donald Trump in November’s election. Maybe, the Democrats need to dissent on going along with him.

France Swings

France has a semi-Presidential type of Government with a President and Prime Minister. The President is the pre-eminent figure-the Big Boss-and is directly elected through Presidential Elections in a term, separate from Parliament. The President’s role is unique. He can deal directly with the people when required, bypassing and even dissolving Parliament. The President appoints the Prime Minister and chairs cabinet meetings. The Prime Minister is responsible to Parliament, which consists of a Lower House- the National Assembly and an Upper House-the Senate.

The parliamentary election to the National Assembly is a complex, two-round process in which the two candidates who get the most votes in the first round go through to a second round. There are 577 seats in the National Assembly. And for an absolute majority a party needs 289. The Parliament may or may not be controlled by the party the President belongs to.

When opposing parties control parliament and the presidency, the power-sharing arrangement is known as cohabitation. Before the year 2002, cohabitation occurred as a regular feature, because the term of the President was seven years and the term of the National Assembly was five years. And the overlapping brought together strange bed-fellows. With the term of the President shortened to five years, it is expected that cohabitation is less likely to happen.

Emmanuel Macron is the current President of France, in office since May 2017, being elected for a second term in May 2022.

This week, the results of the first round of France’s Parliamentary Elections were out. And the challenger, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) & Allies made historic gains winning 33% of the vote, followed by a left-wing bloc with 28%, and well ahead of President Macron’s broad alliance of centrists, who scored just 22%.

The first round eliminates all candidates who fail to win the support of 12.5% of locally registered voters. Anyone who scores more than 50% of the vote with a turnout of at least a quarter of the local electorate wins automatically. That normally happens only in a handful of constituencies.

RN is led by 28-year-old Jordan Bardella – designated Prime Minister – and in Parliament by Marine Le Pen, who has fought for the presidency three times and lost each time. Now, the polls say her party could become the biggest in France, falling short of an absolute majority. Naturally, Le Pen has set her eye on the next presidential election, in three years’ time.

Pollsters calculated the first round had put the RN on track for anything between 250-300 seats, but that is before tactical withdrawals reshape voter intentions this weekend. And there seems to be ganging-up of parties against Marine Le Pen, given her strident anti-Muslim stand. Le Pen has called for the hijab to be banned in public spaces, while Jordan Bardella, has called the veil a ‘tool of discrimination’.

The second round – the run-off will be held on Sunday, 7th July. And consists of a series of run-offs fought either by two, three or sometimes four candidates. Some candidates may drop out before 7th July to give an Ally a better chance of stopping a rival from winning.

Never before has the far-right won the first round of a French parliamentary election.

The Macron alliance had only 250 seats in the outgoing Assembly.

Whoever wins, President Macron has said he will not resign. If his party loses, and National Rally wins, then the question is whether RN can win an absolute majority or a relative majority similar to that held since 2022 by the Macron camp.

An RN victory could open the door to almost three years of ‘cohabitation’: when the president of one party heads the state and another party runs the government.

Marine Le Pen is the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen who founded the National Front Party. For years, she has been working to ‘de-diabolise’ or detoxify her party from the antisemitic and extremist roots of her father and his fellow founders. Once in control, she renamed the party as, National Rally to shrug-off the past. Much of its focus now is on the cost-of-living crisis, but many of its strict anti-immigration policies remain, and a ruling this year by the Council of State, France’s highest court for administration, confirmed it could be considered ‘extreme right’. Jordan Bardella wants to ban French dual nationals from sensitive strategic posts, calling them ‘half-nationals’. He also wants to limit social welfare for immigrants and get rid of the automatic right to French citizenship for children with foreign-born parents.

Britain’s Labour Labours Liberally

British voters headed to the polls this Thursday for a crucial General Election. The snap vote, called by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, was held months earlier than necessary, and caught much of his party by surprise.

The opposition Labour party had suffered its worst defeat since 1935 in the last general election, but has since rebuilt itself under the leadership of Keir Starmer. And when the results were out on Friday it was a Landslide win for Labour with 410 sets, well above the majority mark of 362. Well, that was what India’s Prime Minster was aiming for, 400 paar – 400 and above. Never mind, it happened in faraway Britain.

The Labour Party swept hundreds of seats across the country and in the process brought an end to 14 years of Conservative rule. And a tumultuous era, which saw five different Conservative leaders running the country.

Sir Keir Starmer, 61, was quickly appointed Prime Minister(PM) by King Charles, later in the day. Rishi Sunak, the outgoing PM, conceded early in the morning, acknowledging Labour had won and calling Starmer to congratulate him. Sunak took responsibility for the loss. His Conservative party won a conservative 121 seats.

Britain’s new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, studied at Reigate Grammar School, University of Leeds, and University of Oxford. He is married to NHS occupational therapist Victoria Alexander and has one son and one daughter.

Keir started his professional life as a Barrister in the 1990s, and was appointed the director of public prosecutions, the most senior criminal prosecutor in England and Wales, in 2008, which service eventually got him knighted as ‘Sir Keir Starmer.’

He was first elected in the Holborn and St. Pancras constituency in north London in 2015, and took over the leadership of Labour after the party’s poor 2019 general election, pledging to start a new era after the abrasive left-wing leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

This election’s insurgent party was Reform UK, the right-wing successor to the Brexit Party and the UK Independence Party. Nigel Farage, its leader, finally won a seat on his eighth attempt – but his party’s initial projection of 13 seats fizzled to four.

India’s Death Stampede

It is one of the deadliest stampedes and worst crowd crushes in India, 123 people, including women and children, died in Phulrai Mugalgarhi village in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Hathras District. About 250 were injured. The tragedy occurred at the conclusion of a Hindu religious satsang (a prayer meeting) organised in the area, by a self-styled God-man guru, called Bhole Baba; when the meeting concluded and the Baba was leaving the venue.

The organisers tried to create a passage from the venue to the main highway for the convoy of Baba’s cars to leave, amidst a rush of people who began gathering on both sides of the corridor. All of this, combined with the mismanagement of the huge crowd by the organisers has prima-facie led to the stampede. A Mad rush, extreme humidity, slippery ground, desperation to seek Baba’s blessings – collect dust under his feet- confusion, screams, and fear were tell-tale signs of the gruesome scene. Most of the deaths resulted from suffocation.

More than three times the permitted number of people attended the event-about 250,000-despite permission being granted only for 80,000.

The satsang was held by Suraj Pal, 58, who also goes by the names, Narayan Hari, Sakar Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba or simply ‘Bhole Baba’. Hari hails from Bahadur Nagari village in Kasganj district, about 65 km from Hathras where the stampede occurred. Suraj Pal worked as a constable with the UP Police, and was last posted in Agra, before he quit in the 1990’s to become a religious preacher. He claims to have a spiritual bend even while working with the Police, which made him ‘switch careers’.

He then adopted the name Bhole Baba, began preaching, and conducted satsangs known as ‘Manav Mangal Milan Sadbhavna Samagam’ along with his wife, who is known as Matashree. Hari does not have children.

Bhole Baba does not wear the traditional saffron clothes, often appearing in a white suit and tie or a kurta-pyjama. He claims to spend all the money donated to him on devotees. He calls himself a disciple of Hari (Lord Vishnu). He is said to have a notable following in western Uttar Pradesh.

Wonder why the ‘God-Man’ did not stay back and offer succour to those affected, or use his ‘Godly power’ to bring back people to life? Instead, he promptly fled the scene.

T20 World Cup Cricket Thrills

I have not watched live cricket on TV in a long time and there was no better day to get back than last Saturday. And it was worth its weight in gold watching the India – South Africa Finals.

India’s 13 year wait for a World Cup win finally ended on a glorious day at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies, on 29th June. For South Africa, the endless agony for a Cup Win goes on. The spectacle these two teams produced was more than worthy of a World Cup final. It was a contest that sashayed back and forth, each blow followed by an equally brutal counterpunch that left the result hanging in balance until the final moments, in an edge-of-the-seat position.

In the end India won against South Africa by seven runs, becoming just the third side to win the Men’s T20 World Cup twice, after England (2010, 2022), and West Indies (2012, 2016). Barring a no result against Canada, India won all their remaining contests in the tournament, thus becoming the only undefeated side to win the T20 World Cup.

In the Finals, India batted first, making 176/7 runs in 20 overs with a vintage performance by Virat Kohli who made 76 of 59 balls, and pinch-hitter Axar Patel delivering his role to perfection, knocking 47 runs off 31 balls. In return, South Africa made 169/8 in 20 overs. Indian bowlers Hardik Pandya 3/20, Jasprit Bumrah 2/18, Arshdeep Singh 2/20 delivered the final blows – finishing the job.

Classy Klaasen lifted South Africa to the precipice but then it took the genius of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya to dismantle the Proteas. Bumrah, the human slingshot with logic-defying accuracy, had bowled flawlessly throughout the tournament and in the final innings. And when India was desperate for a wicket -that would open the gates to the South African batting’s tail-end, he flung down a delivery only the cricketing gods could conceive, clicking-off the stumps. And then Suryakumar Yadav performed a nimble feet-of-flames tiptoe around the boundary rope to complete a one-man relay catch struck by David Miller off a Hardik Pandya ball, which was a turning point in the game. Virat Kohli was declared the man of the match and Bumrah, man of the tournament. India exploded in celebrations and waited for the Team to return Home-caught in a West Indian Hurricane.

This was ‘the Wall’ Rahul Dravid’s final innings as Team Coach (he lamented that he is now jobless!), while Captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kholi said they were quitting T20 International Tournaments. It was an all-round fiery display of coaching and captaincy, which brought Team India to deliver its best when it really mattered. Over to the next team.

The ICC Men’s Twenty20 (T20) tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) commenced on 1st June with co-hosts USA taking on neighbours Canada, while fellow hosts the West Indies playing Papua New Guinea in Guyana on the second day of group play.

More nail-biting stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Stay the course with World Inthavaaram.