The Catch Up: 21 May

3 Things

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 21st of May and here are today's headlines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Bihar today asserted that the people of the country are his successors. He said, quote, “I don’t have any successor, the people of this country are my successors,” Unquote. Earlier in East Champaran, PM Modi alleged that the INDIA bloc stood for corruption, appeasement politics and a “perverted anti-Sanatan mindset”, all of which would receive a “big blow” when the Lok Sabha poll results are announced on 4th of June.
Election Commission today barred former Calcutta High Court judge Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, now the BJP’s Tamluk Lok Sabha candidate, for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The EC’s ban on campaigning will be in effect from 5 pm today and be in place for the next 24 hours. The decision comes a day after Gangopadhyay sent his reply to a show-cause notice issued by the EC for his “undignified” remark against West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.
An analysis of the 111 speeches delivered by Modi from March 17 to May 15 by The Indian Express – drawing from the text available on narendramodi.in – shows how the key themes and changes in emphasis powered the narrative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party and government as they bid for a third term. Attacking the Congress and its first family as the ancien régime, vikas and vishwaguru, and holding out the promise of Viksit Bharat by 2047: These themes have been a refrain in Modi’s speeches since the elections were notified. After the release of the Congress manifesto, the rhetoric swerved towards Hindu-Muslim issues and the idea of wealth redistribution and religion-based reservation at the expense of SC/STs and OBCs.
The Indian national flag is being flown at half-mast at all public building across the country today, as a mark of respect for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday. India announced the one-day state mourning on Monday. No official entertainment will take place during state mourning, an official had told PTI. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first global leaders to take to social media X, to offer his condolences to the family of Ebrahim Raisi and affirm his support for Iran.
US President Joe Biden slammed the International Criminal Court prosecutor's application for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the move "outrageous". Biden said, quote, "And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security." His top aide Secretary of State Antony Blinken also criticized the move, raising questions over the court's jurisdiction as well as its process in making this application.
This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.