July 21, 2007

Bangladesh is in the grip of a fresh crisis with the military-backed caretaker government arresting erstwhile PM Sheikh Hasina, the Awami League leader, who by all estimates enjoys maximum popularity in the country despite every attempt to tarnish her image by levelling serious allegations of extorion and murder against her.
It is now crystal-clear that the caretaker government’s target of attack from the very beginning was Sheikh Hasina who, by her outspoken criticism of the covert (…)

While the Constitution of India has erected an impressive edifice of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy, the existence of colonial repressive legislations and oppressive police structures have prevented the Indian people from asserting their basic right to social justice. Custodial killings and extrajudicial executions emerge as easily available alternatives to the painstaking investigation and prosecution of cases by the police, who are empowered by lawless laws (…)

[(TRIBUTE)]
Chandra Shekhar’s death has been rightly and widely mourned because there were so few left like him among the Socialists or in any other party. Till the end he was fearless and a great benefactor of people in need. He was ambitious but which politician is not. The important thing was that he could put his ambition to risk to address a popular cause which he did before the Emergency when he lauded Jayaprakash Narayan for his movement even though he was still a Young Turk in the (…)

[(TRIBUTE)]
With the demise of Chandra Shekharji, one of the tallest figures in our public life is no more. We fondly remember him as a Young Turk and the courageous stands he used to take. In fact, he was known for his courage of conviction and frank talk. He always had a charisma about him and had his own stamp and identity. His Bharat Yatra had a big impact on all of us who belonged to that generation. He was someone who knew how to connect with people and take up their causes.
As a (…)

[(TRIBUTE)]
A devoted disciple of the socialist savant Acharya Narendra Dev, Chandra Shekhar lived in his life the values of democracy, secularism and socialism. He served the Socialist and the Praja Socialist Parties loyally for several years. As a firebrand activist, he led the cane growers of Uttar Pradesh to resist price disparities. He was jailed for fighting for the trade union rights of Modinagar’s textile workers.
However, PSP Chairman Asoka Mehta’s decision to join the Congress (…)

There is no dearth of critics of Chandra Shekhar, especially after the manner of his installation as the Prime Minister. The parliamentary majority for his government is tenuous, if not precarious. His electoral mandate is yet to be established.
For such a government to go in for a bold initiative in tackling any of the formidable problems facing the country today, seems daring, and may even look reckless. And this is precisely how the first reactions have come after his latest move to (…)

The violent denouement to the standoff at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad is bound to have far-reaching consequences for Pakistan. In the short run, though, President Pervez Musharraf holds the upper hand. He has shown that he can be decisive. He has restored his authority as a ‘strongman’ that was severely dented in the recent weeks by the lawyers’ agitation. The troops carried out his instructions as a disciplined force under a chain of command. Musharraf evidently carries the Army top brass (…)

Historically, national treason has been the ID, as communal terrorism the signature, of Hindutva. No one without avowing treason as his creed can be a votary of Hindutva.
No one without pledging life-long commitment to terrorism can be trusted by the Black Caps as a genuine fascist. In this, Hindutva has been steadfast since inception. Sworn to secrecy and criminality that the cult stands for, it keeps its recruits ever “disciplined”, that is, morally decrepit, mentally robotic. (…)

It is really painful to see how the political elite of the country is making a mockery of public sensibilities while selecting a candidate for the post of the President of India. Overtly undermining the skills and acumen needed to run the highest office of the land they are giving credence of the primordial identities and loyalties of an individual for his/her candidature. Although all the political parties, with different ideologies, are pretending that they are committed to a national (…)

As a matter of fact Jean Baudrillard, who recently died, was not very far in his worldview from Gandhi, who succumbed to the assassin’s bullet some 59 years ago. Except that Gandhi conducted virtually single-handedly the largest anti-colonial movement in the annals of world history after the twenties and did not succumb to stereotype trajectories offered in the vast historical tracts of anti-colonial movements right from the new world’s struggle to the struggles in the traditional world (…)