Despite all that happened in it and to it since the great split in 1969, the Congress remains a most valuable political estate. No one can possibly deny that much. It follows that with the sudden disappearance of the chairman-managing director, a bitter struggle for control over it has become … Read More
Rajiv Gandhi’s brutal assassination has thrown the Indian political scene into confusion. We have to wait for the election results before we can even speculate on the likely course of events. This is an eloquent tribute to the deceased leader and a testimony to the position he occupied in the … Read More
The assassins of Rajiv Gandhi have done something much worse than kill a former Prime Minister and possibly a would-have been Prime Minister. They have struck at the democratic process and, indeed, derailed it for the time being. This is evident not so much from the decision to put off … Read More
The Muslim voter in North India, especially in the heartland of Indian Islam in Uttar Pradesh, confronts a dilemma the like of which he has perhaps not faced since Partition. The reasons, on the face of it, are obvious. In reality, these need to be probed carefully. As Muslims hold … Read More
Amidst the heat and dust of the election campaign, the end of the old, and the beginning of a new era is being widely missed. Being part of world-wide developments, it is not going to be easy to reverse. The Nehru era is essentially lover in India. Nothing (and … Read More
In its election manifesto, the Congress has taken the lead in endorsing the Muslim demand that the status quo in respect of places of worship be frozen by law. The Janata Dal will almost certainly follow suit. The Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid site is not covered by the proposed dispensation to the … Read More
LK Advani has emerged as the spokesman of Hindu political India – just as Jawaharlal Nehru did in the twenties in a different sense. In a way, no two personalities can be more dissimilar in terms of their temperament. Advani’s quiet sobriety contrasts sharply with Nehru’s restlessness and impetuosity. But … Read More
Engaged in a fierce battle against secularists and pseudo-secularists, the BJP leadership cannot possibly own up Jawaharlal Nehru, even partially. Otherwise too, the Nehruvian ideological framework, with its emphasis on socialism and non-alignment, does not have much to commend itself. There is, however, one face of Nehru which places him, … Read More
With the rare exception of some individuals, there does not exist the slightest awareness that Muslims need the triumph of Hindutva even more desperately than Hindus. Indeed, such is the grip of the misrepresentation of Hindutva in anti-Muslim terms that its proponents, including some leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, … Read More
Indian politics has clearly taken a historic turn. For the first time, the issue of an Indian nationalism rooted in Hindu civilisation has been firmly put at the centre of the country’s political agenda. That is the true significance of the salience that the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid controversy has acquired … Read More
