For an office with profit

It is a well-known maxim that the questions one asks determine the nature of the responses elicited. This is true of the conveniently coincidental “nation-wide” survey organised by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies-Indian Express-CNN-IBN on two years of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. We learn, unsurprisingly, that ordinary … Read More

Minorities cannot ask for caste quotas

Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi’s determination to snatch caste-based quotas from Hindus and extend them to Muslims and Christians, using the Ranganath Mishra National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) and HRD Minister Arjun Singh, deserves a constitutional challenge. Caste is the building block of Hindu society, the system by … Read More

Who speaks for India’s Hindus?

Two recent initiatives by Hindus living abroad raise fundamental questions about who has the right (adhikaar) to speak for the Hindu community in India and in the various countries where Hindus have settled, often for generations. The question is pertinent because in the Vedic tradition, the celestial island on which … Read More

Financing conversion through public exchequer

The sudden move by the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) to seek public opinion regarding extension of constitutional benefits to SC/ST converts is consistent with the UPA agenda of fragmenting the nation by privileging non-Hindu groups in society. Given the brazen manner in which UPA chairperson Sonia … Read More

Disturbing signs of Muslim separatism

Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s remark that the “under-representation” of Muslims in public employment and public life is “unacceptable” is a classic example of the irresponsible brinksmanship that characterizes her public life. Inaugurating the India Islamic Cultural Centre in Delhi recently, Ms. Gandhi tacitly held Hindu society responsible for the Muslim … Read More

Puppet regimes and colonial agendas

RECENT developments in neighbouring Nepal, where a caretaker regime has literally usurped unacceptable powers to humiliate the King and change the character of the nation, have shown Indian foreign policy in a poor light. But this is by no means the only occasion on which the UPA Government has handled … Read More

A loss of face for UPA

President Kalam’s shocking decision to return the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill 2006 for reconsideration under Article 111 is a major reprieve for the beleaguered Prime Minister. Though superficially an embarrassment for the UPA regime, the President’s refusal to endorse the wholesale exemption of certain posts from the purview … Read More