This Week in Explainers: How Maharashtra's Devendra Fadnavis charted his way to the top again

The first week of this year’s last month was a busy one for India. Maharashtra finally got its new chief minister, 12 days after the voters chose the Mahayuti alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to helm the state.

In Punjab, a man opened fire at former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal as he was carrying out his “sewadar” duties outside Amritsar’s Golden Temple. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader escaped unhurt and the assailant has been arrested.

Ties between India and Bangladesh have become tense since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, the then Prime Minister, in August. A rise in attacks on the minority Hindu community has further strained relations between the two neighbours.

Here’s all this and more in our weekly roundup from India.

1. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Maharashtra’s CM for the third time at a grand ceremony in Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on December 5. His two deputies, Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Ajit Pawar, were also sworn in.

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For Fadnavis, it was a well-deserving reward. The BJP leader was seen to have sacrificed the CM post to accommodate Shinde when the Shiv Sena leader broke the party and toppled Uddhav Thackeray’s government in 2022.

Fadnavis, who is considered the architect of the BJP’s resounding victory in Maharastra in the Assembly polls after the Lok Sabha debacle, has finally got his due. We take a look at his journey from CM to Deputy CM and then back in the CM chair.

2. All is not well in India’s neighbourhood. Bangladesh has witnessed a surge in attacks against its Hindu minority since August. New Delhi has expressed concerns about the community being targeted by extremists, while Dhaka has called the claims “exaggerated”.

Members of Hindu Aikya Vedika (Hindu United Front) shout slogans condemning the recent arrest of prominent Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu and the alleged attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh during a protest in Hyderabad, December 4, 2024. AP

The arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, a former Iskcon Hindu monk in Bangladesh, has further soured the ties between the two neighbours. From the impact on trade ties to tourism, we explain in our report how India is protesting against the attacks on Hindus in its neighbouring country.

3. SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal was shot at by a man identified as Narain Singh Chaura, 68, at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Narain Singh, a resident of Chaura village, was linked to the Khalistani movement in Punjab in the 1980s.

The incident occurred when Badal was performing ‘seva’ (service) at the holy shrine. The Akal Takht, the supreme temporal body of the Sikhs, has declared him “tankhaiya” (guilty of religious misconduct) over “some decisions” by the Shiromani Akali Dal government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017. Here’s our story on the alleged assailant who targeted Badal.

4. Three Indian women have made it to the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women for 2024. Aruna Roy, Pooja Sharma and Vinesh Phogat have been honoured by the British broadcaster.

Born in Delhi, Pooja Sharma gained recognition for performing the last rites of over 4,000 unclaimed bodies in the city over the years. Social activist Aruna Roy is celebrated by the BBC for her commitment to the rights of the poor in India.

Social activist Aruna Roy has been named in THE BBC's list of 100 inspiring women. File Photo/PTI

Wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat is a Congress MLA from Haryana. She joins these two Indian remarkable Indian women in the BBC’s 2024 list of inspiring women. We take a look at who these women are in detail in this report.

5. Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna starrer Pushpa 2: The Rule has been released in cinemas. With this, the wait for fans who were eagerly waiting for the sequel to the 2021 blockbuster Pushpa: The Rise finally came to an end.

However, the craze for Pushpa 2 turned deadly in Telangana’s Hyderabad as the movie screening led to chaotic scenes and tragedy. A woman died and her child was critically injured when a stampede occurred at Hyderabad’s Sandhya Theatre. Now, the police have filed a case against actor Allu Arjun and his security team. But why? We explain in this story.

6. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the future. As the technology advances steadily, AI is becoming a part of our lives. Virtual influencers are garnering popularity across the globe. From AI anchors to the granny who outsmarts scammers, these computer-generated entities have gained attention.

Now, India has got its first AI mom influencer. Kavya Mehra is an AI-driven mom influencer created by talent management firm Collective Artists Network. Dulling the lines between fiction and reality, her personality is based on the real-life experiences of real moms. Here’s our story on this AI mom influencer.

This is all we have for you this week. If you like the way we explain things, you can bookmark this page.