After 1975 Indira Gandhi too could not resort to populist politics for a variety of reasons. It had produced a virtual economic crisis in 1973 when, under leftist advice, she had taken over trade in foodgrains, she had to contain the left, especially the former communists, in her party if … Read More
Businessmen have never been popular in India. They remain a very vulnerable group despite their wealth which has, of course, increased enormously since independence. This is so not only, or even mainly, because the vast majority of the Indians are poor and, therefore, envious of those who have done well … Read More
An elected monarch is, of course, a contradiction in terms and India has not found it easy to live with this contradiction. But once we Indians have elected a monarch, we cannot afford to overthrow him or her unless we are prepared for a period of confusion. And we are … Read More
To begin with, let me state the obvious which is that Rajiv Gandhi is relatively new to the Indian political scene and so are some of his principal aides, Arun Singh, his parliamentary secretary, and Arun Nehru, minister of state for energy. It is, therefore, difficult to assess him the … Read More
The impression has spread that as Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi is deliberately distancing himself from his mother’s approach to the problems of the country’s governance. This impression is justified on a number of counts – his decision to drop Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, without doubt the minister closest to Mrs. … Read More
As a people we are new to the task of managing the affairs of a modern state. So we tend to fluctuate rather wildly from the one extreme of complacency to panic and scare-mongering. Witness the manner in which we ignored the defence of the Himalayas up to 1962 despite … Read More
So much has been written on the spy ring uncovered in the Prime Minister’s own office, the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Defence Ministry that it would, on the face of it appear superfluous to take up this subject. But the issue has facets which have generally been ignored in the … Read More
The election to the eighth Lok Sabha has turned out to be a referendum. The Indian people have voted for Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress party – in that order as far as we can see. They have by and large not cared for the candidates and their reputation and … Read More
Apparently the Congress party under Rajiv Gandhi’s leadership is set to win a kind of victory only a few people had expected or anticipated. This raises two questions. How has this massive victory been possible? And what does it portend for the future? To begin with, let us admit that … Read More
During his election tour of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi is quoted as having questioned Mr. NT Rama Rao’s moral right to stay on for well over three months as a caretaker chief minister after having dissolved the state assembly. One possible implication of the statement is Mr. Rama Rao … Read More
