Congress has no business talking about corruption
The year is 1973. A young angry politician summons the chairman of a prominent public sector bank to demand that his bank release loan to his upcoming car company. A few weeks ago before the...
View ArticleAmerica loves a comeback kid; but it loves one once the comeback has happened
By Indrajit Hazra There’s something distinctly cute about Jeb Bush tweeting a photo of a handgun as part of his campaign. He wants not just to be the Republican presidential nominee, but also to be...
View ArticleThe BJP project of a Congress-Mukt Bharat is reshaping the political space
By Pranab Dhal Samanta Trust the BJP to come up with a slogan that’s both politically accurate and effective. ‘Congress-Mukt Bharat’ was a line that drew attention at the height of the Modi campaign...
View ArticleWhat worries the BJP ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly polls
By Saba Naqvi There’s a galaxy of BJP MPs from Uttar Pradesh who make news every now and then for saying outrageous things. The latest is the junior minister in the R S Katheria, MP...
View ArticleThe jingoistic frenzy being whipped up by the BJP can do the nation serious harm
Finish off the deshdrohi (traitor)! This is the BJP’s new war cry. And the Opposition is reportedly being put on the defensive in the small towns of Uttar Pradesh. This is dangerous, primarily because...
View ArticleOnly time will tell who’ll benefit from JNU protests
Because jail terms have great potency in political struggles and release from custody is always interpreted as ‘victory’, the euphoria in Jawaharlal Nehru University after release of Kanhaiya Kumar was...
View ArticleThe Congress must support the Aadhaar Bill
The Aadhaar project, meant to give Indian residents a distinct, indigenously wrought digital identity, heralds a revolution in financial inclusion and subsidy administration. The NDA government has...
View ArticleClass, caste politics finally coming together in campus politics
By Ajoy Bose Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati rarely speaks out on any topic other than those directly concerning her own party, the Dalit community or her home state of Uttar Pradesh. So,...
View ArticleKeep the flag flying in this hothouse
Every time Indians feel the hot and heavy breath of their government on their necks, they recoil. This is true of all governments going back to Independence. It is why Narendra Modi’s promise of ‘less...
View ArticleSuch is the panic of the Republican Party after Trump landed on it, it would...
By Sandip Roy Oleaginous (adj): 1) Resembling or having the properties of oil 2) Marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or quality According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, on March 8 the word...
View ArticleIs BJP govt making the same mistake with Kanhaiya that UPA did with Anna?
Those who tracked Anna Hazare and his anti-corruption stir against the UPA 2 government must feel a sense of déjà vu as a section of the middle class hails a new hero in Jawaharlal Nehru...
View ArticleComrades with Congress
A spectre is haunting Bengal — the spectre of Puran Chand Joshi. Elections will be held here from April 4, over seven days till May 5. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), with 184 of 294...
View ArticleBJP in search of a bigger footprint
Is the BJP a truly national party? Despite winning 280 seats and establishing a single-party rule at the Centre after 30 years, it remains a force to reckon with only in the Hindi heartland in...
View ArticleUrinationalist Kanhaiya
Public urination, like what Maneka Gandhi stated last week about marital rape, is a blight that India’s men are not ready to give up yet. But when a public personality finds himself caught committing...
View ArticleThe long & shorts of it
Am I the only one gutted by the news of the RSS replacing their trademark khaki shorts with brown trousers? Has the Sangh, till now always self-helpers with minds of their own, finally given into...
View ArticleReform political funding, says sting
West Bengal — where six-phase assembly elections will be held from April 4 to May 5 — is in turmoil. On March 14, littleknown website naradanews.com released a 23-minute clip broadcast widely on...
View ArticleLess Obamacare fro Pakistan
It’s clear that President Barack Obama ‘gets it’ on most countries but chooses to fight Washington orthodoxies on some. Pakistan is a big case in point. He knows the damage it causes, yet prefers not...
View ArticleHaryana government turns pandits backward
The Manohar Lal government of Haryana has managed to subvert the very idea of affirmative action by terming upper castes as backward castes. Jats, Jat Sikhs, Bishnois, Rors, Tyagi Brahmins and Muslim...
View ArticleWater Scarcity: Does cricket score more than farmers in Maharashtra ?
Water Scarcity: Does cricket score more than farmers in Maharashtra? The Bombay High Court has taken The Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) to task over water usage for maintaining pitches...
View ArticleIndo-Pak talks and the Cheshire Cat
India’s talks with Pakistan are like the Cheshire Cat, in their evanescence. The Cat in Alice’s Wonderland had a habit of vanishing in anatomical instalments. Once, after it had reduced itself to a...
View Article