This should come as a surprise to none of our readers. Our national leaders have shown, once again, that they like the idea of putting their respective political parties above the interests of the country. To put things into perspective, let’s put aside the bad news currently occupying the corridors of power for a moment and focus on the worse news.

For one, showing persistent sluggishness, India’s economy grew by 5.5 per cent in the April-June quarter this fiscal due to poor performance of the manufacturing, mining and farm sectors. In Mumbai, the BSE benchmark Sensex fell by over 71 points in early trade yesterday on fresh selling by funds ahead of first quarter Gross Domestic Product data. The National Stock Exchange index Nifty shed 29.15 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 5,285.90. Stocks of IT, power and realty sectors lead the fall.