Why BJP Has Been Quick to Train Guns on Ashley Tellis; Dangerous Rift Opens Between RSS and One-Man Rule; Modi Brings CWG to... Modi Stadium

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 15, 2025

Siddharth Varadarajan

India will host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and it should not come as a surprise to anyone that the government bid was for the city of Ahmedabad as the venue. The Ahmedabad CWG will take place two decades after Delhi first showcased India’s sporting ambitions in 2010. But this announcement also underscores the peculiar style of promotion under the current government of Gujarat, and of Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

Ahmedabad’s selection over Abuja, Nigeria, follows an evaluation by Commonwealth Sport and is expected to be ratified at the general assembly in Glasgow on 26 November. While the city’s population exceeds five million and it undoubtedly has the infrastructure to host large-scale events, the spotlight inevitably falls on the optics: an event in the eponymous Narendra Modi stadium that doubles as a monument to the sitting Prime Minister. Grand displays of the kind envisaged reflect a broader trend under the Modi administration – of promoting India’s ‘global image’ through high-profile projects that turn public spaces into instruments of political self-promotion rather than of meaningful development and renewal of infrastructure that can serve the public. The 2030 Commonwealth Games may well be another chapter in that ongoing narrative.

United States President Donald Trump has once again accused the BRICS bloc, which India will chair in 2026, and its members of undermining the strength of the US dollar. During a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the US would impose new tariffs on countries choosing to work alongside BRICS. “I’m very strong on the