‘ Pakistan ka Rahim Yar Khan air base ICU mein hai ,' says PM Modi in Bikaner
In his first public rally after the success of Operation Sindoor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday gave reference to the Mahabharata, and said that the three armed forces of India created 'chakravyuh' that forced Pakistan to kneel.
1. In his first public rally after the success of Operation Sindoor, PM Modi on Thursday highlighted the Indian Armed Forces' bravery during the operation, "Today, with your blessings and the valour of the country's army, we have all lived up to that pledge. Our government gave a free hand to all three forces... Together, the three forces created such a Chakravyuh that Pakistan was forced to kneel down. In response to the attack on the 22nd, we destroyed 9 of the biggest hideouts of terrorists in 22 minutes. The world and the enemies of the country have also seen what happens when Sindoor turns into gunpowder," PM Modi said in reference to the name of the operation 'Sindoor'.
2. 'Pakistan's army and economy will have to pay for every terror attack... Pakistan tried to attack Bikaner's Nal Airport, but they could not cause any damage. Pakistan's Rahim Yar Khan air base is just across the border; nobody knows when it will function again. It is in the ICU. Indian army's attack has destroyed it... There will be neither trade nor talks with Pakistan. There will only be talks on PoK... Pakistan will not get India's water... They will have to pay for playing with India's blood. This is India's resolution and no power of the world can shake us from this resolution,' he added.
Those who shed India's blood, their accounts have been settled.
Pakistan's army and economy will have to pay for every terror attack.
3. PM Modi said, '... Jo sindoor mitane nikle the, unhe mitti mein milaya hai... Jo Hindustan ka lahu bahate the, aaj katre katre ka hisab chukaya hai. Jo sochte the Bharat chup rahega, aaj gharon mein pade hain. Jo apne hathiyaron pe ghamand karte the, aaj wo malbe ke dher mein dabe hue hain... (Those who had set out to erase the sindoor have been buried in the soil... Those who shed India's blood, their accounts have been settled. Those who thought India would remain silent are hiding in their homes today. Those who were proud of their weapons are today buried in its debris)…'
(This is a developing story)
Key Takeaways PM Modi emphasizes the Indian military's success in Operation Sindoor.
The Prime Minister vows no trade or talks with Pakistan until justice is served.
Modi's rhetoric highlights a shift towards a more aggressive stance against Pakistan.
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Hindustan Times
6 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
BJD questions BJP's ‘double-engine' governance as Odisha's central grants dip
Odisha's inability to fully utilise the 2024-25 central funds has led to a 18.19% reduction in federal grants a year after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in Odisha on the back of its electoral promise to accelerate development through 'double engine' governments in the state at the Centre. Officials aware of the matter said the central grants to Odisha rose by 15.48% under the previous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23, thanks to effective lobbying and better expenditure planning. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah led the BJP's 2024 poll campaign in Odisha, focused on the potential benefits of the 'double engine' government, helping the party win 85 of the 147 seats in the state assembly and 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats. Officials cited above said funds for centrally sponsored schemes are released in instalments, with subsequent tranches contingent on spending previous allocations. 'Odisha's inability to fully utilise these funds led to reduced disbursements. If the state cannot demonstrate effective spending, the Union government holds back further release of funds,' said an official, who did not want to be named. Officials said effective lobbying with the Union government could have secured higher allocations. 'In 2023-24, the central grants to Odisha rose by 15.48% compared to 2022-23. It shows effective lobbying and better expenditure planning,' said the official. Funding under centrally sponsored schemes has, since 2015-16, accounted for over 20% of total federal grants for sectors such as education, health, employment, and the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. States with lower implementation capacity, such as Odisha, face challenges in executing these schemes effectively. Officials said the requirement to prepare district and state agricultural plans for schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, an incentive-based programme where allocations are not automatic but tied to planning, has compounded the problem. The central grants to Odisha declined from ₹21,500 crore in 2023-24 to ₹17,000 crore under housing, irrigation, and water supply schemes, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichayi Yojana, and Jal Jeevan Mission. The funding under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)-Rural went down from ₹4,310 crore in 2023-24 to ₹825 crore in 2024-25. The allocation under PMAY-Urban funding declined from ₹296 crore in 2023-24 to ₹0.73 crore in 2024-25. The funding under the rural connectivity scheme, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, dropped from ₹1,262 crore in 2023-24 to ₹712 crore in 2024-25, from ₹146 crore to ₹32 crore under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichayi Yojana, and from ₹1,581 crore to ₹368 crore under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Odisha did not get anything in 2024-25 under the agricultural development scheme, Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana, which provides 60% central funding. In 2023-24, it received ₹223 crore under the scheme. A review of the spending in February this year found that at least 16 of 44 departments failed to spend even half their allocated funds by January end. Departments such as disaster management (13.5%), sports and youth services (19.77%), steel and mines (20.5%), mission shakti (23%), Odia language, literature and culture (27%), tourism (38%), energy (46%), transport (47%) failed to spend 50% of their budgets by January-end. Odisha finance secretary Saswat Mishra, whose department deals with the central allocations, did not reply to a questionnaire. Opposition BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra said the reduction in funding showed the chief minister Mohan Majhi-led government's inability to govern. 'In the last year, the government has done nothing except rename schemes introduced during the previous Naveen Patnaik government and change the colours of buildings,' said Mishra. He asked if the BJD could get more funds under the centrally-sponsored schemes, and why the Majhi government was unable to do so. 'This shows the double-engine government was just an election hype.' BJP lawmaker Akash Dasnayak called the dip in the funding an aberration and said Modi wants to see Odisha developed and is ready to help with more funds. He said funding for a scheme like the PMAY may have come down due to the ongoing survey of beneficiaries. 'Once the survey is complete, we will get more funding.'
The Print
7 minutes ago
- The Print
India & Pakistan take opposite MSP paths— hiked here for 14 crops, scrapped there for wheat
'The authorities refrained from wheat procurement operations during the past year and in absence of government-imposed support prices, consumers have seen large benefits as reflected in subdued food inflation,' read a 9 May report by the IMF Executive Board, following its first review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan. Pakistan's unprecedented February 2025 move was the culmination of a subsidy rollback agreed on late last year as part of a $7 billion International Monetary Fund loan deal. While the end of the MSP programme for wheat has set off a wave of uncertainty about food security, the IMF says it's already delivering results. New Delhi: As India hikes MSP for 14 kharif crops, with BJP leaders calling it a historic move , Pakistan has gone in the opposite direction. It has scrapped the minimum support price for wheat, its most important crop, and ended government procurement altogether. The broader goal was to fix Pakistan's 'structural problems'—low productivity, uneven competition, and a system weighed down by bad incentives. As the rollback started, many Pakistani farmers also shifted to cash crops such as oilseeds and pulses. Pakistan and India have taken two very different forks in the road. At a time India is debating legalising MSP for more than 20 crops, Pakistan is doubling down on its removal for wheat (the only other crops with support prices are sugarcane and cotton). Some of the heated debates now playing out in Pakistan closely mirror those that followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2020 announcement of farm laws and the promise of bringing India's farmers closer to market forces. Angry protests and old, socialist fears forced India to withdraw the laws. Some Pakistani experts are calling the scrapping of MSP a 'policy-induced collapse' and deregulation without safeguards. The government jumped the gun, many say. The IMF deal had allowed time until 2026 to phase out price-setting. But Pakistan acted two years early, without first putting market systems in place to support farmers. Critics warn of a storm in the making — a massive food security crisis. 'Wheat always seems to be under some scandal or crisis in Pakistan – from unnecessary imports and rampant smuggling to even the bizarre claims of stocks getting devoured by rats. Yet, little to no serious efforts can be seen to find sustainable solutions,' wrote Muhammad Faizan Fakhar, a senior research associate at the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies, in The Express Tribune. He added that the reforms have left farmers uncertain and discouraged them from growing wheat at all. Others, however, argue that the MSP system needed to go even if there's short-term pain. 'Despite its intent to help farmers, the MSP system often led to outcomes where middlemen and flour millers benefited more than growers,' wrote Amar Razzaq, Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics at Huanggang University, China in an April 2025 blogpost. He argued the MSP system was costing over PKR 300 billion (INR 90.9 billion) annually, largely funded through debt, and was unsustainable amid Pakistan's fiscal crisis. What most agree on is that wheat is already in trouble. A shortfall is expected, and Pakistan may need to import. How a wheat-surplus nation has gradually gone into being a wheat-deficient one is a story by itself – of population rise and dropping yields. As the backbone of Pakistan's agriculture, wheat is grown on 36 per cent of the fertile land and contributes 2.2 per cent to the GDP. It accounts for 72 per cent of daily caloric intake, according to the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Pakistan is the world's eighth-highest producer, but policy turmoil, the effects of climate change, and recurring shortfalls have made it more vulnerable to food insecurity. This year, wheat output is projected to drop by 11 per cent—from last year's record 31.4 million metric tonnes (314 million quintals) to 27.9 MMT (279 million quintals)—according to the country's Ministry of Finance. Market prices have fallen below production costs and forced distress sales. Wheat is typically traded by the maund, which is equivalent to 40 kg, or 0.4 quintal, in Pakistan's local markets. In Punjab, Pakistan's largest province and agricultural heartland, wheat prices have reportedly dropped below PKR 2,400 (INR 725) per maund, well under the average production cost of PKR 3,000 (INR 906). Some farmers, facing debt and liquidity crunches, have sold for as low as PKR 2,000 (INR 604.1) per maund. By comparison, India is in a more stable position. As the world's third-largest wheat producer, it has robust procurement systems and stock buffers. But it's not been immune to pressures either. Last year, falling yields and weak procurement raised fears it might have to import wheat for the first time since 2017, pushing prices to record highs. This year, however, saw a strong rebound: an estimated harvest of over 115 million tonnes (1,150 million quintals) and a four-year-high procurement of 29.7 million metric tonnes (297 million quintals). But MSP is not the answer, according to former Pakistan finance minister Miftah Ismail. 'Provinces had long set support prices for political and other non-market reasons and these prices were distorting the market. The IMF had merely asked them to do away with support prices,' he told ThePrint. However, while the Pakistan government is holding firm on MSP, some of its other moves point to a muddled reform strategy. Also Read: India's MSP system for farmers has outlived its purpose. It's time to phase it out Reform roadblocks Pakistan's tryst with agriculture reform may have arrived via the IMF, but many see it as an idea whose time had come. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry earlier this month announced in the National Assembly that the federal government will no longer regulate wheat prices and plans to dissolve the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO). Chaudhry claimed the move benefits farmers due to strong market prices and unrestricted wheat movement. The decision, following a directive from the Prime Minister, includes exploring private sector-led strategic reserves. But much like India's aborted attempt at farm reforms, this was immediately contested by opposition parties in Pakistan. PPP's Aijaz Jakhrani warned the removal of price controls could harm farmers, while former minister Hina Rabbani Khar accused the government of lacking a coherent agriculture policy. Chaudhry defended the shift, citing rising production costs and arguing that a market-based system would offer farmers better returns. A new wheat policy encouraging private investment is expected next year. But the biggest fear persists: food shortage, an old sub-continental anxiety. 'Pakistan isn't facing a wheat shortage right now, but the policy direction is setting up a medium-term food security problem,' Adil Mansoor, a Karachi-based researcher tracking the crisis, told ThePrint. Ismail, too, echoed the concern that no MSP would mean that farmers pivot away from wheat. 'This would cause farmers to sow less wheat, and we will then become a wheat-deficient country,' he said. The Pakistan government hasn't walked back its reform intent, but it has also undercut its own push with some of its decisions. Last July, it imposed a blanket ban on all wheat trade — both wheat imports and the export of wheat and related products, including flour and semolina— citing a domestic surplus from earlier imports and the need to stabilise prices in the local market. This kind of confusion isn't unfamiliar territory. In 2017, the government procured a record 6.3 million tonnes (63 million quintals) of wheat despite already full stocks. To offload the surplus, it rolled out massive export subsidies, draining public finances and skewing trade balances. Therein lies an important reform roadblock. 'If you remove the support price, then you are going towards market reform. But if you're going towards market reform, then you should also allow farmers to export their wheat,' Ismail said. If wheat in the international market is PKR 80-85 (INR 24-25.50) per kilo, and in Pakistan it's about PKR 60 (INR 18) —or even PKR 55 (INR 16.50) at the farm gate—then farmers are losing money, according to him. 'If the government wants to liberalise the wheat market truly, then it must allow our farmers to sell their products outside Pakistan too. To restrict them to selling only in Pakistan and importing whenever the price of wheat goes up, is rigging the market against farmers,' Ismail added. Pakistan's biggest staple under stress The Pakistan government has presented its wheat policy shift as long-term reform rather than crisis management. The IMF in its May report noted that food inflation had improved and that the reforms would support a more competitive and efficient agricultural sector. 'Provinces have paid off most of the legacy debt related to commodity operations, and the authorities are working towards a new food security framework for wheat that will neither create distortions in the market nor jeopardize fiscal sustainability,' it added. The IMF also asked Pakistan to broaden these efforts to other commodities and strengthen regulatory frameworks. By December 2025, IMF will review existing laws on commodity market intervention and issue recommendations to address anti-competitive behavior through stronger competition policy and less protectionist trade measures. But these reform measures are ill-served by poor planning, climate stress, and short-term price interventions. Around the time MSP was scrapped, Pakistan saw a severe water shortage. Drought alerts were issued in Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan. Major reservoirs neared depletion. The Ministry of Finance had already warned in February 2025 of lower Rabi yields due to rising temperatures and delayed winter rains. Pakistan, once self-sufficient in wheat, now faces a production-consumption gap. In 2023-24, while wheat output improved—rising to 31.4 million tonnes (314 million quintals) from 27 million tonnes (270 million quintals) in 2023—demand grew even faster, reaching around 31 million tonnes (310 million quintals). The rushed policy execution made a bad situation worse, according to some experts. 'This is not a supply-demand anomaly, it's a policy-induced collapse,' Mansoor said. Without pricing guarantees, many farmers scaled back wheat cultivation. 'The government first flooded markets with grain from public stocks, then refused to announce a support price, banned exports, and watched prices crash by over 50 per cent from their peak from two years ago,' Mansoor added. 'This is not market liberalisation—it's inflation management through price suppression. In fact, it violates the spirit of the IMF's condition that any public sales must not result in price manipulation.' Meanwhile, restrictions on wheat movement in the provinces made it harder for farmers to reach competitive markets and discouraged cultivation. Although Punjab has lifted its ban, such steps matter more during planting season (October-December) than at harvest (April-June), wrote Fakhar in the Express Tribune. This situation was avoidable. The IMF agreement had allowed Pakistan until FY26 to phase out procurement and price-setting. 'The government chose to abandon support prices and procurement in mid-2024, two years ahead of schedule. No transition framework was communicated, no private market institutions were prepared, and no safeguards were put in place to protect producers. This was not reform—it was shock therapy,' said Mansoor. Economist Javed Hassan echoed the view that removing wheat support prices was a 'necessary step' toward market-driven agriculture in Pakistan, but that they lack protections—such as crop insurance and alternative land use—hurt farmers and jeopardised food security. Imports on the horizon? In such a scenario, imports are expected to play a rescue role, as has been done before, most recently in 2023 when Pakistan was the world's 23rd largest wheat importer. 'As long as various government agencies hold about 2.5 to 3 million tonnes (25-30 million quintals) of wheat in strategic storage, which is more than a month's consumption, there will be no food shortage crisis. We can easily import more wheat from abroad at this time,' said Ismail. Pakistan is expected to drop its ban and import at least 1.7 million tonnes (17 million quintals) of wheat in the 2025-26 marketing year (May-April)—a sharp rise from near-zero imports in 2024-25. If final production figures remain low, imports could exceed 2 million tonnes (20 million quintals), given the extremely tight projected carry-over stocks, according to a report by Grain Central. But import reliance, say critics, is a dangerous strategy for a country with poor foreign exchange reserves. 'Imports can't be a safety net forever. If domestic production declines, Pakistan will have to rely on global wheat markets. That's a fragile strategy for a country with poor forex reserves—exposed to freight costs, trade disruptions, and price volatility,' Mansoor said. There are, however, also longer-term attempts to steady the system. Punjab has announced a new relief package: subsidised wheat purchases for flour mills, direct cash support for small farmers, and a system of lending that uses crops as collateral. Also Read: Why is Pakistan going all out on crypto? There's a Donald Trump angle A call for structural reforms Earlier this month, Punjab announced that wheat trade under the Electronic Warehouse Receipts (EWR) system will now take place on the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX), the country's only multi-commodity futures platform. Media reports called it a 'major step toward modernising agriculture'. Traditionally, banks demand land as collateral for loans; however, EWRs allow farmers to use their harvested crops as security. Modern, accredited warehouses—though slightly costlier than informal options like middlemen—offer secure storage, crop insurance, and enable instant loans worth up to 70 per cent of the crop's value. To support this system, the government is promoting a province-wide network of modern warehouses linked to PMEX. It is also extending financing and subsidies to small-scale aggregators, bringing formal credit and market access to parts of the supply chain that have long been excluded. But again, implementation has been rocky. 'The current EWR rollout is structurally flawed. It expects small farmers to act like commodity traders—hold stock post-harvest, accept a 30 per cent haircut on financing, and bet on future price recovery. That's a speculative model misaligned with their liquidity needs,' Mansoor said. Quick fixes like subsidised tools aren't enough. 'Can Pakistan rebuild trust with its farmers before the next crop season? Without urgent and coordinated reforms, rural Pakistan will continue to slide—not just into poverty, but into political and social instability that the country can ill afford,' Mansoor said. (Edited by Asavari Singh)
Indian Express
11 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Raajneeti turns 15: Prakash Jha says Katrina Kaif learnt her speech for 40 days, Anjum Rajabali had his doubts about Ranbir Kapoor
Aamir Khan may be planning to make a film series on the Mahabharata and then hang up his boots. But filmmaker Prakash Jha and screenwriter Anjum Rajabali did that 15 years ago. Their 2010 political drama Raajneeti was a modern adaptation of the epic, yet they maintain it never started off as that. 'Unlike Gangaajal (2003) or Apaharan (2004), Raajneeti didn't happen after witnessing a specific incident. It was a broader socio-political drama based on reality, but resonating with the Mahabharata. The characters are all the same everywhere, as they were back in the epic,' Prakash Jha tells SCREEN. 'There's something for everybody — drama, crisis, highs, lows — everything you can think of about human existence, it's all there capsuled in the Mahabharata. So every Indian creator keeps drawing from it,' he adds. 'We didn't start out by wanting to adapt the Mahabharata. We just allowed it to enter our script. It's a sprawling epic. But you're not writing an epic, you're writing a screenplay,' Rajabali points out. After serving as a script consultant on Jha's last two films, he was approached by the director to co-write a film on electoral politics. 'I wasn't interested in that,' recalls Rajabali. But he proposed to Jha that the filmmaker visits him every evening from 7:30 pm to 10 pm. They'd brainstorm over 'two shots of vodka' for seven days, in the middle of which Rajabali recalled they began veering towards the Mahabharata. The idea of power conflict and cousins competing with other brought them closer to the broad strokes of the epic. But Rajabali was dead sure he didn't want Karna to be the hero, much to the surprise of Jha. 'Karna has the usual characteristics of a hero: he's the underdog who comes up fighting against injustice. But I told Prakash you must not look at only as destiny, but also in terms of the choices he made. He wholeheartedly went with Duryodhana, knowing fully well he's an evil guy. That lends the story a dystopian end — who do we side with, because they're all evil,' reasons Rajabali. Enter: Arjuna. 'Prakash said Arjuna is a boring character, who's a good family member and a good warrior. But I brought his attention to Arjuna's arc — he doesn't want to enter the war, but Krishna gives him the perspective on why he should fight for a cause. Then their dark deeds begin to surface. So I asked Prakash, 'What if Arjuna begins to revel in that?' Because he's suddenly a demon who has been unleashed,' says Rajabali. The Arjuna of Raajneeti — Samar Pratap Singh — is the proverbial outsider. The youngest son who comes back from his school abroad for a few days, only to get caged in the politics of his family and that of the state. 'His father is killed, brother is jailed, so he has to enter politics out of anger. Then the guy who's researching Victorian poetry begins to do one dark deed after another. If you notice, even the topic of his research has to do with violence in the 18th century. So there's a fascination with violence, which was already coming out via academics,' underlines Rajabali. He recalls the time when he got a call from Jha who said they've found their Arjuna: Ranbir Kapoor. 'Who, Rishi Kapoor's son? That's how I knew of him,' says Rajabali, reminding us that Ranbir's debut film, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya (2007), hadn't released then. 'Have you seen it? Can he perform?' 'I haven't, but my instinct says he can.' 'I trusted his instincts, but I had my doubts,' reveals Rajabali. A few days after Jha began filming in Bhopal, Rajabali visited the set. Jha showed him the scene in which Ranbir is just sitting on a chair and looking at the television news of his father's death and brother's arrest. The camera goes from right to left on his face. 'That boy was speaking volumes with his silence. There was no prep. He's an intuitive actor, a complete natural. I was completely convinced. Ranbir had very few lines, but boy, did he leave an impact! He's the best actor we've had in more than a decade now,' says Rajabali. If Ranbir was a revelation, Katrina Kaif wasn't far behind. 'We couldn't pick Draupadi's angle as it is because the fight between husbands for her and all that jazz doesn't quite work today. But it stayed with me after reading the epic that Draupadi loved Arjuna, but he was too focused on ambition. So there was an unrequited love,' recalls Rajabali, who again was concerned if Kaif would be able to pull off the Hindi heartland dialogues with the right accent. 'Once again, Prakash was convinced she'd deliver,' he adds. 'Katrina is a very hardworking actor. She worked with so much dedication. She learnt her lines for 30-40 days so she could deliver them confidently,' Jha recalls. Rajabali did find issues with her accent during the filming, but changed his mind during the dubbing sessions. 'The amount of effort that the girl put in… she managed to deliver word to word in near-perfect diction,' says Rajabali. It's been 15 years, the party in power has changed, so it makes sense for us to pose the question to Rajabali: Was Katrina Kaif's character inspired by Sonia Gandhi? He refuses, but sees the parallels. 'There are various archetypal characters in life and in good literature and cinema. Rajiv Gandhi was the proverbial outsider. He didn't want to join politics. But then he did, and he won. Then he gets killed. There's a widow. Katrina looks half white. I wasn't concerned, but I anticipated such allegations,' says Rajabali. He then reveals that as the Congress party got concerned closer to the film's release, they inserted their representative in the Central Board of Film Certification. 'This was an open secret. There was no contention with the film though, except one word. When two people at a chai shop are discussing election results, a laconic man, buried in the newspaper, says, 'Le jaegi vidhwa sab samet kar.' They objected to 'vidhwa' because that might be confused with Sonia Gandhi. I didn't agree with it, but Prakash said we'd have to remove it. So the word was changed to 'bitiya,'' says Rajabali. Other changes in translating the Mahabharata to the world of Raajneeti included eliminating Nakul and Sahadeva because they're quite similar, and choosing Arjun Rampal's character Prithvi as Bhima over Yudhishthira. 'Prakash recommended we take Bhima because there's an innocence to him. He loves his family. He's loud and uncouth, but there's an endearing quality to him too. He's gullible so can get tricked very soon, so you need to protect him,' says Rajabali. Another change was to make their Krishna far more quieter than he's in the epic. In fact, Nana Patekar is the only actor in the ensemble who doesn't get a monologue. Even Naseeruddin Shah does, within a cameo. 'He doesn't pick up any weapons, but only operates on plotting. So that's how I asked Nana Patekar to be in his body language,' says Jha. 'He's a thinking person, a strategist. He'd just process everything and come up with just one line that Samar catches up on. He's the man to watch out for. He forces you to pay attention to him precisely because he doesn't speak much. So you always wonder what he's up to,' argues Rajabali. He quotes the example of the scene in which Patekar's character comes up with the perfect candidate to compete with Surya (Ajay Devgn's character based on Karna). 'It's obvious he's the natural choice to win in a Dalit constituency. Nana Patekar doesn't say anything, but he just goes there and announces their candidate as Surya's father. That's a masterstroke,' points out Rajabali. Jha recently admitted that he has the story for the sequel ready. 'I have an idea with me. But we just haven't gotten to it yet because other commitments keep coming up,' says the filmmaker, who's been busy with his MXPlayer show Aashram, his next film Janadhish, and other projects as a producer. 'It can be quite rich because it can reflect today's challenges for politicians. The Mahabharata is infinite so there is a lot of potential,' argues Rajabali. Jha points out that most characters from the first part, including those of Devgn, Manoj Bajpayee, and Arjun Rampal, are dead. So would the sequel continue where we left the other characters? Also Read — Dune director Denis Villenueve was impressed by Ranbir Kapoor after watching Raajneeti on a plane: 'He stood out among such an ensemble' 'It may start from there or once we work on it, it may be something completely new,' says Jha, with a shrug. But where would Samar, Indu, and Mama be today? Or what would their Arjuna, Draupadi, and Krishna up to to now? 'I can't possibly answer that because I may give you the idea Prakash and I just end up doing. So I have to be a little discrete about it,' says Rajabali, in true Krishna fashion.
