Wednesday 23 March 2016

Clutching at Kanhaiya: A Straw Man Turned Hero

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar . Express photo by Ravi Kanojia.

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar (Express photo by Ravi Kanojia)

Lord Krishna, also lovingly known as Kanhaiya, had assured his devotees in Bhagwad Gita that whenever dharma declines and adharma spreads in the world, he will take avataar in order to strengthen the forces of dharma.

Communists may not believe in Lord Krishna since as per their world view faith in the Divine is opium of the masses.  But Left parties & their intellectual supporters are treating JNU’s Kanhaiyya as their saviour incarnate at a time when the credibility of their chosen dharma – namely Marxism and class war, have suffered irreversible decline.  It is as though they found in him Lenin, Mao, Che Guevara and Bhagat Singh – all rolled into one to win the war against Narendra Modi.  And what are his credentials for being catapulted to this super hero status?  That he won the JNU student union election with 1000 votes out of 7000 and delivered a thundering speech against Sangh Parivar soon after his release from Tihar jail.

Tuesday 8 December 2015

To Sing or Not to Sing: “Tolerant & Liberal” Rajiv Gandhi’s Response to National Anthem Controversy


There are not many countries in the world that allow their national anthem to become a tool for divisive politics.  But in India any and every issue gets to be used for partisan political agendas. Our national anthem has been no exception.

The latest controversy over the national anthem erupted on 29 November, 2015, when five members of a family were asked to leave a cinema hall in Mumbai because they rudely rebuffed fellow cine viewers who asked them to stand up as the national anthem was being played before the start of the movie. 

A video clip of the event went viral on social media and consequently provoked heated debate in mainstream media, including prime time television, because the concerned family happened to be Muslim. Had the same incident involved a Hindu family, it is not likely to have excited such passion on either side of the political divide.

Saturday 28 November 2015

Lessons from BJP’s Bihar Election Fiasco

Sandwiched!
Reams have already been written on the drubbing received by BJP in the crucial Bihar assembly election. Let me attempt to add my own two cents' worth to the series of postmortem reports that have been released since November 8.

Countdown to Debacle
Team Modi’s explanation for their drubbing in Bihar is that the caste arithmetic went against the BJP. But that could happen only because of the party's own acts of omission and commission.
The writing was writ large on the wall from the word go, but Team Modi refused to pay heed to it in a timely manner.

Madhu Kishwar

Madhu Kishwar
इक उम्र असर होने तक… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …اک عمر اثر ہونے تک