Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s formal ascension as vice president of the Congress can be said to be Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s ‘Dhritarashtra moment’, the occasion when Indian polity’s supposed great renunciate failed to resign her own post and transfer power to her aging son and heir-designate of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Far from … Read More
An unmistakable thread is now visible between the impressive victory of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Akbaruddin Owaisi’s diatribe aimed at polarising voters ahead of a possible election this year, the arrest of a Hindu sadhu who challenged Owaisi in Hyderabad, and the Union Home Minister’s attempt to revive the … Read More
Deft political management seems to have saved the beleaguered Pakistan government, and the January 15 crisis created by a simultaneous attack by the Judiciary and the Barelvi cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, which few believe was coincidental, has diffused somewhat. As crowds thin at Jinnah Square, it would be appropriate to examine … Read More
Above the sound of gunfire and improvised explosive devices was the deafening silence of the human rights industry. Binayak Sen, Arundhati Roy, Mahasweta Devi et al, quick to berate government for alleged atrocities against Maoist marauders, did not squeak when Maoists in Jharkhand planted IEDs in the bodies of two … Read More
Has the December 31, 2012 raid on the premises of Tamil Nadu trader T.M. Ramalingam landed in cold storage following an ‘understanding’ between the Government and the alleged true owner of this mind-boggling wealth of International Bills of Exchange worth $5 billion? Readers may recall that the small town agricultural … Read More
The duplicitous games played with the only monarch who embraced Indian nationalism long before freedom could be seen on the horizon, whose accession retained India’s civilisational and geographical link with the land of sage Kashyap, is best gauged from his anguished letter to President Rajendra Prasad on 16-17 August 1952, … Read More
Maharaja Hari Singh’s agony over the conduct of the war to liberate the invaded territories in 1947 raises serious questions about Delhi’s intentions towards the kingdom and people of Jammu and Kashmir. Did a core leadership in the Congress and native Indian bureaucracy have a secret understanding with the British … Read More
Tuesday’s grim violation of the Line of Control in the Mendhar area of Poonch district of Jammu region, which resulted in the death of Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh of 13 Rajasthan Rifles, and decapitation of one of them 600 metres inside Indian territory, raises fundamental questions … Read More
Was American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a secret mission to Iran in the first week of December 2012? More specifically, was her recent, rather long illness, due to injuries sustained in a plane crash during this assignment? According to reports emanating from Israeli and Russian intelligence sources, Clinton … Read More
In a synchronized move, possibly to heighten emotions in the run-up to Republic Day, the ruling National Conference and separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani launched fresh attacks on the country’s unity and integrity. Speaking in Srinagar on January 2, the National Conference general secretary Sheikh Nazir Ahmad, a close … Read More
