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Only a regime hopelessly besotted with its own cleverness could think of seeking passage of a constitutional amendment Bill, fully aware that it did not command a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha. That too, in the middle of crucial campaigning for the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal assembly elections; and, for good dramatic effect, calling a special session of parliament to push ahead with this sleight of hand.

The ruling party’s over-clever and over-cynical floor-managers have ended up doing great damage to parliament’s institutional reputation. Not that they are going to lose their sleep over it.

The ruling regime’s cheerleaders were all in admiration over how Prime Minister Narendra Modi had very cleverly caught the opposition on the wrong-foot in the Lok Sabha on Thursday: telling his rivals that if they voted against the move to expand the house to 850 MPs and conduct a delimitation of constituencies on the basis of the latest census data – steps that he inexplicably and illogically sought to link to the reservation of a third of parliamentary seats for women – they would be incurring the permanent wrath of women voters. The sheriff had fired his silver bullet.

How could a cabal which prides itself on its earthiness, on its connect with the masses on the ground, on its ear cocked to the nuances and anxieties in the bazaar, exaggerate the emotional........

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