That justice must be seen to be done is a wise adage. As allegations swirl and corroborative evidence surfaces of a possible quid pro quo in the wealth amassed by the kin of ‘uncle judges,’ the Supreme Court must urgently limit the damage to its credibility by revisiting questionable judgments … Read More
A recently released report on ‘Caste’ by the Hindu American Foundation, a body of (mostly first generation) American citizens of Indian origin, has unleashed a raging controversy in India and the US Hindu community. Indians question the ‘adhikar’ (locus standi) of American Hindus to pontificate on the nature of what … Read More
Some startling pronouncements, orders, and judgments by the Supreme Court in recent times necessitate urgent scrutiny of the definition of ‘justice’ which seems to have undergone a strange metamorphosis without national debate or consent. There is also a danger that judicial overreach is transcending the constitutional scheme of separation of … Read More
Jaganmohan Reddy’s revolt against Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s refusal to anoint him as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh signals the end of her personal hegemony within the party and undermines the Nehruvian edifice upon which this family’s domination of the polity rests. This will have an escalating impact, especially in … Read More
In an extremely provocative intervention in India’s internal affairs, the Delhi-based Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia invited Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq for an exclusive interaction with foreign journalists, dis-inviting even the Indian media, which stood outside the venue and covered the protest by agitated nationalists, including members … Read More
India’s satisfaction that US President Barack Obama’s recent visit underlined its status as a rising Asian power has obscured the larger truth that the emerging multipolar world negates Pakistan’s role as a Janus-faced entity watching its east and west flanks on behalf of its Anglo-American patrons. Islamabad must realize it … Read More
Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kashmir will inevitably comprise the subterranean subtext of Barack Obama’s visit to this country; hence our gratitude that American voters have rendered his a lame duck Presidency just prior to his arrival. New Delhi has little reason to pander to Washington’s strategic thinking regarding our sensitive northern … Read More
With five months of vicious violence by rent-a-teenage-stone-pelters in Srinagar Valley and loads of venom-spewing ‘azadi’ activists working overtime to delegitimise the Indian Nation in the State of Jammu & Kashmir serving as a grim prelude to the visit of the American President, New Delhi must be keen to probe … Read More
The Hindu struggle to recover the Sri Rama Janmabhumi is still some battles and skirmishes away, as all parties plan to approach the Supreme Court to rectify – to the satisfaction of each contending litigant – the fractured verdict delivered by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on … Read More
Even as the government probes the multiple scams associated with the recent Commonwealth Games, New Delhi would do well to reconsider our continued participation in this colonial relic. International power dynamics are rapidly changing and at least three organisations have simply lost their raison d’etre, viz., the Commonwealth, the European … Read More
