New Delhi must end the doublespeak on Jammu & Kashmir and inform the Indian people if there is a covert understanding, under American aegis, to unravel the northern state bit by bit and surreptitiously cede it to Pakistan. A leading national daily on Saturday reported a ‘strong’ Indian reaction to … Read More
BJP mumbles and fumbles It is amazing that despite RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat declaring Kashmir “a non-negotiable issue” with Pakistan, as it was an integral part of India, the Bharatiya Janata Party was unable to transcend petty differences with the J&K National Panthers Party and support its call for a … Read More
Union Defence Minister A.K. Anthony’s decision to withdraw 30,000 troops from Jammu & Kashmir on grounds of an alleged improvement in law and order is fraught with risk and reflects dangerous vacillation regarding this critical border state. The announcement coincides with renewed unrest over the CBI probe into the Shopian … Read More
Switzerland’s recent vote against the construction of minarets as part of mosque architecture in that nation symbolises a frontal return of Christianity as the Western world’s default religion and culture, and a corresponding downsizing of the discourse on ‘secularism’ and ‘multi-culturalism,’ which gave Islam an opportunity to seize political and … Read More
The brouhaha over the leak of the Liberhan Commission Report, submitted six months ago after 17 years and an expenditure of Rs 8 crores of taxpayer money, has come at a time when the Indian Judiciary is making the news. First there was the unseemly wrangle over Supreme Court judges … Read More
Omar smells the coffee On Tuesday, 24 November 2009, Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah indicated a sudden retreat from the brinkmanship of ‘dialogue’ aimed at giving unstated concessions to separatists and secessionists, by asserting that the security situation in the State is “not yet conducive for moving the … Read More
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray has clearly lost the plot. His irate but innately vacuous tirade against cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar has not only failed to bolster his shaky status as regional satrap, but reflects sadly upon how far the Sena has drifted from its avowed goal of protecting Hindus … Read More
A media acolyte of the BJP’s fading supremo has rebuked the RSS Sarsanghachalak for departing from a tradition of public reticence by most predecessors and publicly demanding a generational change in the political party. In an article astonishing for its peremptory prescriptions to the RSS pramukh to stick to social … Read More
After the Sheila Dikshit ‘sarkar’ offered consumers ‘relief’ with a promise that electricity bills will rise 100 percent every three years (I will explain), I was alerted to check the increase over the past three years, taking my household as indicative of the true story of privatisation. The exercise was … Read More
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray’s attack on the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind for opposing the singing of Vande Mataram, saying that those who oppose the National Song should go to Pakistan, misses the wood for the trees. The point is not whether Muslims should sing this song, but whether they are legitimately … Read More
