We must confess at the very outset that we have been foxed by Giani Zail Singh’s disclosure that some individuals had indicated to him last summer that they were prepared to spend Rs. 30 crores to Rs. 40 crores to secure his reelection as President. Even a week after the … Read More
Mr. Rajiv Gandhi’s invitation to President Zia-ul-Haq to discuss Afghanistan is as surprising as it is sudden. On the face of it, the move makes no sense at all. India’s and Pakistan’s interests diverge so completely on Afghanistan that it is just inconceivable that the two leaders can agree on … Read More
Mr Rajiv Gandhi cannot disown responsibility for the shameful behaviour of Congress ministers and MPs in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. He was present in the House when, among others, Mr Chidambaram, Mr Rajesh Pilot and Mr Bhajan Lal (all ministers) started challenging the Chairman’s ruling allowing Mr P. Upendra … Read More
After 40 years of what should been a sobering experience, our opposition leaders continue to discuss their future course of action, as if an all-India alternative to the Congress is feasible, even before the Congress becomes too weak to play the kind of role it has played since independence. This … Read More
It is not quite clear why Mr. Rajiv Gandhi has sent Mr. Gopi Arora to Kabul at this stage when the Americans, Soviets, Pakistanis, Iranians and others directly involved in the unholy mess are trying to sort it out. India was effectively sidelined on the Afghanistan issue in 1980 when, … Read More
Mr Rajiv Gandhi has finally reshuffled his council of ministers. In a sense, it is a fairly major one, involving as it does the appointment of three new cabinet minister (Mr Dinesh Singh, Mr Bindeshwari Dubey and Mr Motilal Vora), elevation of one (Mr Ram Niwas Mirdha), shifting of another … Read More
So finally the Soviet leadership has decided to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan unilaterally. Clearly, it is the unilateral nature of the decision, rather than the decision itself, that deserves to be noted. Mr Gorbachov has tried to cover up this fact. But he has not been able to do … Read More
It has long been superfluous to make the point that the Congress does not function as a democratic organisation should. It has not held organizational elections for almost two decades; it does not allow anything like an internal debate on important policy issues; it does not even observe its own … Read More
Words fail. Not because Badshah Khan’s death has come as a sudden shock. On the contrary, the grand old man lay dying for months. And he had been incapacitated and out of action for years. Words fail because one must find it virtually impossible to fit Badshah Khan into a … Read More
Mr Harideo Joshi has gone the way of many otter Congress chief ministers in the past two decades. Two facts stand out in this case, as in similar ones earlier. First, Mr Joshi has been asked to stand down by the Congress president, and not by a majority in the … Read More
