In an interview to the Bombay-based Current magazine, Mr. Ramakrishna Hegde has explained the main reasons for his decision to support a changeover from the present parliamentary to a presidential system of government. Mr. Hegde, it is hardly necessary to say, is not a run of the mill politician. He … Read More
It continues to be said and believed that Mr Rajiv Gandhi was a most reluctant entrant into politics. This contradicts the earlier theory that he acted coy, in order to add to his own appeal, and enable his mother to fight the charge of wanting to establish a dynasty. But … Read More
Of the two essential components of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi’s leadership style, his broad outlook is easier to delineate than his personality traits. This is so in his case as in every other. Human personality is elusive for a variety of reasons. No one can know a person intimately enough, not … Read More
While there is an element of surprise in the ruling Akali Dal’s “ultimatum” to the Centre, it is not particularly difficult to locate the reasons behind it. This faction is engaged in a competition with the breakaway Akalis; the dice have got loaded in favour of the latter, especially since … Read More
In a wholly lacklustre address to Parliament by President Zail Singh, his reference to the upsurge of communal violence in various parts of the country deserves attention. This is so not because the government has said something profound or new on the subject but because the formulation is at once … Read More
The Punjab chief minister, Mr. Surjit Singh Barnala, has said that the executive committees of the Akali Dal and the SGPC would meet in the next one week to decide on steps to clear the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar of the extremists. In constitutional-legal terms this is an extraordinary … Read More
How far the intellectual scene had shifted since independence is not generally realised. While in the forties and fifties it was fashionable to be a Marxist of some variety, in the seventies and early eighties, contempt for politics and acceptance of some form of Americanism became fashionable, opposition to U.S. … Read More
So widespread is the discontent in the Congress at all levels against Rajiv Gandhi’s style of functioning that if his senior cabinet and party colleagues were not as supine as they are, his leadership would by now have come into question in the organisation and therefore in the country. Even … Read More
Once again the Akali and the SGPC leadership has beaten a retreat in the face of the extremist challenge. This is the obvious implication of the decision by the five head priests to shift the venue of the proposed “sarbat khalsa” oh February 16 from the Akal Takht in Amritsar … Read More
We do not know what persuaded the Union government to decide on a sudden, sharp and wholly unjustified hike in the prices of petroleum products last week. We also do not know who took the initiative – Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the whiz-kids around him or finance minister V.P. … Read More
