Henceforth Indian politics is not going to be the same because it lost its civility and political soul at Gandhi Maidan. Never in the history of India a political rally had been subjected to terrorist attack. The target was not only the leader, Narendra Modi, but the public as well. Terrorism had so far preyed on market places, metros, religious centers, defence installations, scientific installations, trains, railway stations and airports. Now a new element has been introduced in the scarred terrorist landscape which seeks to knock India out from its constitutional edifice and democratic framework...... .......Latest reports also suggest that eight students of particular hostel were indoctrinated, trained and paid Rs 10,000 to plant bombs in Gandhi Maidan. It indicates the level of Islamic radicalization in Bihar. But when the Chief Minister of a state begins to treat a counterpart as enemy and not political adversary for reasons solely attributable to religious votebank, it only abets fundamentalism, radicalization and terror. In effect it conveys mistaken signals to the security apparatus of the state.
Could Modi be grounded before take off?
If Modi is allowed to fly high on a platform of Hindu nationalism, his being grounded will be blamed on intrigue by the forces of “pseudo secularism”. This pits Modi as an embodiment of an idea shaded in dark saffron, projected in Presidential style, against the secular formations, pale and wan, poised precariously on a rickety Parliamentary platform.” The real battle, then, is not being envisaged for 2014 but more like 2016 – mid term. Jaitley’s 15 page letter, giving details of all the cases that are zeroing in on Modi and Shah is the beginning of an almighty cat and mouse between the BJP and the UPA. Is there a real fear that Modi will be grounded before take off?
Mulayam Singh has had it in Muzaffarnagar
After motoring through some of the Jat dominated villages around Muzaffarnagar from where Muslims have been driven out (or which they have left in fear), I can say with certainty: something very sinister is happening barely two hour’s drive from New Delhi and just a little more from Lucknow. Has the Muslim-boy, Hindu-girl element been inserted into the narrative of August 27 in which a Muslim and two Hindu boys were killed? Various stories are available: that two motorcycles collided, leading to a scuffle and that the girl angle is an afterthought. The second is that a Muslim and some Hindu boys claimed the same girl’s favours, and thirdly, a girl complained to her family that Muslim boys tease her when she passes their village on her way from school. Can there not be an official, police version?
Nitish Kumar’s special package from Pakistan?
In December 2012, the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, visited Pakistan. This author is at loss to fathom the reasons for Nitish Kumar to undertake a tour to a country with which Bihar shares no borders. Did he go to Pakistan to learn lessons of ‘secularism’? Did he visit Pakistan to elicit Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) or was the purpose to get ‘special package’ (Vishesh Rajaya Darza) from the federal authorities based in Islamabad? The plausible reason could be ‘special package of vote-bank’. If going to Pakistan were to enhance vote-banks then the idea of Indian nation-state is over.
BJP can either promote Modi or the NDA
The manner in which the media has supported Modi’s current elevation, makes it amply clear that Corporate India supports the move. After all, the nose of the media ends where that of the Corporates begins. But why would Corporate India support a candidate who repels coalition partners in an age when no government can be formed in New Delhi by any party on its own in the foreseeable future? Corporate India cannot have extended support to Modi simply because he has been extraordinarily hospitable to them in Gujarat. He must have other uses. He is by all accounts, decisive, firm, strong willed, obstinate, but with many managerial skills too. These could be attributes of a successful manager of a party like the BJP not its Prime Ministerial candidate as some of his ardent supporters would like him to be.
Media setting up Rahul – Modi contest for TRP ratings
Conventional wisdom being forged by lobbies is veering around to the view that there shall be either a UPA-III or an NDA-II after the 2014 General Elections. In which case why this high decibel clamour for Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidates for the BJP and Congress respectively? Of course such a facile scenario would simplify matters for the talk show hosts, the TRP hunters: just place faces in those six boxes on the screen and trigger a daily diet of prime time cacophony, as riveting as a street brawl.
A hundred million Muslims in search of a party
The more the communal picture changes since the demolition of the Babri Masjid 20 years ago this week, the more it remains the same.
Gas debate: Reliance, Kejriwal, BJP and Congress
India Against Corruption’s Arvind Kejriwal is right when he says Reliance is the favorite group of both Congress and the BJP.
Why Muslims decided to give Congress a drubbing?
There is obviously a deep anti-Congress mood in the country for which the party’s first family must share considerable blame.