2014

From N.C.’s Writings
The following article, published in this journal on March 7, 1998, was one of the last articles of N.C. After this he wrote “Reflections on the Constitution” (Mainstream, March 21, 1998) and “Iraq Crisis and Gujral Government” (Mainstream, March 28, 1998). He died on June 27 of that year.
Crucial though the election results are, they have not come as a surprise. The lakshman-rekha has hardly been crossed by any party which hoped to be a majority in the Lok Sabha. (…)

Masjidon main maulvi khutbe sunate hi rahe,
Mandiron mein barhaman ashlok gatey hi rahey
Ik na ik dar par jabeen-i-shouq ghisti hi rahi
Aadamiyat zulm ki chakki mein pisti hi rahi
Rahbari jaari rahi, paighambari jaari rahi
Deen ke parde mein jang-i-zargari jaari rahi.
— Majaz
(The mullah and the pundit and their ceaseless sermon
Man bowed before each one of them but did he learn
The great messiahs came claiming divinity. Their religions, mostly ruses for plunder turn by (…)

The Hindi-belt journalists have gone ecstatic over Narendra Modi’s “naked attempt to get into the caste politics of Poorvanchal and Awadh regions of Uttar Pradesh”. They have reported that it is going to be Modi’s “trump card”.
It doesn’t seem to occur to them even remotely that there is a much simpler uncomplicated way of looking at what Modi and the BJP have attempted, namely, a last-ditch, desperate attempt at the eleventh hour when the poll has reached the final stage and the going (…)

by Sanjay Kumar
By stealth, wealth, and media barrage a phalanx of powerful interests is trying to create a public opinion favourable to Narendra Modi. It appears the entire privilegenstia of the country, the super-rich capitalists, professional elites, entrepreneurs of the religion, top bureau-cracy, including retired Armymen and police, upper castes, media pundits, even NRI acade-mics, are united in their enthusiasm for Modi. From Ratan Tata to Ramdev, people have been told how the man (…)

This article was written sometime ago and should have appeared before the end of the election process (on May 12, 2014) but it could not be published in the previous week due to space constraints. It is now being published as its contents have not yet lost their relevance.
At the fag end of the last millennium, CPI-M General Secretary H.K.S. Surjeet was working in tandem with Subramanian Swamy to bring down the first NDA Government. In those days, the main warhead of their coup, Madam (…)

by Navneet Sharma, Pradeep Nair, Harikrishnan B.
The question whether Modi, the BJP’s PM nominee, is a charismatic leader or is a mere brand of politics has to be always analysed from a vantage point, this vantage point may shift from the implications of the poll results that will be announced on May 16, 2014. However, this question shall be pertinent whether in the Indian context and the rise in the speed of human and information circulation, a pan-national ‘charisma’ could be evolved and (…)

communication
The Central Secretariat of the CPI issued a statement on May 6, which says: “CPI wishes to make it clear that as far as the TMC led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee is concerned, she is actually helping the BJP by polarising the West Bengal voters on communal lines. Her attack on the BJP is a got-up game.”
The statement betrays the pathetic political bankruptcy of the entire Left, not of the CPI alone. Because the accusation that Mamata Banerjee’s relentless (…)

book review
The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh by Sanjaya Baru; first published in Viking by Penguin Books India, New Delhi; 2014; pages: 301; price: Rs 599.
Being ruled for centuries by despotic petty rajas and nawabs whose private lives were often not only bizarre but even grotesque (shrouded in secrecy), common Indians had an insatiable curiosity about their life and living style. This propensity about our elected leaders continues even after (…)

“If Boko Haram succeeds in its stated agenda to make the country ungovernable, if Boko Haram succeeds in goading those areas that have victim citizens in the northern part of the country into reprisal actions on the nearest targets, not only will this cause a break-up, it will be very messy. That is the reason some of us have been issuing appeals to community leaders to make sure it doesn’t happen in their communities.” —Wole Soyinka
Despite such wise counsel coming from one of the most (…)

EDITORIAL
The nine-phase elections for the 16th Lok Sabha are drawing to a close.
In the penultimate phase, that took place yesterday, 64 seats spread over seven States went to polls, and the percentage of voting was almost 64. West Bengal (where voting for six seats took place) recorded the highest turnout (81.28 per cent) followed by Andhra Pradesh (76.01 per cent for 25 seats). As of now, polling has taken place for as many as 502 Lok Sabha seats since the start of the elections and (…)