In this excerpt from 'Ballot: Ten Episodes that Have Shaped India’s Democracy' author Rasheed Kidwai writes about the various battles in the UPA government.
In this excerpt from his book 'Why I Am A Hindu', Congress MP Shashi Tharoor explains Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's vision of Hindutva and how it was closely linked with nationalism.
In this excerpt from his book, author and journalist Steve Coll writes about how Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has damaged Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In this excerpt from his new book, 'Why I Am a Hindu',Congress MP Shashi Tharoor lists what changes can be expected if the Constitution is revised based on Hindutva.
In this excerpt from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's new book, Why I Am a Hindu, he talks about how the plural expressions of India's many identities is being stifled by its Hindu majority.
In this excerpt from his book, former CAG Vinod Rai explains how they had pointed faults in the planning of the Commonwealth Games but weren't taken seriously.
RJD, once a prominent representative of Mandal politics, now finds itself in a political era where welfare, good governance, and new aspirations are overshadowing old caste equations.
Without a Congress revival, there can be no challenge to the BJP pan-nationally. Modi’s party is growing, and almost entirely at the cost of the Congress.
Well, they are distributing environment clearances like cheap free pamphlets now. So, go ahead celebrate all the mining in protected forest zones and development projects with zero compensation. The environment is yours to destroy permanently because you won a Lok Sabha election for five years. And very polite, calling Manmohan Singh a super cabinet secretary. To you it might sound like a clever insult you’ve conjured, but it’s just a low level lame joke. I wish Print followed journalism sometimes, and got the people they routinely slander here to give their side of the story. At least, tried. Or is it just a forum for resentful blokes to lash out, now that another government is in power? I can betcha super cabinet secretary did much more solid work than his Royal highness, first prime minister of India in 70 years, Modi – lacks in ideas, lacks in ethics, lacks in democracy. What is wrong if a junior Minister withheld clearances going against PM Singh? India is not some monarchy with the whip and writ of an autocrat. Or atleast wasn’t in those 10 years. But make an effort to interview Jayanthi Natraj some day. Takes more journalistic chops. But do it. Or you are nothing more than Twitter with 28000 characters.
The limitations of being a nominated PM, denied even the courtesy of election to the Lok Sabha from a safe seat, were known to all concerned. However, within those constraints, Dr Singh could and should have done much more, especially on economic reforms, his original fame to claim. Those were high growth years, a conducive environment for unshackling the economy, with sufficient tax buoyancy to sate some of the demands of the NAC. Even on coal and spectrum, Dr Singh, assisted by some senior colleagues like Shri Pranab Mukherjee, could have sensitised the party president, whose family had been scarred by Bofors, to the dangers that lay ahead. Over the course of a decade, Dr Singh could have carved out a larger space for himself , using the institution of the core committee. Towards the close, the comfort of his chair may have forced him to accept many things he should not have.
Well, they are distributing environment clearances like cheap free pamphlets now. So, go ahead celebrate all the mining in protected forest zones and development projects with zero compensation. The environment is yours to destroy permanently because you won a Lok Sabha election for five years. And very polite, calling Manmohan Singh a super cabinet secretary. To you it might sound like a clever insult you’ve conjured, but it’s just a low level lame joke. I wish Print followed journalism sometimes, and got the people they routinely slander here to give their side of the story. At least, tried. Or is it just a forum for resentful blokes to lash out, now that another government is in power? I can betcha super cabinet secretary did much more solid work than his Royal highness, first prime minister of India in 70 years, Modi – lacks in ideas, lacks in ethics, lacks in democracy. What is wrong if a junior Minister withheld clearances going against PM Singh? India is not some monarchy with the whip and writ of an autocrat. Or atleast wasn’t in those 10 years. But make an effort to interview Jayanthi Natraj some day. Takes more journalistic chops. But do it. Or you are nothing more than Twitter with 28000 characters.
The limitations of being a nominated PM, denied even the courtesy of election to the Lok Sabha from a safe seat, were known to all concerned. However, within those constraints, Dr Singh could and should have done much more, especially on economic reforms, his original fame to claim. Those were high growth years, a conducive environment for unshackling the economy, with sufficient tax buoyancy to sate some of the demands of the NAC. Even on coal and spectrum, Dr Singh, assisted by some senior colleagues like Shri Pranab Mukherjee, could have sensitised the party president, whose family had been scarred by Bofors, to the dangers that lay ahead. Over the course of a decade, Dr Singh could have carved out a larger space for himself , using the institution of the core committee. Towards the close, the comfort of his chair may have forced him to accept many things he should not have.