In its next issue titled "An Uneasy Communion", Outlook dissects the electoral verdicts in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, one swept back up by the NDA and the other retained by INDIA. The issue notes that the BJP’s poll slogan Ek Hain Toh Safe Hain in Maharashtra may well apply to the Mahayuti government now, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his two deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar

After the Mahayuti government was sworn in after much theatrics and suspense, CM Fadnavis now faces tremendous challenges of managing the competing interests and rising ambitions of allied partners Shinde and Pawar.

In his column, Anand Teltumbde writes on how Mahayuti won as it recalibrated with ground-level mobilisation, alarmed by the results of the Lok Sabha elections, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi lost due to its ‘business as usual’ attitude.

Shweta Desai notes that the extraordinary result in Maharashtra didn’t come without the support of the RSS which turned the tide in BJP’s favour, with the Sangh Parivar launching the Jaago Hindu and Sajag Raho campaigns to unify Hindu voters under Hindutva after NDA's Lok Sabha upset.

In Jharkhand, Hemant Soren may have won the election, but the real challenge lies in overcoming Jharkhand's history of political instability and fulfilling key electoral promises, including converting crucial bills into law to solidify his party's mandate, writes Md Asghar. Soren’s government must balance tribal aspirations with corporate pressures to transform ‘Abua Sarkar’ into ‘Abua Raj’ to solidify its credibility.

Politics aside, art, entertainment, and culture feature prominently in the next issue: an exhibition from Gwalior exploring various forms of desire, the photo story #TrainDiaries capturing the lives of women in Mumbai's local trains, a new wave of Muslim filmmakers shaping their narratives through cinema, and an ode to Shakespeare by director Rajat Kapoor and actor Vinay Pathak.