The monsoon session of the Indian parliament has just begun. And so far, it is shaping up to be an event reminiscent of the Red Wedding from the Game of Thrones series. Ergo, monsoon red wedding. Neat, right? Let me also posit that the title's resemblance to the movie, Monsoon Wedding, by the inimitable Mira Nair (who also happens to be rising political star Zohran Mamdani's mother) is purely coincidental.

So, what happened? In view of unanswered questions about the Pahalgam attack, Operation Sindoor, the upcoming Bihar elections, the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, and the Ahmedabad plane crash, it was a given that this would likely be a high-stakes session. But the fallout of Operation Sindoor and the diluted 2024 election mandate seem to have complicated the situation further. Operation Sindoor, because there is a verifiable gap between the government's triumphalist claims and public perception about what went down. And the fallout of the 2024 election, because for the first time in Modi's enviable career, it was proven that he was not invincible. That led to many dynamics.

One of them was the confirmation of the growing distance between the RSS and the Modi government. So far, Indian pundits have tried to present it as a personality clash between Dr Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief, and PM Modi. However, new evidence has emerged to substantiate claims that the differences are institutional, and the widening gulf between the two sides is outlook-oriented. Operation Sindoor's end has simply strengthened the case of the Modi critics within this self-contained universe.

When the BJP failed to win a clear........

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