Yeats spoke of things falling apart because the centre could not hold. In our case things have been threatening to fall apart but have not because the centre held. That centre for almost two decades has been Indira Gandhi. In a strange way, this was true even during the Janata … Read More
India is ablaze with hate and anger. The situation is too grim to admit of evasion and euphemism. It would be dishonest to say that the hatred is directed only or even mainly against the Akalis, the secessionists and the extremists. The exercise would also be futile. In city after … Read More
Once again the light has been snuffed out. Once again, the country has been plunged into darkness. The blow is even heavier and crueler this time than on January 30, 1948. Then there were other stalwarts, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, who could steer the nation to safety. Now there … Read More
The Prime Minister’s statement in Srinagar last Saturday should help to put the current disturbed state of Indo-Pakistan relations in a proper perspective. As reported by one of the national news agencies (UNI), she has said that she does not apprehend any trouble on the country’s borders with Pakistan and … Read More
Those who speak in the name of the Akali Dal in the absence of its accredited leaders now in jail are clearly on the war-path. Their “request” to the five head priests to reconsider their decision to exonerate President Zail Singh of the charges of religious misconduct is by itself … Read More
It looks as if another political storm may be brewing in Andhra Pradesh. Some unidentified state Congress leaders have been reported as having said that the Union government would not allow the state assembly to be dissolved in case the chief minister, Mr. NT Rama Rao, advises the governor to … Read More
Dalit Mazdoor Kisan Party. Quite mouthful for a “new” party which is launched on the eve of a general election for the purpose of attracting new voters. But apparently it could not be helped. The Lok Dal – a pretty attractive name which has the additional advantage of being fairly … Read More
The formation of the Punjab Suba in 1966 should by rational considerations have finally satisfied the legitimate aspirations of the Sikh community. For this development should have assured it that there would no longer be any kind of threat to its distinct identity in terms of the country’s political arrangement. … Read More
On a surface view at least, the number of prominent Sikhs who have been willing to place the nation above the panth during the on-going trouble in Punjab can be counted, though mercifully not on one’s fingers. Implicit in it is the proposition that the deeper reality may well … Read More
The Centre’s decision not to restore popular rule in Punjab must come as a relief to the people in the state, indeed, most of them must wonder how anyone aware of the fragility of the law and order situation there could possibly have thought in those terms. It is difficult … Read More
