December 2009

The Eleventh International Meeting of the Communist and Workers Parties took place in New Delhi on November 20-22, 2009. At its conclusion there was a public meeting at the Capital’s Mavlankar Hall. It took the shape of a mass reception for the delegates who participated in the Meeting. I attended the function. From the dais the slogan—“Workers of the World, Unite!”—was repeatedly raised. On hearing the slogan I told my CPM friends: “….but the workers of India must remain divided!” (…)

A brief recital of the event is necessary both for the purpose of recapitulation and for putting the issue in the right context. On March 16, 1970, the Second United Front Government of West Bengal imploded entirely because of its internal contradictions. The then Chief Minister, Ajoy Mukherjee, resigned (on March 16, 1970) calling his own government “barbaric”. President’s Rule was imposed immediately. On March 17, 1970, the CPI-M called a “bandh” for the entire State. Being thrown out of (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following piece, which was published as ‘Political Notebook’ in Mainstream (December 12, 1992), is being reproduced on the seventeenth anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Its significance is heightened due to the tabling in Parliament and release of the Liberhan Commission report on the probe into the Babri demolition of late. —Editor
The vandalism that brought down the Babri Masjid structure on December 6 will remain a Black Sunday in the (…)

You lifted one fistful of salt
And an empire was shamed.
Lift
One fistful of rubble
Now
And pour it on our shameless heads.
December 6, 1992, Gopal Gandhi

The mosque was eloquent History,
Everything else was shrouded in mythology.
Yet they, under the spell of fiery oratory,
Chose to chase the mirage of a myth,
Pull down the building
And build hatred in their hearts
When I, a citizen of this vast land
With the pulsating impulse of History behind me,
Watched helplessly in speechless agony.
My dreams lie shattered,
My country split
And its future back to the tribal past.
I know not how to atone for my immoral silence
For (…)

Public opinion in India seems to be building up strongly in favour of a dialogue among the government and the Maoists. This is despite the clear indications that the Central Government is going ahead with its preparations for launching the armed offensive in the Naxalite movement areas. Yet there are signs from both the government and the Maoists that they were amenable to the idea of talks.
Central-level Dialogue
One thing is clear: the Central Government has taken the initiative in the (…)

This article was written before PM Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US as the first state guest to be hosted by President Barack Obama in the White House. But it is being published here in view of the undiminished validity of its contents.
I. A Historic Opportunity Beckons
More than six months after US President Obama’s public declaration of “America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons” (and that “the US will take concrete steps toward a world (…)

DISCUSSION
Since the days of the Shakti series of Pokhran-II underground nuclear tests, conducted jointly by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) more than 11 years ago, controversy over the yields of the devices tested, in particular that of the thermonuclear device, or hydrogen bomb (S1), has refused to go away.
The devices of May 11, 1998—S1, S2 and S3—were exploded simultaneously as the shafts S1 and S2 were (…)

A careful, in-depth study, of Graphs 4 and 1 of Ramachandran’s September 25, Frontline article “Pokhran Row” reveals:
a) Graph 4 is titled: “Gamma-Ray Spectrum of a Typical Sample of a (H-bomb) Thermonuclear Test”—not of the specific H-bomb test conducted on May 11, 1998!
b) The vertical ‘Y’ axis of Graph 4 is merely titled “Counts”
c) There are no numbers at all on the ‘Y’ axis of both Graphs.
Serious mistakes of physics have been committed here
i) (…)

Indo-Russian relations took a serious beating in the aftermath of the sudden disintegration of the Soviet Union. Russia under Yeltsin and Kozyrev, in their unprecedented enthusiasm to de-ideologise the country’s foreign policy, made an attempt to reorient its policy towards the West and treat India at par with Pakistan, an US ally in the Cold War era. Russia voted in favour of the Pak proposal for denuclearisation of South Asia, diluted its stand on Kashmir declaring it a disputed territory (…)