Category: Current/ Political Affairs
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BELLS, SHELLS, STILL NOT WELL
This is being written on the first anniversary of another of those dramatic announcements by the pseudo sage on the stage. It was on this day last year that he did another “surgical strike” on the public, on the lines of notebandi and GST. All for dramatic effect and electoral advantage. He announced a “Janata…
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TRACTORS, TANKS, TREASON & TRUMP
This piece is being written in the evening of Republic Day. This morning I had addressed a Flag Hoisting gathering and spoke about democracy in India and the USA, about the farm agitation and the Trump negation of his election. As a conscientious citizen, not a pseudo desh bhakt, I enjoy watching the annual Republic…
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SYCOPHANCY ISN’T FANCY
Ouch! They’ve done it again. Those Gandhi topi wearing Congress wallahs. The original Gandhi topi has been replaced by another Gandhi hat – the obsequious and sycophantic one, before the descendants of another Gandhi – Indira. This sycophancy was at its worst display at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) held on March…
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STATE SPONSORED AGGRESSION IN U.P.
Renowned human rights activist and former IAS officer, Harsh Mander, visited Kanpur, U.P. on 14th February to meet the victims of alleged police firing. He also held a press conference and released a comprehensive report in both Hindi and English titled “A State at War with its people”. If the title is disturbing, the contents…
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GANDHIAN LITERATEUR DONATES BODY
Noted Gandhian litterateur, Padmashri Dr Giriraj Kishore, had pledged his body for medical research. Accordingly, after his demise on Sunday 9th February, at the age of 83, his body was donated to the local GSVM Medical College at Kanpur. Body donation has been the brainchild of Manoj Sengar who began the Yug Dadeechi Deh Daan…
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AFTER TAJ WHAT?
Does anybody remember Hina Rabbani Khar? You mean Hina Khan the TV actress from Kashmir? No I mean Hina Khar the Pakistani politician. Public memory is short indeed. She was Pakistan’s Foreign Minister from February 2011 to March 2013. When at the relatively young age of 33 she came India calling the country sat up,…
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SOFT P*RN OR HARD NEWS?
Do we have a choice? Why not? When I did a short course in journalism about 40 years ago we were taught the importance of the headline, the lead in and the bait to hook the reader. Today it is called grabbing eyeballs, and at times the other ones, minus the eyes! If you, dear…
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CITIZENS UNITE AGAINST CITIZENSHIP ACT
Most civil society and human rights activists had fixed 19th December for a nationwide protest against the recently enacted Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Central Govt’s proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). Together they form a lethal combination, not just against the Minorities, but more so against the landless and undocumented poor that form…
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GANDHIJI’S SEVEN SISTERS
(A sequel to “Gandhiji’s Quest for Truth“) It’s done and dusted, Mahatma Gandhi’s sesquicentennial birth anniversary. So we may now conveniently forget him and return to our humdrum lives. After all, no less than the PM has pompously declared rural India to be Open Defecation Free (ODF)! What more can we expect of the Mahatma?…
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GANDHIJI’S QUEST FOR TRUTH
Truth seems to be at a premium today. One of the big two at the recent Houston Rally is known for what he calls “alternative facts”, a euphemism for blatant lies or disinformation. The other Howdy at Houston is often called Feku by his detractors. This again is a derogatory word for one who makes…