Amidst all the noise over the order banning a pulp and actually going ahead to pulp the copies (what were the publishers who agreed and the judge who ordered, thinking off?,) wonder how many will consider another violation of democracy.

Newspapers report on the humongous amounts spent trucking people in for massive rallies with other tech attractions the prime-minister-in-the-running of the opposition party. Favorable publicity, true or false, is another must.

Security concerns demand packing off of everyone in the vicinity, locals, hawkers, transport – everyone to make room for security sanitization of the rally premises!! (Will this mean news of an incident to garner sympathy and support!) Issues in this exercise by the opposition party, to protect the candidate:

• what was the need to select a candidate believed to be favorite target practice for trigger happy terrorists?
• who will bear the cost of all this heavy duty multi layered security?  To date he is merely a party leader and a chief minister, yet his “security” places a heavy burden on the national exchequer and poorer individuals.
• who pays for the trucking in of the people from all around, thrilled for a free sightseeing outing, the other inevitable paraphernalia of such rallies, extended or otherwise?  No objection to the inevitably corruptions built into that system from those who insist the ruling party ‘created ‘corruption, another corruption of history.
• last but hardly the least, is the opposition party going to compensate the uprooted for the nights spent under plastic sheets, loss of regular income and that extra income from the usual mela atmosphere for local and outsider vendors?  Even if the party does not quite manage the planned influx, should it be shrugging off the rights of those voters?