Karnataka Minister Kharge Asks Questions About RSS Funding; A Cricketing Victory With Grace and Without Displays of Hyper-Nationalism; Rumours Swirl About Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's Mental Alertness

Six Killed in Chhattisgarh Train Accident, Adani Power and Bangladesh May Seek Arbitration Over Billing Dispute, India Moves Swiftly to Provide Aid to Earthquake-Hit Afghanistan

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by Tanweer Alam, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh, MK Venu, and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Snapshot of the day

November 4, 2025

Sidharth Bhatia

At least six people were killed and five others suffered injuries after a passenger train rear-ended a goods train near the Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh railway station. Rescue operations are underway and the railways ministry has ordered an inquiry, reports Shubhomoy Sikdar.

The apparent decline in Nitish Kumar’s mental acuity has become a talking point ahead of the Bihar assembly elections [See Reportedly] and the opposition too has gone after the chief minister for it. But what do ordinary people in the state make of it? Several supporters of the CM, finds Anant Gupta, are still willing to give him a chance and believe he is capable of remaining at the helm, although some supporters of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the BJP are “displeased with Kumar’s endurance”. One unnamed Janata Dal (United) leader said speaking to Gupta however that if Kumar “really was healthy, he would have voluntarily given up that chair by now”. Some of his supporters have suggested that Kumar gradually relinquish control of the JD(U) to his only child Nishant Kumar.

Speaking of Nishant, Ashutosh Pandey and Shruti Sharma find that Union minister and JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan ‘Lalan’ Singh had early last year gifted a ‘penthouse’ officially worth Rs 91 lakh – but which numerous builders in the city estimated was worth twice that – to the chief minister’s son. In the gift deed signed months before the general elections, Lalan Singh stated he had decided to bequeath the flat, near Patna’s prominent Bailey Road, to Nishant as he has had “extreme love and affection” for the latter and remains “pleased with his attitude towards the donor”.

As Bihar heads into elections, the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has come under scrutiny for echoing the language and logic of echoing BJP political campaigns that vilify Muslim voters as infiltrators. In June 2025, the ECI launched SIR to verify nearly 80 million voters across the state, citing concerns over “illegal immigrants” on the electoral rolls. A month later, officials claimed to have identified a “large number of people” from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar during door-to-door checks – statements that closely mirrored the ruling party’s election rhetoric. However, official data tells a different story. According to the ECI’s own figures, foreign nationals make up less than one-hundredth of a percent of Bihar’s total voters – a negligible number in a state with more than seven crore electors, reports Abir Dasgupta, Arun Kumar, Dwivedi Mohd, Imran Khan and Parth M.N.

Meanwhile, the Patna district administration registered a first information report against Lalan Singh after a video widely shared online showed him urging supporters to prevent “a few leaders” from leaving their homes on the polling day in Bihar. The purported video showed Singh addressing a campaign meeting in Mokama, where he is heard telling the crowd: “There are a few persons. Don’t let them step out of their homes on polling day. Keep them packed inside.” It was unclear when the comments were made. As per the reports, the “few leaders” Singh was referring to were Opposition leaders. Following the criticism, the Election Commission issued a notice to Singh, seeking an explanation within 24 hours.

Karnataka Information Technology and Biotechnology (IT and BT) minister Priyank Kharge on Sunday questioned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS’s) lack of legal registration and secrecy regarding their funding and underlined that