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15 Apr 2010
The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday called for "a united fight to defeat Maoists" but accused the Congress of forging an alliance with the Leftist guerrillas for electoral gains - an allegation that triggered ugly scenes and disruptions in the Lok Sabha.
BJP and Congress MPs were caught in an ugly row over the April 6 Dantewada massacre by Maoist rebels, prompting repeated adjournments of the house.
23 May 2009
Which brings us to another trend that many people claim to have noticed: a move away from extremism and a vote for moderation.
Certainly, there is a lot of evidence to support this view. The BJP’s mascot in this election, Narendra Modi, proved to be an over-hyped humbug. In most places where he campaigned, the BJP candidate lost. In those areas where he was not allowed to speak (Bihar for instance), the BJP won. And far from sweeping Modi’s Gujarat, the BJP actually suffered a slight drop in its vote share.
25 May 2009
India's Supreme Court has ordered the release on bail of a leading public health specialist and human-rights activist, Dr Binayak Sen.
26 Feb 2009
A Supreme Court notice to the Centre on 20 February and a critical report submitted in Parliament two days earlier may force the government to review a decision to suspend production at three state-owned units that made vaccines against tetanus, tuberculosis, measles and other infections.
9 May 2009
IT WAS as if a burden had been lifted. I reacted to the news of the Supreme Court directive to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the role of the Chief Minister, his cabinet colleagues, members of the BJP, VHP, the Bajrang Dal and senior members of the bureaucracy and the police during the violence of 2002, with almost gleeful joy. There was finally a possibility of justice; victims, friends and NGOs fighting for justice stood vindicated.
19 May 2009
Acknowledging that the UPA will be called by the President to form the next government, she told a meeting of party leaders that BSP has taken the decision keeping in view the present situation and in its objective of keeping BJP out of power.
23 May 2009
Dr Binayak Sen, one of India’s noblest doctors, imprisoned by a cowardly Chhattisgarh administration because he exposed their crimes, might well speak to us in the manner of Thoreau were we to visit him. On May 14 it will be exactly two years since his unlawful arrest. There are times when jails become one of the few places of honour left in the world. After all, where would you like to find yourself if robbers and murderers were masquerading before the public as magistrates, judges and hangmen?
17 May 2009
Naveen Patnaik is by nature a loner in politics. Also, one who takes his secular credentials and his image as a man of the people very seriously. So, it was not entirely a surprise when he snapped his electoral alliance with the BJP just before the elections, ostensibly over the communal bloodshed in Kandhamal.
11 May 2009
Chief Minister Kumari Mayawati Das of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, reportedly paid around 260 million rupees (US$5.2 million) in income tax for the fiscal year 2007-08, making her the highest taxpayer among India’s politicians. However, she is no businesswoman. She is a politician, and her capricious rise from rags to riches speaks for the kind of democracy and politics practiced in India.
30 Apr 2009
The delusional fantasies of Varun Gandhi, the controversial BJP nominee from Pilibhit, came to the fore on Wednesday when he called himself "Shri Rama" in Aligarh. "I am Shri Rama," he said during an election rally at HB Inter College in Aligarh, when the people requested him to raise the BJP's slogan of "Jai Shri Rama".
17 Apr 2009
In an attempt to save Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi from a possible shoe attack, a net was put up on the stage from where Modi
addressed a public meeting on Friday.
About two feet plastic net was put up in front of the stage of the chief minister Narendra Modi where he addressed a rally tonight.
22 Apr 2009
The general strike called by ruling DMK on Thursday on the Lankan Tamils issue has evoked a mixed response with its allies including Congress backing it but AIADMK and its partners refusing to take part, slamming it as a "farce".
Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi, under mounting pressure ahead of the Lok Sabha polls for not doing enough on the Lankan issue, last night gave the strike call to protest the 'killings of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka' and to demand immediate steps for a ceasefire.
16 Apr 2009
Passers of the roti in Delhi might have an interest in this film festival organized by the Magic Lantern Foundation. It shall be held on April 17-19 at the India International Centre (40 Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate). All are welcome and entry is free. Please click on the title for more information.
epoliticus
(previously known as "odear" in these parts)
21 Jan 2009
The sobering reality is that Gujarat had the lead in 1995 which it lost after the post-Godhra violence, and is trying to regain its erstwhile pre-eminent position. The fundamentals to attract investments—industrial peace, great infrastructure and ancillary industries—preceded Modi’s tenure. The Narmada dams were already under construction, workers polished diamonds in Palanpur, petrochemicals and cars were made in Vadodara, milk flowed from Anand, yarn churned out in Hazira and a refinery was being built in Jamnagar, much before Modi took office.
9 Apr 2009
India's immediate neighborhood comprises of countries that are becoming increasingly politically unstable. While the problems of Pakistan and Afghanistan make it to the headlines of newspapers worldwide, these two countries are not the only ones witnessing serious internal turmoil.
9 Apr 2009
India’s intelligence services have become increasingly concerned about the prospect of an election-time attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on top political leaders, including Congress party chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Sources in the intelligence services have told The Hindu that while there is no substantive intelligence to indicate that assassinations or attacks have been ordered by the LTTE, the inflammatory language being used by the terrorist group’s supporter in India was a cause for concern.
23 Mar 2009
Stripped naked and brutally assaulted by a violent mob in broad daylight, she had to run for her life in Guwahati on November 24, 2007. The barbaric incident, captured graphically on TV, which shocked the nation, took place when this young adivasi girl travelled 258 km from her village to the State capital for the first time to take part in a rally by the All-Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam (AASAA) to demand Scheduled Tribe status for the adivasis of Assam...
22 Mar 2009
In an unprecedented order, the Election Commission tonight recommended to the BJP that it should not nominate Varun Gandhi as a candidate for the Lok Sabha elections after holding him guilty of violating Model Code of Conduct for his hate speeches against Muslims. Coming done heavily on the 29-year old son of late Sanjay Gandhi and Menaka Gandhi, the Commission in a 10-page order said Gandhi's controversial speeches in Pilibhit(UP) early this month contained "highly derogatory" references and seriously provocative language of a "wholly unacceptable" nature against a certain community.
22 Mar 2009
“We are not against development. But why should we not get the real value of our land,” says Sandeep Mhatre, a 28-year-old former agent, sitting outside his tin-roofed home in Washim village.
Sandeep has 2 acres of rice fields. He admits he’s not interested in farming. But he says he will hold out till Reliance ups its offer of Rs 20 lakh.
“I won’t settle for less than Rs 70 lakh,” he says. “If the Mahamumbai SEZ wants more land, they’re going to have to pay more for it.”
22 Mar 2009
AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa on Sunday flayed the Sri Lankan government's move to declare Kachchativu, an islet ceded to it by India in 1974, as a 'sacred area', saying it belonged to India and demanded its retrieval.
Kachchativu, situated in the Palk Straits between Sri Lanka and India, has been in the limelight in recent past as fishermen from Tamil Nadu at times are attacked allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, causing casualties which has led to protests by political parties in Tamil Nadu.
21 Mar 2009
As a Democratic Congresswoman from California, Ms Tauscher was one of the most prominent critics of the Bush administration’s push to open the doors of global nuclear commerce for India. Not only did she vote against the ‘123 agreementR 17; in the House last year but she also proposed amending the terms of the deal to make the cut-off of fissile material production by India a precondition when the Hyde Act was before Congress in 2006.
22 Mar 2009
Mohanrao Bhagwat, the new RSS chief, indirectly told the Nagpur conclave of the organisation on Friday that RSS cadres must aim for the BJP’s victory in the coming parliamentary polls.
Although Mr. Bhagwat did not mention that the RSS must campaign for the party, the context in which it was said made this quite clear. Party sources confirmed that this time the organisation would canvass wholeheartedly for the BJP...
20 Mar 2009
Home Minister P Chidambaram's meeting with CIA chief Leon Panetta showed that India was "fast becoming like Pakistan" and signalled a "new status" of the American intelligence agency in the country, the CPI(M) alleged today.
21 Mar 2009
Rashtriya Swayayamsewak Sangh (RSS) 'Sar Sangh Chalak' (chief) K S Sudarshan today stepped down after nearly nine years at the helm, paving way for general secretary Mohan Bhagwat to succeed him, RSS sources said here.
The change of guard in the Sangh Parivar hierarchy came on the second day of the RSS' three-day Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha, which is in progress at Reshimbagh Smruti Mandir here.
Veteran ideologue Suresh Soni will be the new 'Sar Karyawaha' (general secretary) of the Sangh Parivar fountainhead, the sources added.
21 Mar 2009
India's government says it has "overwhelming evidence" that "official agencies" of Pakistan were involved in attacks on Mumbai that left 165 people dead. Home Minister P. Chidambaram also accused Pakistan in a TV interview to be aired Sunday of doing nothing to dismantle "the infrastructure of terrorism" on its soil amid heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
