April 2009

The Special Conference on Afghanistan, held in Moscow on March 27, reflected the growing clout of Rusia and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the region. The Conference was organised by the SCO, which comprises six full members—Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrghyzstan and Tajikistan—and four observers —India, Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia. It was remarkable for a broad range of participants from outside the organisation. They included UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; (…)

Within the space of one month, barely thirty days, the national scene has conspicuously changed. After the traumatic experience Indira Gandhi’s ghastly end, there seems to be little realisation of the magnitude of the change that has overtaken not only the polity but the entire ethos of this nation.
On the surface, it looks as if things have continued to be more or less the same. Within hours of Indira Gandhi’s passing away, Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as the new Prime Minister. (…)

If politics is the art of winning power by convincing people that you have the ability to wield it wisely, then the BJP may as well pack its bags. Having closed its ears to common sense and reason, the party has permitted an absolute non-entity to hijack its agenda and eclipse the persona of its prime ministerial candidate.
Unless prompt remedial action is taken, L.K. Advani, who ruthlessly hacked all opposition within the party to emerge as the declared prime ministerial candidate (…)

The following, published in the Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature (November-December 2008), is being reproduced with due acknowledgement and the author’s permission.
Once there was a woman who knew a story, but she kept it to herself. She never ever told anyone about it. One day the story got tired of growing and growing within her, he clamoured to be heard; but the woman would not let him out. “My lips are sealed,” she would say grimly to anyone who asked her about herself and her face (…)

A historic event in the political history of India took place on April 8, 1929, referring to which L.K.Advani committed a blunder, when he spoke of Bhagat Singh’s execution being related to this event. A lot is being written about Advani’s sense of history in the context of his book My Life: My Country, but it is necessary to recollect the significance of the relevant event by way of narrating the facts from historical records as well as the reminiscences of the fellow revolutionaries of (…)

Even in these surcharged times, a small group of enthusiasts travelled from here to across the border, to try and bridge gaps, get the people-to-people contacts going. And film-maker Mahesh Bhatt was one amongst them and spoke out on his return from Pakistan… I heard him talk at the IIC but there seemed little time for an elaborate interview as he had to catch the next flight to Mumbai; so I did the next best thing: a telephonic interview with him and here it goes…
Q 1—Do you feel (…)

A month to go and India will again show that the cost of dissent a peaceful man pays in this country is a detention for two years on fictitious grounds. Almost a year ago, twentytwo Nobel winners had come forward demanding Binayak Sen’s release so that he could go and receive the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights in Washington. Sen is the first Indian, nay the first South Asian, to be selected for the award. Hundreds of people around the globe staged demonstrations, held (…)

Tribute
(This article, sent to us quite sometime back, could not be used earlier for unavoidable reasons. It is now being belatedly published as a token of our tribute to the immortal Palestinian poet. —Editor)
Mahmoud Darwish, the poet who sang with Arafat and who gave voice to Palestinian visions of statehood, and helped craft their 1988 declaration of independence, is no more. He died on August 9, 2008 and was given his final send off on August 12, 2008. He was 67 years. Many may (…)

Book Review
West Bengal in Doldrums by Dr Sailen Debnath; N.L. Publishers, Siliguri, West Bengal; 2009.
A powerful and reflective analysis of the socio-economic, political, administrative and cultural profiles of West Bengal is found in the book as the author aptly surveys the history of the State from the pre-independence period to the present times. The book brings out the partition trauma that is still haunting the human development of the State by focusing on the refugee aspect in (…)

Less than a month after the terrorist attack near Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on March 3 targeting Sri Lankan cricketers—the first terror attack suffered by cricketers anywhere (as brought out in these columns a month ago in this journal’s March 7, 2009 issue)—Lahore had to once more bear the brunt of yet another terror strike: this time it took place at a police academy complex at Manawan on the outskirts of Lahore (just 12 km from the India-Pak border at Attari-Wagah). And what analysts and (…)