Arun Nehru, who sought to be Court Chamberlain in the Rajiv Gandhi-era, argued to continue with Indira Gandhi’s policy of playing the Hindu card in a subtle way that did not alienate Muslims.
When Rajiv Gandhi started he could do no wrong. Halfway through his five years, he could do no right. His tenure had many chastening lessons in how mega mandates can make you smug and self-destruct. His record should be essential reading for those with brute majorities now, from Arvind Kejriwal, Narendra Modi and on to Vasundhara Raje, Naveen Patnaik and Mamata Banerjee.
Shekhar Gupta
Ahead of the nationwide Census exercise, government allocates Rs 6,000 crore for it; Rs 5,394 crore allocated for modernising infrastructure of internal security apparatus.
The key to fighting a war successfully, or even launching it, is a clear objective. That’s an entirely political call. It isn’t emotional or purely military.
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