It was a sheer coincidence that India exploded its first nuclear device last May when Pakistan was facing a number of major internal difficulties and the anti-Ahmediya campaign was beginning to gather momentum. This partly explains the virulence of Mr Bhutto’s reaction. But even if this country had held the … Read More
Mrs Gandhi has demonstrated such a sure political instinct on a number of occasions that it is difficult to believe that she may have made a mistake in reopening the Kashmir issue through her talks with Sheikh Abdullah. But the clashes between the followers of the Sheikh and Mir Waiz … Read More
India is so large a country that unless things go wrong in a highly dramatic fashion, as in West Bengal at the time of the Naxalite violence in 1970 and earlier, unfortunate developments in one state do not cause much concern in others. Often even the Centre quietly turns a … Read More
It is a measure of the continuing hold of 19th century rationalism on educated Indians that they have by and large taken it for granted that Mr Nehru opted for a mixed economy, with a steadily expanding public sector, only because he was convinced that this approach was best suited … Read More
Despite all its talk of the danger of a “Fascist-type rightist” takeover, it appears that the CPI leadership is in reality not fully cognisant of the crisis facing the country and the present political system. Else it would not have mounted a fierce anti-American campaign just at this point when … Read More
The upheaval in Gujarat has no parallel in recent Indian history not only because it is the first time that a popular agitation has overwhelmed a ministry and a legislature but also because it is the first time since independence that students and teachers have worked in close co-operation on … Read More
No one in this country appears to have paid much attention to the report that the Chinese diplomats in Europe have dropped hints to the effect that Peking welcomes the Anglo-US decision to establish certain additional military facilities on the British-owned and uninhabited island of Diego Garcia in the Indian … Read More
In view of the way in which the United States has abused its power, specially in Indochina, and sought to dominate the world, it is only natural that its decision to build certain additional military facilities on the British-owned island of Diego Garcia should have provoked protests from a number … Read More
At a time when a large number of countries, including our own, face serious economic difficulties as a result of two massive increases in the price of crude in quick succession, it is almost bad form for anyone to talk of great opportunities opening up before mankind. Yet this is, … Read More
It is not at all surprising that the CPI is upset over Mrs Gandhi’s decision to explore the possibility of improving relations with the United States and the Jana Sangh over her gesture of goodwill towards Pakistan in respect of the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir. Their reactions … Read More
