Firstpost Editor's Picks: Hindutva politics, economy in a pickle, Champions League; today's must read stories

Economy in a pickle: Nirmala Sitharaman faces a daunting task of lifting a faltering economy, addressing unemployment India’s first woman finance minister will find herself dealing with a flagging economy and an employment crisis. That’s what various economic data released on the day Nirmala Sitharaman took charge of the finance ministry, show. The green shoots that appeared in the first few years of the first Narendra Modi government have truly withered away. Lok Sabha poll results prove BJP is original mascot of political Hindutva; Rahul Gandhi's wishy-washy attempts at it won't stick Congress’ complete whitewash in Rajasthan and Gujarat — besides Madhya Pradesh where the party has been reduced to a single seat — undercuts the carefully crafted narrative of the electorate’s acceptance of Rahul as a Hindu leader and raises doubts over the sagacity of the party apparatchiks to take on Modi-Shah in their own turf **Champions League: Pride at stake for Liverpool as club seeks European glory under manager Jurgen Klopp** The connect between fans, the team, the management, the club PR (take a bow, Tony Barrett), the upper echelons have never been better. Miracles abound, songs of dedication are being made on the fly. More and more fans are spoilt for choice when it comes to having a player name on the backs of their Liverpool shirts. If Liverpool end up winning the Champions League tonight, it won’t just be a footballing victory. It will be a win for the process. Lessons from reading Richie Rich comics in a plush penthouse (as a resident of a soft-socialist country) I wonder sometimes about the appeal — escapist or forbidden — that these comics must have had in a country with a soft-socialist history. They weren’t so much an unabashed celebration of capitalism as a goggle-eyed ode to a sort of demented-capitalism-on-drugs where one had so much wealth — in so many forms — that one couldn’t realistically do anything but arrange it in many pretty ways. Katrina Kaif on replacing Priyanka Chopra in Bharat: People tend to personalise my pairing with Salman Khan Katrina Kaif is facing the biggest challenge of her career yet. Just staging her comeback with Tiger Zinda Hai after a self-imposed two year exile, she suffered two terrible back-to-back blows last year. Both, Zero and Thugs of Hindostan tanked in quick succession and slowed down the recovery process of her career. She now needs a big hit and is counting on Bharat with Salman Khan, her co-star from her last blockbuster Tiger Zinda Hai