Category: Current/ Political Affairs
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THE “IDIOTS” OF LADAKH
The block buster Aamir Khan movie “Three Idiots” is to some degree inspired by Sonam Wangchuk of Ladakh. You heard right, the same person whom the Government has now arrested under the draconian National Security Act and lodged in far away Jodhpur jail. Ironically, till recently, Wangchuk was an avid fan of Prime Minister Narendra…
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VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS – POLITICAL & SPIRITUAL
Nepal is in the news for the saddest of reasons – a political volcanic eruption led by youth disenchanted by the political system; its corruption and opaqueness. This is déjà vu for what happened in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. With three neighbours in political turmoil, can big brother India remain unscathed? There have been similar…
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WHERE IS GOD?
Those watching TV on 27th August evening would have been jolted by two tragic events. The first was of hundreds of pilgrims washed away in flash floods/ landslides in the Jammu region. The second instant was of two young girls shot dead while praying in a Catholic school in Minneapolis, USA. Both incidents were when…
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BOOK REVIEW: MANIPUR’S ATOM BOMB
(Manipur’s experience with AFSPA by John Shilshi IPS Retd, Rs 499/- Pgs 328 Hard Cover, published by White Falcon Publishing) Exactly eighty years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, atom bombs are again in the news. Rahul Gandhi has claimed to have dropped an atom bomb on the Election Commission of India through his allegations of vote…
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THE DANCE OF DEATH
This month of July I was privy to two deaths, one of someone very dear to me, and the other who was just a name in a newspaper report. I had many lessons to learn. Due to physical and financial restraints I can’t travel too much. But this month took me to two cities, Indore…
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AFTER NAMO, WHAT?
When Nehru was the Prime Minister of India, Welles Hagen wrote a book in 1963, “After Nehru, Who?” When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister a similar sentiment emerged, the TINA factor. There is no alternative. History bears testimony that both Nehru and Rajiv were not indispensable. Presently, the BJP led by Narendra Modi (Namo) has…
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EMERGENCY, SURROGACY, SUFFOCATION
Trains and aircraft have emergency exits. Not so with politics. I vividly recall this day 50 years ago. I was attending a Youth Animators’ Training Programme in Allahabad, the epicentre of the Emergency earthquake. It was promulgated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 25th June 1975. The day after the declaration a classmate of mine…
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DARK CLOUDS OVER ARUNACHAL
Arunachal Pradesh means the “Land of the Rising Sun”, because, being in the eastern most part of India, it is the first part of the county to be kissed by the rays of the rising sun. But now sinister dark clouds hover over Arunachal. Why? This 6th March thousands of Arunachalis in different parts of…
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LOVE MARRIAGE OR LOVE JIHAD?
The term “Love Jihad” is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. Jihad is derived from the Arabic word Jahada that literally means accomplishing a task or attaining a goal by strength and force, be it for propagating good or fighting evil. Assertion by force or strength is antithetical to love. St Paul describes it as…