November 3, 2007

With Congress President-cum-UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s visit to China and the Left leaders’ painstaking efforts to assuage the ‘hurt’ feelings of PM Manmohan Singh getting frontpage prominence in our national dailies ‘Janadesh 2007’ has predictably received less than adequate attention in our media thereby once again mirroring the skewed priorities of the contemporary media scene in this era of consumerist culture in a ‘globalised’ world. Even some of the otherwise progressive newspapers (…)

Shortly after the telecast of the Tehelka sting operating on Gujarat 2002, a friend telephoned to remind me of a discussion some of us had had in the middle of 2004. We had agreed that despite the dismal situation at the time, with the new government in Delhi making no effort to do anything about the Gujarat massacre, sooner or later the truth would come out. What we counted on was the certainty that at least some of the many functionaries of the Sangh Parivar, who must have been involved, (…)

Press reports that the Lok Sabha Speaker wants to apply the principle of “no-work, no-pay” to those legislators who disrupt proceedings in the House has been universally welcomed. The legis-lators, with cheek in their tongue, term it as an abridgement of their parliamentary privileges, but the masses find this self-glorification laughable. The conduct of such legislators is a standing shame to the nation and calls for immediate action. A recent study by a civil society organisation found (…)

The main reason behind the Left parties’ support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2004 so as to enable the latter form the government at the Centre was the threat of the BJP, a source of communal fascism, riding to power again. There are other parties, the regional ones, having MPs, but many of them have no such rigid condition against going with the BJP although they are not comunal as the BJP and Shiv Sena. And then there was the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP); but (…)

By any reckoning, a very unusual moment comes when a politician is called upon to pass the test of public support under intense glare of the world community. For former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, October 18 posed one such dramatic test—crucial even by the extraordi-nary yardstick of her tumultuous life.
She passed the test, as the bemused world stood by and curiously watched. She still possesses traces of that rare magic when a politician connects with the people, when a (…)

I had the privilege of living a few houses away from Aung San Suu Kyi onYangon’s University Avenue by Inya Lake, for several months. The sole reason for choosing my residence was I was hoping to meet or at least get a glimpse of the most famous political prisoner and proponent of non-violence, alive. On her sixtysecond birthday Aung San Suu Kyi had spent a total of eleven years, ten months and twentyseven days under house arrest, with short spells in which she was allowed to meet the people. (…)

Although nothing should be predicted so far as the investigation into the tragic death of Rizwanur Rehman, the unfortunate young man from Kolkata, is concerned as the CBI has just started the probe, yet his death and the consequent events have conclusively proved the insincerity and ineptness of the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. At a time when the Rizwanur episode has exposed the soft underbelly of the CPM-led administration, a similarly ominous development in the form (…)

Human displacement, whether in response to war (civil and ethnic), natural disaster, economic opportunity, or building of infrastructure within countries, is the key issue in contemporary discussions of population movements. These movements include displaced, political and economic refugees, migrants, and exiles who move across and within national boundaries, as well as those forced to relocate in response to infrastructural development such as economic zones, power projects, dam (…)

Pranab Mukherjee took over the reins of the Ministry of External Affairs one year ago on October 25 last year at South Block at a very trying time. When his predecessor, K. Natwar Singh, left the exalted office, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, temporarily looked after the portfolio. Although the MEA, on earlier occasions, had been under the direct superintendence of the Prime Minister, the magnitude of the problemms entailed dedicated attention and quality time to navigate the (…)

[(November 3 happens to be N.C.’s ninetyfourth birthday. On the occasion we remember him by publishing the following pieces that appeared after his death. —Editor)]
Nikhil Chakravartty Indian journalist, died in Delhi on June 27 aged 84. He was born in Silchar on November 3, 1913.
Gentle yet combative, Nikhil Chakravartty was one of the most celebrated and respected names in Indian journalism. He was a courageous and independent columnist whose uncluttered style and great integrity won (…)