Category: Current/ Political Affairs
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VOTING, A CHRISTIAN DUTY
It’s that time of year when we head to the hustings for the great Indian tamasha, the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The present regime at the Centre is so confident of a third term in office that it has invited representatives from various world political parties to observe the unfolding spectacle. This confidence, or possible…
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A MOODY NATION
All of us have our moods, individually, and collectively as a nation. India Today, the nation’s leading weekly, has brought out an “Exclusive Mood of the Nation Poll” published in its issue dated 19th February. I am not a number cruncher or a data analyst; but as a writer I like to read between the…
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IS IT R.I.P. 4 R&P?
Exactly 5 years ago, in December 2018, I had written a piece “Pappu can Dance Wallah”. It was inspired by the 2008 Bollywood song “Pappu Can’t Dance Salaa” from the movie “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa” starring Genelia D’souza (now Deshmukh). For years Rahul Gandhi (RG) had been disparagingly referred to as Pappu (the simpleton)….
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SCRAP THE CONSTITUTION!
There are two types of people that believe that the Indian Constitution is a scrap of paper. They are those who deliberately choose to ignore its provisions, or those that are grossly ignorant of it. This 26th November marked the 74th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution in 1950. I was asked to address…
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FOUR, FIVE & ELEVEN
This is obviously not a mathematical equation. Let me tell you why I chose these random numbers. The number Four reminded me about the Readers’ Digest. It invariably carried a feature, “Drama in Real Life”; of how human beings endured and overcame insurmountable odds in deserts, ice, land or sea, and lived to tell the…
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HOW MANY ENGINES REQUIRED?
The Assembly elections in Karnataka and the Municipal ones in U.P. are done and dusted. I had written about their significance in my earlier piece, “Andh Bhakts Abound”. My observations seem to have been on target, especially in my home State of U.P. In Karnataka there was talk of a double engine sarkar and in…
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ANDH BHAKTS ABOUND
For the benefit of those not familiar with Hindi let me clarify that “Andh Bhakt” (AB) means a person who is a blind follower of his/ her idol. Election season is upon us again; for the State Assembly in Karnataka, where political analysts claim that the Congress has a possible edge because of the corruption…
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VIKAS-VISHWAS-VILAS-VINASH
There has been a progression, or rather regression, of Vs over the last week. For those unfamiliar with Hindi, let me first do a literal translation of the 4 Vs in this title – Vikas (Development), Vishwas (Faith), Vilas (Luxury) and Vinash (Destruction). Vikas has been the buzz word of the BJP Government. There is…
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FUNEREAL FUNDAS
Funerals are usually dour affairs, nothing to write home about. Yet, having witnessed some interesting funerals on TV in the recent past, I did find some lessons to be learnt and thoughts to be shared. The first one was that of Queen Elizabeth the Second (QE II) who died last 8th September aged 96. Her…
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BELLS – FLAGS – NECTAR
The Amrit Mahotsav is over. This 15th August I had to hoist the flag at one event and arrange for it at another. At both events I spoke on the “Har Ghar Tiranga” (The Tricolour in Every home) campaign. My first thoughts went back to 2020 when our Prime Minister asked us to ring bells…