The government on Friday announced seven measures, including credit assistance for e-commerce exporters and support for alternative trade finance instruments, aimed at boosting India’s outbound shipments and strengthening export competitiveness.The initiatives form part of the Rs 25,060 crore export promotion mission, under which three of the 10 proposed components had already been rolled out in January, reported PTI. To support exporters using digital channels, the commerce ministry introduced credit facilities backed by interest subvention and partial credit guarantees. The Direct E-Commerce Credit Facility will provide support of up to Rs 50 lakh with 90 per cent guarantee coverage.The Overseas Inventory Credit Facility will offer support of up to Rs 5 crore with 75 per cent guarantee coverage, along with an interest subvention of 2.75 per cent, subject to an annual ceiling of Rs 15 lakh per applicant, the ministry said.In a bid to promote export factoring as an affordable working capital solution for MSMEs, an interest subvention of 2.75 per cent will be provided on factoring costs for eligible transactions undertaken through RBI or IFSCA-recognised entities. Assistance will be capped at Rs 50 lakh per MSME annually and processed through a digital claim mechanism to ensure transparency and timely disbursal.To help exporters access new or high-risk markets, the government will support alternative trade instruments through shared-risk and credit enhancement mechanisms such as Letters of Credit confirmation and negotiation.Under Trade Regulations, Accreditation and Compliance Enablement (TRACE), exporters will receive support in meeting international testing, inspection, certification and conformity requirements. Partial reimbursement of 60 per cent under the Positive List and 75 per cent under the Priority Positive List will be provided for eligible expenses, subject to an annual ceiling of Rs 25 lakh per import export code (IEC).The ministry also announced Facilitating Logistics, Overseas Warehousing and Fulfilment (FLOW), which will enable exporters to access overseas warehousing and fulfilment infrastructure, including e-commerce export hubs integrated with global distribution networks. Assistance of up to 30 per cent of approved project cost will be provided for a maximum of three years, subject to prescribed ceilings and MSME participation norms.For exporters from northeastern and hilly regions, Logistics Interventions for Freight and Transport (LIFT) was introduced to mitigate geographical disadvantages. The scheme provides partial reimbursement of up to 30 per cent of eligible freight expenditure, capped at Rs 20 lakh per IEC per financial year.Financial assistance will also be extended under Support for Trade Intelligence and Facilitation (INSIGHT), generally limited to 50 per cent of project cost, with up to 100 per cent support for proposals from central and state government institutions and Indian missions abroad, subject to notified ceilings.Through these coordinated financial and ecosystem interventions, the government aims to reduce the cost of capital, diversify trade finance instruments, improve compliance readiness, address logistics challenges and strengthen overseas market integration for MSMEs.Launching the measures, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said they are aimed at empowering Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for global markets.He said India’s expanding network of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) has significantly improved market access for exporters, noting that nearly 70 per cent of global GDP and two-thirds of global trade are now accessible to India through nine concluded FTAs, including the first tranche of the Bilateral Trade Agreement with the United States.These agreements provide preferential access across sectors in 38 developed and emerging economies.Emphasising that the benefits of global trade must reach every MSME, startup and entrepreneur, Goyal said the mission seeks to promote new products, services and exporters while enabling Indian businesses to access new markets.He added that India has recorded double-digit growth in merchandise exports in the first half of February.Commerce secretary Rajesh Agarwal said the interventions would help exporters access new markets and promote exports of new products. He also urged export promotion councils to prepare communication packages to leverage the free trade agreements finalised by India.During April–January of the 2025–26 fiscal year, India’s exports rose 2.22 per cent to $366.63 billion, while imports grew 7.21 per cent to $649.86 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $283.23 billion during the nine-month period, according to official data.

The Pakistan government has overturned the two-year ban imposed on national hockey team captain Ammad Shakeel Butt, calling the action taken by the country’s hockey federation “illegal and unconstitutional”.The ban had been announced by Tariq Bugti shortly before he stepped down as president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation. Butt had criticised the federation over mismanagement during the team’s recent tour of Australia.But the federation’s patron-in-chief, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, appointed interim PHF president Muhuydin Ahmed Wani, who reversed the decision and described it as an “illegal and unconstitutional step” by Bugti.Bugti resigned following a major fallout after the national team returned from Australia, where players faced logistical problems and stayed in Airbnb accommodation despite the Pakistan Sports Board releasing 10 million rupees to the PHF for five-star hotel arrangements during their FIH Pro League matches in Canberra.A senior official from the Inter-Provincial Coordination Ministry confirmed that Prime Minister Sharif accepted Bugti’s resignation and appointed Wani as ad-hoc PHF president along with Brig Musratullah as Director-General.“Both will manage hockey affairs on ad-hoc basis and try to repair the damage done,” the official said, as cited by news agency PTI.After the team returned home early Wednesday, Butt and several senior players told reporters they could no longer work with the existing PHF and team management. Butt said players were misled and warned against speaking to the media about their problems in Australia. He was then banned by Bugti for bringing Pakistan hockey into disrepute.Butt had also accused the PHF of forcing players “to clean the kitchen and wash dishes” before matches during the tour, in which the team lost all its Pro League games against the home side and Germany. Players were also left travelling for hours after a hotel refused them entry due to lack of advance payment by the PHF, despite funds from the PSB.He further alleged that most players had not received daily allowances from the PSB and PHF for the past year.Bugti blamed the PSB for the episode, saying the Board handled tour arrangements and was “responsible for whatever happened there”.Pakistan have lost all eight of their Pro League matches so far against Netherlands, Argentina, Australia and Germany, and are last among nine teams.They are scheduled to travel to Egypt in four months for the final qualifying tournament for the World Cup.

Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

NEW DELHI: In a region where borders blur into mountains and valleys fold into one another, India’s Northeast has never lacked talent. What it has lacked, for decades, is attention. Its athletes have long defined a culture of discipline that rarely seeks validation from the mainland.And today, riding on India’s unequivocal chess boom, the Northeast has found its latest sensation.At 15, Tripura’s chess prodigy Arshiya Das recently became the first Woman International Master (WIM) from Northeast India. Playing in Serbia, she not only won the 42nd Rudar IM Round Robin tournament with a score of 6.5/9 but also completed her final WIM norm.

For India, it is another prodigy proving her worth in the world of chess. For the Northeast, it is a tectonic shift.“We are very happy because we know she is actually very dedicated to chess. It was her dream for a long time to become national champion. She became Under-15 National Champion in November last year. Then, in the Senior National Women’s Championships 2025, which is a big tournament, she got a bronze medal. We saw that she is at her peak. So we planned to send her to Europe because all the norms come from there,” Arshiya’s father Purnendu Das told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive interaction.

Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

“Also, next year, she has 10th board exams, so things are getting tight. Before that, we planned this and sent her. She completed two norms, one in the first week of January, and this was the final norm.”Arshiya’s story began at the breakfast tableLike a plethora of Indian prodigies, Arshiya, born in March 2010, did not start in an academy or under a master coach. Rather, it began with her parents trying to get their child to eat breakfast and get ready for school.“This was around 2015. You know, when you have to make the children eat breakfast before sending them to school, you need to give them something in their hands, like a laptop or a mobile phone. So we used to give her a laptop so that she would eat her breakfast properly,” her father recalled.

Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

“When she would open the laptop, in Windows, there was a default chess game. She got used to sit with it. Then, one day, in a mall, she saw a chessboard and said, ‘This is the thing I saw on the laptop, I need this.’ So, I bought her a board. From there, her interest grew slowly.”From under-7 nationals to global exposureAt six, she finished in the top 10 in the Under-7 nationals. However, with an aim to better the scores, she participated again in the same tournament next year in 2017 and won bronze. The progress over a year was indeed noticeable, and it prompted the Das family to look at Arshiya’s potential with a sharper, more deliberate lens.“From Tripura, this was the first time someone got bronze and got selected for the World Cadet and Asian Youths to represent India,” her father added with palpable pride.International exposure followed as gold and bronze medals in Uzbekistan and a representation in the World Cadet Championship in Spain ensured her steady climb through India’s age-group hierarchy.

Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

When COVID shut down the circuit, Arshiya started playing online with unforeseen obsession.“During COVID, she played around 400-500 online tournaments and became champion in many of them. She utilised COVID very well,” Purnendu said.Training across IndiaFor a chess player in the Northeast, geography is the first opponent, not the one sitting at the other end of the board. For elite training, one must travel to Chennai, Kolkata, or Delhi. Agartala is an afterthought.“From the Northeast, coaching was always a problem. We had to go to Kolkata, Chennai, or Delhi,” her father admitted.And that is perhaps why her coaching journey spans local mentors Ramesh Koloi and Pradip Chaudhary, Apollosana Rajkumar in Manipur, FM Prasenjit Dutta, GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury in Kolkata, and the Gurukul system under GM RB Ramesh and WGM Aarthi in Chennai.Today, she trains with IM Kaustav Kundu and GM Swayams Mishra, attends Chola Chess Academy camps, and logs online hours with GM Jacob Aagaard’s Killer Chess Training.A family with purposeArshiya’s story is inseparable from her family’s sacrifices. Her father is an engineer. Her mother, Arnesha Das, stepped away from her own ambitions to aid the ambitions of their only child.“She wanted to join the Tripura Civil Service but sacrificed to support Arshiya,” her father told this website.

Family of Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

They live in government quarters in Agartala.“She studies in Holy Cross School, ICSE board, very tough. But school is very supportive with special notes and special classes. She missed the Class 9 exam due to Under-15 Nationals, but school promoted her and asked her to focus on board exams next year,” Mr Das revealed.Amid the hardships…The Das family is well aware of the financial burden that comes with steady improvement in ratings.“We depend on a government job. Flights from Agartala to Chennai are very expensive. She’s been playing since 2015, 11 years now. So it has already been a huge expenditure,” he added.“She once had a laptop problem. Sagar Shah (from ChessBase India) helped and got her a specially designed laptop for chess players. After that, her performance increased 50–60%. Before that, she used a Rs 35,000 laptop since 2016, but the battery changed four times.”But even amid the hardships, people have always come forward to help their cause.Dipa Karmakar, her coach, and many moreDipa Karmakar, the Olympic gymnast who put the city on the global sports map, is now the state’s sports director. She and her coach Bishweshwar Nandi personally trained Arshiya physically.In 2021, Arshiya received the Prime Minister’s Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for becoming the first and only girl chess player from the Northeast to receive an international gold medal.

PM Modi interacting with Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

But the latest WIM title is not the end of the road, as her current European tour is stitched together like a budget airline itinerary.“We planned five tournaments in one trip to save costs, and her mother is with her. After playing all five, she will return to Agartala on March 2,” Purnendu added.“We are definitely very happy, and in our state also, people associated with us, the sports minister sir, everyone is very happy that among girls from the Northeast, she is the first.”ALSO READ: No ecosystem in India, no problem: How 9-year-old Arshi Gupta became the youngest ever to join F1 Academy’s programmeBefore concluding, Arshiya’s father circled back to a recurring concern: “The Northeast lacks big companies for sponsorship. We request companies to support girl children in Northeast chess. Out of 91 Indian GMs, only 4 are women. We need to boost girls. PM schemes are coming. If companies support, Arshiya can become the first female GM from the Northeast.”

NEW DELHI: India on Friday reiterated its position on Russian oil purchases and the possibility of sourcing crude from Venezuela, after remarks by US envoy Sergio Gor. Clarifying New Delhi’s stance, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India would consider Venezuelan crude if it was “commercially viable,” reaffirming the government’s earlier position on the matter.In an official statement, the MEA said, “On Russian oil and on Venezuelan oil, we have issued statements and have made our position very clear. I would once again request you to look at what we have said in the last few weeks on both these subjects. On Venezuela, we had said that if it is commercially viable, then we are exploring buying oil from Venezuela. We clarified our position on Venezuelan oil as also on the other question that you asked. Our position remains the same.”Earlier in the day, the United States reiterated its claim, projecting India’s commitment regarding oil purchases from its long-time trade partner Russia as part of the much-awaited interim trade agreement between New Delhi and Washington. US envoy Sergio Gor expressed confidence, saying the US had “seen India diversify the sourcing of oil.” He also said there were “active negotiations” underway for the potential sale of Venezuelan oil to India, adding that the final trade deal would be signed soon.He also strongly emphasised President Donald Trump’s position, stating that the United States “does not want any country to buy Russian oil.”

Gor made these remarks while addressing a presser on the sidelines of the Global AI Summit taking place in New Delhi.Stressing on India’s oil commitments and the US position, Gor told reporters, “On oil, there’s an agreement. We have seen India diversify their oil. There is a commitment. This is not about India. The United States doesn’t want anyone buying Russian oil. The President has been very clear on this—he wants this war to end. Anyone still involved with that conflict is something the President wants to see come to an end, in hopes that peace will follow.”On the possibility of Venezuelan oil being supplied to India, Gor highlighted the ongoing discussions, saying, “The department of energy is speaking to the ministry of energy here, and we’re hoping to have some news on that very soon.”A final trade deal with India will be signed “sooner rather than later,” as only “a few tweaking points” remain, Gor said, adding that President Trump has been invited to India by Prime Minister Modi.The US had proposed supplying Venezuelan crude to India as an alternative to Russian imports, Reuters reported last month. It also granted licences to trading firms Vitol and Trafigura to market and sell millions of barrels of Venezuelan crude following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and a supply arrangement with interim President Delcy Rodriguez.State refiners Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, along with private players Reliance Industries and HPCL-Mittal Energy, have already placed orders for Venezuelan crude, according to the Reuters report.Meanwhile, the US has consistently opposed the purchase of Russian oil by other countries, arguing that such transactions support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly presented himself as committed to ending the conflict and has pushed for reducing global dependence on Russian energy.In a bid to resolve the Russia–Ukraine crisis, Trump has consistently advocated energy decoupling from Russia, with several officials in his second-term administration repeatedly calling for a halt to Russian oil exports.The US has maintained that India would reduce its dependence on Russian oil following the conclusion of the India–US trade deal earlier this month, which came after nearly a year of negotiations between the two major economies.Under the agreement, the Trump administration reduced tariffs on Indian goods and lifted punitive trade measures linked to India’s oil trade with Russia, lowering tariffs from 50% to 18%.Gor also spoke about the possibility of a meeting between PM Modi and President Trump, saying it would take place “at the right time.”

Margot Robbie‘s new romance drama ‘Wuthering Heights’ debuted in cinemas last weekend and topped the global box office with a USD 83 million haul. To celebrate the release, a behind-the-scenes video of the actress dancing at the moores went viral. Interestingly, the video sparked an unexpected Bollywood comparison online.

Margot Robbie’s dance video goes viral

The clip, which surfaced days after the film hit theatres, shows Robbie twirling and showing off her dramatic improvised choreograpy to Kate Bush’s iconic track. The clip was from a day on the set shooting a crutial scene with Jacob Elordi‘s character. For the scene, she was dressed in a red flared skirt paired with a white top and black leather corset.

Margot Robbie’s video compared to Kareena Kapoor’s dance track

However, Indian fans who watched the clip were instantly reminded of another icon – Kareena Kapoor Khan. The video had Bollywood fans pointing out similarities between Robbie’s outfit and dance moves and that of Kareena’s character Geet in the song “Yeh Ishq Hai” from the 2007 hit ‘Jab We Met’.

In the film, Kareena famously donned a flowing red skirt with a puffed top and black corset for the song sequence that also featured Shahid Kapoor. Social media users flooded comment sections with playful reactions, with remarks such as “So Kareena Kapoor coded outfit,” and “THE BEBO aka Kareena did that in 2007.”

About ‘Wuthering Heights’

‘Wuthering Heights’, directed by Emerald Fennell, is adapted from Wuthering Heights, the 1847 Gothic novel by Emily Bronte. The film, released on February 13, 2026, opened to mixed reviews, but still managed to rake in the big bucks over the Valentine’s Day weekend, earning USD 83 million from a budget of USD 80 million. It remains to be seen if the film can maintain its grip over the box office and score big in the weeks ahead.

The T20 World Cup 2026 was supposed to be a celebration of cricket at its finest. Co-hosted across two passionate nations, filled with electric atmospheres and genuine upsets, the group stage delivered everything fans could have asked for. Then came the Super 8 draw,  and the celebration turned into a controversy.

All four teams that won their groups India, Zimbabwe, West Indies and South Africa have been thrown into the same Super 8 bracket. Meanwhile the teams that actually lost matches in the group stage are sitting in a comparatively comfortable second bracket. Fans are furious, former players are baffled and the ICC is on the defensive. To understand how this happened, one needs to understand a single decision the ICC made before a single ball was bowled.

How the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 pre-seeding format creates a Super 8 group with all group winners

Before the tournament began, the ICC assigned fixed seeds to the top eight teams in the world based on their historical rankings. India were locked in as A1. England as C1. Australia as B1. New Zealand as D1. These designations were permanent meaning no matter how these teams performed in the group stage, their Super 8 slot was already decided.

The idea made practical sense on paper. If India’s Super 8 position is fixed in advance, broadcasters can sell prime-time advertising slots months ahead. Fans can book flights and hotels without gambling on whether their team qualifies or which city they will play in. Sponsors get certainty. Venues get preparation time. The entire commercial machinery of a modern World Cup runs more smoothly.

The problem arrived when Australia pre-seeded as B1 crashed out of the group stage entirely. Under this system, whoever replaced them simply inherited Australia’s slot. That team was Zimbabwe. And suddenly a side that had never reached a Super 8 in their history was dropped into a bracket position built for one of the world’s top teams, sitting alongside India, West Indies and South Africa.

Pre-Seed Team and Super 8 Slot

Fans logic: Why winning your T20 World Cup 2026 group became a punishment

This is where the system truly broke down. In any fair tournament structure, finishing first in a group earns a reward, an easier path, a better draw, some recognition of superior performance. In the T20 World Cup 2026, it earned teams a nightmare.

Because the pre-seeded slots were fixed around historical rankings rather than actual group stage results, the four teams that genuinely topped their groups all ended up on the same side of the bracket. India, Zimbabwe, West Indies and South Africa, all unbeaten, all deserving of recognition, are now being forced to eliminate each other before the semi-finals even begin.

South Africa won every match they played. West Indies were dominant from start to finish. Yet because New Zealand and England were pre-seeded into the other bracket before the tournament started, these genuine group winners are being treated as the harder draw. Two of these four unbeaten teams will be going home before the last four not because they were not good enough, but because a spreadsheet decided their fate in advance.

Pre-tournament seedings is the worse way to decide super 8, I mean let the results of the game decide group & if Pakistan had problem in coming to India then they were most welcomed to forfeit at group stage.

ICC need to take cricket seriously, this shouldnt be the way forward!!

— Rajiv (@Rajiv1841) February 19, 2026

ICC are a sham. What’s the point of a pool stage if the Super 8s are predetermined by seedings? All four countries that finished first in their pools are now in the same Super 8 group.

— Josh Viljoen (@thejoshviljoen) February 19, 2026

Pre decided seedings k!lls all the joy of unpredictability of who would face whom in the Super 8s 👎

— Udit (@udit_buch) February 11, 2026

Not a fan of the pre seedings of teams from ICC.

It’s almost clear which 2 teams are qualifying for the Super-8 stage.

— Aditya Saha (@Adityakrsaha) February 11, 2026

So thanks to the utter and total incompetence of the organization that is the @ICC we will now have all four group winners in one super 8 group. Whoever decided that “pre-seeding” was a good idea should be imprisoned for life.

One of the dumbest decisions in cricket tournament…

— Dale (@ncakos316) February 19, 2026

• The unfairness: South Africa and West Indies finished first in their groups but are seeded below England and New Zealand who both lost matches
• The competitive cost: Teams in the first round had no real incentive to win their group because finishing second actually leads to an easier Super 8 path
• The dead rubber problem: Several final group stage matches lost their edge entirely once teams realised topping the group could work against them

Group 1 – The Powerhouse Bracket

Also READ: Pakistan to lift T20 World Cup 2026? Here’s how Australia’s group stage exit benefits Salman Ali Agha’s side

How 2nd place teams got an easier path to the T20 World Cup 2026 semis

While Group 1 resembles a war zone, Group 2 tells a completely different story. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand,  every single one of them a second-place finisher, have been handed what many are calling a gift-wrapped route to the semi-finals.

Pakistan lost a match in the group stage. Sri Lanka did too. England and New Zealand, despite their pre-seeded status, were far from convincing. Yet all four find themselves grouped together in a bracket that is statistically far less threatening than the one containing four unbeaten sides. A team in Group 2 has a significantly better chance of reaching the last four than any team in Group 1,  purely because of where the ICC placed them before the tournament started.

• Group 2 makeup: Pakistan (A2), Sri Lanka (B2), England (C1 pre-seed), New Zealand (D1 pre-seed)
• The pathway problem: Second place finishers face a softer route to the semis than first place finishers
• The incentive damage: The entire purpose of a group stage competing to finish first has been rendered meaningless

Sri Lanka may not play a single T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final at home

Perhaps the strangest casualty of this entire system is Sri Lanka themselves,  one of the two host nations. A co-host would reasonably expect some guarantee of playing their biggest matches on home soil. In 1996 and 2011, co-hosts were given exactly that assurance. Not in 2026.

The pre-determined bracket structure means that if Sri Lanka advances to the semi-finals, they must travel to India to play their match. At the same time, a separate pre-existing agreement guarantees that if Pakistan reaches the semis, the Colombo venue is reserved specifically for their game. Since Pakistan and Sri Lanka are both in Group 2 and cannot face each other in the semi-finals, the result is almost surreal, Sri Lanka could end up watching another team play a semi-final in their own stadium while they travel to a foreign country for theirs.

• The travel reality: Sri Lanka must travel to India for their semi-final if they qualify
• The Pakistan clause: Colombo is pre-allocated to Pakistan’s semi-final regardless of Sri Lanka’s progress
• The historical comparison: Previous co-hosts in 1996 and 2011 were protected from exactly this situation.

Also READ: Explained: Which teams will India face in Super 8 of T20 World Cup 2026?

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition on Friday unpacked his fiery “jiu-jitsu” analogy from the Budget Session speech, detailing the “political grips and chokes” squeezing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a video post on X, Gandhi highlighted the Gautam Adani indictment, plus the Epstein files that mention Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Anil Ambani. He also slammed the India-US trade deal as lopsided, heavily favoring American interests over India’s.“On one side, there is China sitting on our border, and on the other side, there’s the USA. And our Prime Minister is torn between these grips. He’s trapped,” Rahul said, explaining why he used the jiu-jitsu analogy in his Parliament speech during the Budget Session.“The real grip on Mr Narendra Modi is the fake image he has built, that has been built for him. An image that has required huge amounts of money. The key to that image is now in the hands of the US. And that’s why Indian farmers are going to suffer. Indian textiles are going to suffer. We will be forced into buying imports from the US,” he added.

“Why did I use a Jiu-Jitsu analogy in my Parliament speech on the trade deal? The reason I used the idea of grips and a choke is because these exist in the sport of Jiu-Jitsu and it is how you control an opponent in this sport,” he said.“But they also exist in the political realm. In my experience of politics, political grips and chokes are mostly hidden. The average person can’t see them. And you have to look carefully to see where the choke is being applied. It expressed very powerfully what our Prime Minister is going through,” he added.In a post on X, he raised several questions: “Why were our farmers sacrificed to please the Americans? Why was India’s energy security compromised by allowing the US to dictate our oil supplies? Why agree to increase US imports by $100 billion a year without a reciprocal promise? Why did I say this deal could turn India into a data colony?”“Why would Modi ji agree to a deal where India gives so much and appears to get so little?” he asked, before he went to reply “the answer to this abject surrender lies in the ‘grips’ and ‘chokes’ placed on the PM.”“But most important is the data. The fact that our data is being handed over by Mr Narendra Modi to American companies to the United States for a pittance. And mark my words, we are going to become a data colony,” he added.Earlier, Rahul had criticised the government over the organisation of the AI Summit, calling it a “chaotic PR exercise” and alleging that instead of harnessing India’s talent and data, the event put Indian data at risk while promoting Chinese products.On Friday, members of the Indian Youth Congress staged a shirtless protest at Bharat Mandapam against Prime Minister Modi, targeting the AI Impact Summit and accusing him of being “compromised.” As part of the demonstration, party workers took off their shirts to signal dissent.

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As Kerala heads toward the 2026 assembly elections, a question hangs over the state’s political landscape: what does the future of the Left look like beyond Pinarayi Vijayan?For nearly a decade, Vijayan has been the undisputed face of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), steering it through floods, a pandemic, fiscal strain and, in 2021, a historic re-election that broke Kerala’s four-decade pattern of alternating governments. But as the chief minister approaches 81, the conversation within party ranks and among voters has quietly shifted from governance to succession.

Kerala remains the only state currently governed by the Left. That makes the 2026 election more than a routine contest; it is a referendum on the future of communist politics in India, and on whether the LDF can renew itself in time to connect with a new generation of voters.

Vijayan factor: Age, authority and continuity

At 80, Vijayan remains the central pivot of the LDF’s campaign and governance narrative. His leadership received wide credit for the LDF’s 2021 victory, when the front secured 99 of 140 seats, the first time in four decades that an incumbent returned to power in Kerala.The government has since highlighted welfare expansion, including raising social security pensions from Rs 600 to Rs 2,000, infrastructure spending estimated at nearly Rs 2 lakh crore through budgetary and extra-budgetary resources, and a push towards a “knowledge economy”.Yet, the question is less about performance and more about continuity. “Leadership transition is a structural issue for cadre-based parties,” said a political science professor at Delhi University. “The Left’s strength has always been collective leadership, but electorally, Kerala voters increasingly respond to identifiable faces.” Sherwin, a young freelancer from Thrissur based in Delhi, believes, “If not for Vijayan, the Left possibly won’t be coming back to power.” He highlights another important reason he would rather vote for the Left: “because Congress is always fighting among itself, so I don’t think that’s a good option.”He adds, “It’s always the least bad option you vote for, not the best, that is the case in politics, I think, everywhere now.”

Dhristi, a member of a Left student group, says, “Vijayan is not all that glossy it might look, maybe right now there is nobody to replace him, but that doesn’t make him a good choice.” She adds, “I think it’s time that more young faces are given a chance, just look at the politburo, the people sitting there just have no connection with the ground and the kind of issues youths are facing.”

The missing second rung

Unlike previous phases in Kerala politics, no widely projected younger leader is positioned as Vijayan’s natural successor. While several senior ministers and party leaders remain influential within the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the bigger partner in LDF, none currently command statewide mass appeal comparable to the chief minister.A member of the Left’s student wing says that projecting a successor prematurely could trigger factional tensions. “The party prefers continuity and collective functioning. The focus is on policies, not personalities,” he said.

But electoral politics is increasingly personality-driven. The absence of a clearly visible next-generation face may complicate outreach to first-time voters, particularly in urban constituencies where three-cornered contests are sharpening, with an increasing BJP/NDA footprint.

First-time voters: A shifting electorate

The scale of the youth electorate is becoming clearer. According to official figures cited by AIR News following the publication of draft electoral rolls for the state, over 1,21,000 applications have been received for updates and corrections. Of these, 96,785 were submitted for the inclusion of first-time voters who have turned 18 or sought constituency transfers. For the LDF, engaging Gen Z voters presents both opportunity and challenge. This demographic has grown up in a hyper-connected political environment, shaped as much by social media narratives as by traditional cadre networks. Increasingly, these first-time voters have become the most sought-after political entity that every party wants to sway on their side. Vishnu, a 22-year-old first-time voter from Alappuzha studying in Delhi, said, “Development and jobs matter more to us than ideology. We want to see opportunities in the state so we don’t have to leave Kerala.” Another student from Kozhikode noted that while welfare measures are important, “the conversation online is different, people talk about entrepreneurship, start-ups, global exposure.”The LDF has responded with a renewed focus on digital outreach, alongside its traditional house-visit programme, where leaders, from state-level figures to branch secretaries, are engaging households directly to gather feedback.But Sherwin says, “although there is a very active young group of people working for Left on ground, and they always come up with different schemes of things, but the Congress does the same as well, so I don’t see anything different that they are doing to woo the youths.”

Local body polls 2025

If the 2021 assembly verdict was historic for the LDF, the 2025 local government elections served as a reality check.The scale of losses was significant. LDF’s control in grama panchayats fell from 577 to 340, in block panchayats from 111 to 63, and in district panchayats from 11 to 7. In urban Kerala, the slide was steeper: municipal corporations under LDF control dropped from five to one, while municipalities declined from 43 to 29.The most symbolic blow came in Thiruvananthapuram, where the BJP captured the Corporation for the first time, winning 50 of 101 wards. For a front that had dominated the capital’s civic body since 1980, the loss carried political weight beyond numbers.However, vote share data tells a more nuanced story. Despite seat losses, the LDF polled close to 40% of the vote statewide. The UDF secured 43.21%, maintaining a lead but not a landslide margin. The BJP-led NDA’s vote share remained around 16%, marginally higher than in previous local polls, and lower than its 19.4% performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The party’s gains came from concentrated seat conversion rather than dramatic vote expansion.In assembly segment terms, the UDF held leads in 81 constituencies, while the LDF led in 57. However, in 32 constituencies, the margin of defeat for the LDF was between 1,000 and 10,000 votes, indicating that micro-swings could reshape the 2026 map.There were also demographic undercurrents. With minorities constituting nearly half the state’s population, the LDF’s near-40% vote share suggests that it retained a substantial segment of minority voters as well among other sections, even as sections appeared to consolidate behind the UDF in parliamentary-style contests. The data indicates shifts, but not collapse.From the Left’s point of view, the local body verdict reflects three trends:

Whether the 2025 results were a precursor to 2026 or a mid-term correction remains an open question.

Between welfare and perception

The DU professor argues that anti-incumbency alone does not explain the LDF’s recent setbacks. Instead, “electoral shifts reflect layered dynamics, consolidation of minority votes behind the UDF, sharper arithmetic in urban areas, and the BJP’s targeted expansion”. Adding, at the same time, it seems, after two consecutive terms, the LDF is recalibrating its political messaging amid demographic and ideological churn.

That recalibration became visible to the world during the row over Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. The CPM and the BJP accused the Congress-led UDF of accepting support from the organisation. The controversy escalated when senior CPM leader A K Balan warned that a UDF government could allow Jamaat influence over the home ministry and lead to incidents like the 2002–03 Marad riots. CM Vijayan backed Balan’s remarks, though the CPM later described them as his “personal view” after criticism that the rhetoric echoed narratives usually associated with the Sangh Parivar. But, the incident was uncharacteristic of the Left, who compared to much of the country’s political landscape has avoided getting into the arena of communal/polarising rhetoric. Simultaneously, the Left moved to reinforce ties with sections of influential Muslim bodies such as Samastha, including the nomination of Ummer Faizi Mukkam to the Kerala State Waqf Board, a step widely interpreted as calibrated engagement with constituencies seen as distinct from the IUML.On the majority side, the government’s role in facilitating the Global Ayyappa Sangamam, linked to the Sabarimala temple managed by the Travancore Devaswom Board, drew attention given the Left’s earlier strong backing of the 2018 Supreme Court verdict allowing entry of women of all ages. Meanwhile, as the polls approach and Sabrimala snowballs into a larger electoral issue, the Left is increasingly taking a vague stand, with its ministers straightly refusing to give any clarity.

Taken together, these episodes reflect the LDF’s attempt to navigate a more polarised landscape, balancing welfare governance with identity-sensitive politics, as it prepares for 2026.

Revival playbook

Party leaders have acknowledged the need to “learn from the people” and correct gaps in policy implementation and political communication. A statewide house-visit programme has been launched. Parallelly, the LDF has intensified its campaign against what it terms fiscal discrimination by the Centre. Issue-based mobilisation is also being sharpened, including campaigns around MGNREGA allocations and the implementation of labour codes. The deeper challenge, however, is political positioning. The Left’s historical growth in Kerala was rooted in class mobilisation cutting across caste and religion. Recent elections exposed tensions between welfare-driven governance, secular positioning, minority anxieties, and attempts at broader social outreach. A sustainable revival may require clarity in ideological messaging as much as administrative efficiency.The revival question, therefore, is less about arithmetic and more about adaptability.

What next for the Left?

For the Left, 2026 is not merely about retaining power but about redefining relevance. The stakes are national: Kerala is the last state under communist governance. A defeat would mean the absence of a Left-led state government anywhere in India.The immediate strategy appears two-fold: consolidating welfare beneficiaries through grassroots engagement, and countering opposition narratives via coordinated political campaigns and social media mobilisation.But the structural question remains unresolved: can the LDF transition from a leadership model anchored in Vijayan’s authority to one that inspires confidence among younger voters?As Kerala’s electorate expands with tens of thousands of first-time voters, the 2026 contest may hinge less on legacy and more on generational trust. Whether the Left can bridge that gap, organisationally and politically, will determine if its red bastion remains intact or enters a new phase of churn.The question, for now, is simple and unavoidable: After Vijayan, who?

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