Given the enormous divergence between the findings of opinion polls, prudence demands that commentators writing on the eve of the elections refrain from risking their reputations in wild speculation, and let the ballot box tell its own tale. As the first major round of Assembly elections after the Atal Bihari … Read More
As leader of the world’s largest organised religious community, it is not surprising that the Pope, threatened by burgeoning New Age consciousness, should feel challenged to spell out a vision for Christianity’s survival in the third millennium of its creation. The Church is in crisis, especially in regions with an … Read More
Indians in blood and colour have united, and are on a carnival of self-denial, self-denigration and self-incrimination, the like of which we have not seen raj ‘toadies’ were silenced by the fervour of the nationalist movement. There can be no other explanation for the spontaneous expressions of scorn that erupted … Read More
Louis Fischer described him as “a living sermon”. A man who preached what he dared practice must indeed have seemed so to a Europe at the end of its tether battling Nazi tyranny, yet forced to prepare for a showdown with Stalin’s gulag in the aftermath of a bitter war … Read More
When Sonia Gandhi decided to “save” the moribund, demoralized Congress party by campaigning for it in the general election earlier this year, it was popularly assumed that she was largely guided by the looming shadow of the Bofors payoff scandal. Though there was a measure of truth in this perception, … Read More
Having spewed venom and cast aspersions on the intellectual credentials of historians recently nominated to the Indian Council of Historical Research, the once dominant Left-liberal school of historiography finds itself repenting at leisure as its own performance comes under public scrutiny. Though the arraigned historians have held their peace, cursory … Read More
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s sharp rebuke notwithstanding, the BJP Government has reason to be grateful to South Africa for unilaterally and irrevocably redefining non-alignment at Durban. Since South African President Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech suggesting Non-Aligned Movement’s (NAM’s) intervention in Kashmir was utterly unexpected, it understandably set the dovecotes … Read More
To all appearances, the mercurial AIADMK general secretary has kept the BJP on a short leash, making it difficult for the government to function with dignity, and casting constant doubts about its longevity. At a deeper level, however, Dr J. Jayalalitha’s tantrums have served to distract attention from the Prime … Read More
There is something sick about the manner in which women’s activists have recently been conducting themselves, obfuscating the core issue of women’s dignity and empowerment and reducing everything to what is politically correct (that is, beneficial), or politically inconvenient, in which case the entire corpus gets instant amnesia. Even a … Read More
Given the majesty with which he dominated the first half of this painful century, it is truly unfortunate that the debate over the virtual ban on Pradip Dalvi’s Marathi play has not stimulated a meaningful evaluation of Mahatma Gandhi’s historical role and lasting contribution to Indian society. Rather, the outpouring … Read More
