In an interesting development, India's Supreme Court has prohibited politicians from using religion and caste to garner votes, a verdict that could force political parties to change their strategy in upcoming elections. "No political party can seek vote in the name of caste, creed or religion," Chief Justice T. S. Thakur is said to have said in his order, adding that election process must be a "secular exercise".

No doubt, India's top court has announced a landmark judgement mainly because of the fact that the BJP government is hell bent on depriving the country of its seemingly secular character. Only recently, prime minister Narendra Modi tried to paint himself as "Lord Rama" with a view to improving his party's electoral prospects in state elections. His move, however, backfired. The opposition parties in particular expressed their legitimate doubts over his claims of conducting the so-called "surgical" strikes against Pakistan; some of them even rejected his baseless assertion with sheer contempt.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017