Ladakhis Reject Inquiry Into Firing; Putin Says India Won't Accept 'Humiliation'; Does RSS Pose Existential Threat to Country? Saffron 'Poliwood' Plumbs New Depths

India and China to resume direct flights soon, Does the Sangh Parivar pose an existential threat to the country? Souza auctions smash records, but is Indian art really taking off?

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

October 2, 2025

Siddharth Varadarajan

India and China will resume direct commercial flights by late October 2025, the first between the two countries since the 2020 border standoff and Covid derailed the bilateral relationship. The move, following months of talks between civil aviation authorities, is part of the Modi government’s push for gradual normalisation of ties and predates the current chill in relations with the US. Flights will operate on “designated points,” subject to airline readiness and operational clearances.

Sir Creek– the tidal estuary which stretches approximately 100 kilometres in the Rann of Kuchh – is meant to form the border between India and Pakistan but the two sides have long disputed its precise boundary. Compared to the Jammu and Kashmir and Siachen sectors, however, the Gujarat border has been quiet since 1999 and only came alive on May 9, during Operation Sindoor, when Pakistani drones sought to target Indian air defences. Today, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh warned Pakistan that any misadventure in the sector would invite a “decisive response” strong enough to change both “history and geography”. “In 1965, the Indian Army showed courage by reaching Lahore and in 2025, Pakistan must remember that the road to Karachi also passes through the Creek,” Singh said.

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the law-and-order situation in Leh that resulted in the death of four persons on September 24 after protests turned violent in the region and local police opened fire. Both the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance umbrella organisations have rejected the inquiry, demanding instead that a retired Supreme Court judge lead a judicial probe into the events of that day.

Their stance reflects the simmering public anger over what happened, with the BJP and the Modi government being the prime target of this antipathy.