2013

by Arun Srivastava
Initial euphoria giving way to pragmatic analysis and evaluation of the election results of the four State Assemblies, the focus has now shifted to the free-market economy dictating the future character and shape of the Indian political establishment and also the political discourse and action. The reasons behind the rout of the Congress are more than apparently meets the eye. The political structure and programmes of any party at the surface level are no doubt (…)

As expected, elections to the five State Assemblies this year have turned out to be highly significant. While the overall results clearly point to a victory for the BJP, this cannot be called a clean sweep for the saffron party and much less for its most prominent leader, Narendra Modi. The BJP’s victory march has been checked to a significant extent by the Congress in Chhattisgarh and by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. The BJP was not even a factor in Mizoram where the incumbat Congress (…)

Post-election time is open season on losers. That license overtook discourse (on the media) last week with customary intensity. Some within predictably sought to seize the moment. But an optimistic disposition would bring home the leftover plus points. With a little disregard to the rule, putting the finger on the quintessence of the voter’s choice before his or her means of exercising it (elections) would denote a preference for change which perhaps sounds as mundane as the truth. But it (…)

The elections for the State Legislatures in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Delhi have indicated the mood of the people. Many questions have come to the fore. The political parties face the challenge of finding answers before the parliamentary polls next year.
Two trends have emerged, one plus and the other minus, from these elections. The positive aspect is that more voters have come to the polling booths than ever before, nearly 75 per cent exercising their (…)

by Shahriar Kabir
The anxiety about the outcome of the coming general elections in Bangladesh—how the elections will be held, who will be returned to power, what will happen after the elections, etc —has now spread beyond the borders of Bangladesh into the international arena. Heated discussions are going on all around. I have not seen such intense speculations about elections in any other country as is being seen in the case of Bangladesh. The country’s capital, Dhaka, is being visited (…)

The phenomenal rise of Islamic fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh has created an extremely critical situation in that country which now seems to be poised on the brink of a civil war. To the casual observer, the growth of jihadi Islam in Mujibur Rahman’s Bangladesh may appear to be a paradoxical phenomenon, but a close study of the development of Bangladesh since its emergence as an independent country in 1971, will reveal that two basically antagonistic forces, subscribing to two mutually (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Meaning of Mujib
When Dacca, in the grip of an unprecedented mass upsurge on the triumphant home coming of Bangabandhu, heard lakhs of voices spontaneously calling for “Joi Indira Gandhi”, it was not only an expression of well-deserved personal tribute to the Prime Minister of India for all that she has done for the libertion of Bangladesh and for the freedom of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was much more significant: a memo-rable landmark in India’s contribution towards (…)

“Talibaner aar ek naam—Hefazat-e-Islam!” (Another name for Taliban, Hefazat-e-Islam)
—Slogan raised at Shahbag Square
To such a degree has Religion fuelled conflict, complicated politics, retarded social development and impaired human relations across the world, that one is often tempted to propose that Religion is innately an enemy of Humanity, if not indeed of itself a crime against Humanity. Certainly it cannot be denied that Religion has proved again and again a spur, a motivator and (…)

by Abdul Gaffar Choudhury
When the vicious Cold War between the East and West ended with the collapse of the then Soviet Union, the famous American intellectual, Gore Vidal, predicted that very soon a new cold war will start in surrounding Asia—this time not between America and the Soviet Union, but between America and China. This prediction did not take a very long time to become true. During the previous Cold War America very shrewdly seduced China to become its ally and destroyed its (…)

by Shahnaj Begum
Bangladesh’s politics is once again at the crossroads. The Constitution requires an election to be held by January 24, 2014. But there is no agreement as yet between the Opposition and the ruling party as to who will conduct the election. Election observers, especially those of the European Union, USA-based NDI, Election Working Group and the local election observer groups have already expressed their concern about the current situation presaging a violent confrontation (…)