Whether the Lok Dal-Congress (U) alliance will survive is anybody’s guess. For all we know it may, because it is not inconceivable that Mr. Charan Singh may agree to drop his public criticism of Mr. Nehru and Mr. Devraj Urs to come off his hobby horse of “uniting” all Congressmen, … Read More
The text of President Sanjiva Reddy’s broadcast last Monday leaves little room for doubt that he has spoken on his own initiative and not on behalf of the government. For he has said that he (and not the government) is determined that no problem “will be allowed to stand in … Read More
In an editorial entitled “Indian Mephistopheles” on October 5, we posed the question whether it was open to the caretaker Prime Minister to change the composition of the government or the power balance within it by reshuffling the portfolios. What happens, we asked, “if Mr. Charan Singh decides to end … Read More
There is a strange calm in the country on the eve of the proposed poll to the Lok Sabha. It could have been shattered if the Janata party had launched, as Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee had threatened, a satyagraha campaign against the new ordinance providing for preventive detention for individuals … Read More
It is not particularly surprising that Mr. Kissinger has not added anything truly significant to our knowledge of the war in Vietnam, its extension to Cambodia and the Washington-Hanoi negotiations. After all, these developments and related issues have been discussed threadbare again and again for years. Mr. Kissinger has made … Read More
No newspaper reader in India needs to be reminded of Mr. Nixon’s and Mr. Kissinger’s notorious “tilt” towards Pakistan at the time of the 1971 war over Bangladesh. The reasons for it are also well known — long-standing Western prejudice against the Hindus, failure to appreciate the importance of the … Read More
After a brief visit to the United States recently it appears to me that that country is going through the most profound psychological change since 1945 when it emerged as the most powerful nation in the world. It is trying to come to terms with the reality of the decline … Read More
In the passing away of Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan, the country has lost one whose place in national life no one else can fill. He made his greatest contribution to the country in March 1977 when he helped the hastily put together Janata party defeat Mrs. Gandhi’s Congress which had during … Read More
Mr Charan Singh is clearly embarrassed by Mr Raj Narain’s campaign in favour of postponing the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha till some time in February. Else he would not have administered two snubs to the latter on two consecutive days. His first statement on Monday affirming the government’s … Read More
While it has once again become a commonplace to speak of Mrs. Gandhi’s mass appeal, indeed charisma, neither her admirers nor her foes have sought to account for it. Most of them have discussed her popularity and personality outside the context of political developments in the country. By any yardstick, … Read More
