2015

From N.C.’s Writings
This month marked the 43rd anniversary of the Simla Summit. On this occasion, we reproduce the following piece by N.C. in ‘Editor’s Notebook’ (Mainstream, July 8, 1972). This needs to be read in the context of the just concluded Narendra Modi-Nawaz Sharif talks in Ufa, Russia. —Editor
If cautious optimism marked the approach of New Delhi to the Indo-Pak Summit before it took place, it persists, more or less in the same measure, even after the Simla Agreement. At (…)

The Left is usually associated with revolution. This is not surprising since “Left” has come to mean the socialist and communist political parties and organisations which adopt ideology according to Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao, etc., albeit interpreted variously. In the Indian context, “Left” has usually meant the Communist Parties which, starting with the Communist Party of India (CPI), have fragmented into a large number (75, by one estimate [Note 1]) of mutually antagonistic (…)

Most political observers and commentators seem to agree that the coming elections to the Assembly in Bihar will not only be important but perhaps definitive in suggestging the shape of mainstream political life in India till the next General Election in 2019.
To put the matter baldly, if the Bharatiya Janata Party were to score a victory in Bihar, it might be on course to take the all-important Uttar Pradesh as well. This for two reasons: one, the party would have proved that the (…)

Can we trust them? This is the burden of comments both in India and Pakistan after the meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif. The reaction is no reflection on the effort the two are making to break the ice. However, it shows that even after 70 years of partition, the enmity between the two countries remains as entrenched as before. Any step taken to lessen the distance between the two is viewed with doubt and suspicion.
Not many people in the two countries dare to (…)

by Pratip Chattopadhyay
Introduction
“Ek je chilo raja, tar bhaari dukhh...ahaa raja, kade raja...dakho raja ...bechara rajar aj bhari dukhh....”
(There was a King immersed in sorrow... poor soul, the king is in tears...it’s a pity that today the King is sad...)
The famous Bengal film maestro, Satyajit Ray, in his film, Goopy Gayen Bagha Bayen (1968), composed a song (a part quoted above) that has been utilised by Ray to observe that even a powerful ruler is not immune from the (…)

COMMUNICATION
Kapil Sibal has rightly condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks in Shanghai that Indians used to see their butt in India as a curse and a slight to national pride. He is cent per cent correct in stating that never in history has there been a moment when the Prime Minister went abroad and remarked that it was his misfortune that he was born in India. There has never been a Prime Minister like Modi who felt ashamed of being born in his country.
Dr M. Hashim Kidwai, (…)

The view is held by many that we Indians are loud in whatever we do. To take a recent example, Kanak Mani Dixit of Nepal’s Himal is reported to have said, of Indian media people in the aftermath of the earthquake, “The shrillness, jingoism, exaggerations, boorishness and sometimes mistakes in coverage have rankled the host community.”
The Hindu Right exemplifies this feature of Indianness. It is convinced that the pretence and the trappings of grandeur are necessary always. We have before (…)

EDITORIAL
Two major events have taken place on the global plane.
On July 14 Iran and a group of six nations (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) clinched a final, historic deal on Iran’s nuclear activities. In turn, the deal will end Iran’s international isolation. It is a remarkable breakthrough in world affairs and the global media acknowledged the pivotal role played by US President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in securing this momentous (…)

Do not be surprised if after reading former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran’s column in the Business Standard newspaper, entitled “The Beijing paradox”, on a Track II in the Chinese capital, the Chinese think-tanker bears striking resemblance to his Indian counterpart, trading in fantasies and passing them off as strategy.
Saran summed up some hypotheses that lie behind China’s global strategy. One, China assumes that the emergent world order will be “bipolar” and headed by it and the United (…)

Born as Aruna Ganguly in Barisal (now Bangladesh) on July 16, 1909, she emerged as one of the most striking freedom fighters especially in the last stage of our battle for emancipation from foreign yoke. Her dedication to the cause of liberation of the toiling millions remained undiminshed till the very end and she tirelessly worked in various capacities to realise the dream of an exploitation-free, new and radiant India she and her colleagues in the national movement had before them when (…)