Who is to blame for Babri demolition?
Come elections and the blunders of the previous regimes are up for scrutiny. And atonement. This time besides Bofors it is the ghost of the Babri Masjid that is haunting the Congress Party. Many believe that the courts must also take responsibility for the incidence since they did not allow the timely intervention of the Central Government.
Dynasty keeps away from Feroze Gandhi's neglected tombstone
Feroze Gandhi's grave is just a few kilometres from Anand Bhawan, the original seat of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. But none of the many tourists who visit Anand Bhawan come to place flowers at the neglected tombstone of the man who gave the Gandhis their surname. Some of Feroze's progeny have never visited the cemetery where his ashes interred.
Youth provides the answer
Travelling around the country, interfacing with university audiences, young professionals and intellectuals, I find to my dismay that a great degree of cynicism and negativism seems to have gripped the Indian mind at this critical juncture of our history. The shenanigans of a section of our political luminaries have led not only to a devaluation of politicians, but of politics itself.
By George, Cola tastes better
George Fernandes' alliance with the BJP strikes us as a deperate act of political grafting. The firebands' attempt at a kind of euphemism is sickly and clinical.
Prime-time Gujral
In this age of McLuhan Unbound, power flows from the angle of the camera. And Inder Kumar Gujral, the accidental prime minister, re-born politician, the most favoured chat-show guest, has redefined power in accordance with the camera. Inevitable. When you are a non-resident politician in a politically Balkanised India, when your own parivar can't provide you with a safe seat, you seek out the realm of images.
Out of bounds
It is only the affected political camp that can see a scope for controversy over the Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill's latest initiative to deter vitiation of the Lok Sabha elections by official violence of a criminal character. He can be certain of popular support for his directive barring the entry of a minister of Uttar Pradesh into Pratapgarh district till the polling date.
