Caught between wanting to be an ideal swayamsevak like Mohan Bhagwat, and a moderniser like Vajpayee, Prime Minister Modi could become an Indira-like statist.
In line with RSS drill, Congress is taking out prabhat pheris to mark Indira Gandhi’s birth centenary; claims its workers invoked nationalism during freedom struggle.
Over 50 years ago, Jayaprakash Narayan had advocated more autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir on many occasions, but ruled out de-accession or independence.
Pranab Mukherjee is the ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of Indian public life. The third volume of his political memoir is self-serving, hides too much and uses uncharacteristic innuendo.
On JP’s birth anniversary, reposting my trip down memory lane to 1977-78, and conspiracy theories about why his health deteriorated during the Emergency.
The Prime...
It isn’t what you think. Political winds haven’t shifted yet. But the air is thick with doubts, economic stress is hurting and for the first time since his rise in 2013, the PM is fighting back.
The Modi government gains in political strength and popular support even as the economy swings downward. Can the two continue to move in opposite directions?
The graduation is meant to bolster the legacy and legitimacy of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, even as the real-world preparedness lagged behind the glossy narrative.
Indonesia delegation led by Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin visited BrahMos facility & met with top officials & undertook a detailed briefing on the missile system.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
I enjoy reading Shekar Gupta’s writing. He is original. On Mr. Modi’s reformist credentials, we have his record as CM. If anything, He is a more accomplished polariser than a reformist.
To the moderator: Sir, you should NOT cull plain, simple comments posted by readers as long as they are NOT offensive and abusive. I feel that you prefer to post comments that look ‘intellectually weighty’. You should be happy that ordinary readers like me are coming to your website and reading your articles.
‘Jekyll and Hyde’ and ‘hatred for another party’ are opinions. The issues are better analysed through the prism of Ramachandra Guha’s 23rd Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture or through the theories of leadership. As long as democracy is not subverted, and electoral process is fair, who cares whether Modi hates Congress. The people of India will decide whether they want bold leadership or spineless, mute proxy rule by a family bent upon perpetuation of dynasty in a country with 1.25 billion people. Thank you.
If bold leadership is cold (blooded) leadership where the bold leader is immune to people dying because of his policies like demonetisation, (or incompetent at Law & Order records like in Gujarat), then I’d prefer spineless leaders. They might stay stuck at 6 pc GDP instead of 9, but they might have some empathy – basic human considerations. The world has had enough ‘bold leaders’ who sacrificed a few without blinking for the benefit of what they perceived as greater good. I thought Indians were smarter than to fall for such foolishness. Maybe they aren’t, but plz don’t sell some gratifying macho idea of ‘bold leadership’. India’s young generation has many yrs to live and can do without such cold leaders who are simply unmoved by their citizens dying.
Go for it. But if it does not happen, do not whine that so and so got only 30-35% vote share and therefore has no right to be at the helm of affairs. And please do NOT come up with ‘EVMs tampered’ argument unless you have solid proof. Not defending any personality here, but there is no holier-than-thou in the post-1975 political landscape in India. If majoritarianism is winning, it is because Liberals in India (borrowing from Alexis de Tocqueville) ‘are so enamoured of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal than unequal in freedom’.
It’s stunning how delusional the author is. The “reformer” and RSS are the same man. I understand India has wholesale bought into the idea that his communal agenda and his “development” are Jekyll and Hyde. But it’s just distressing that a seasoned writer can be conned into believing that this is two different ppl. He is just a cynical Congress baiter who will destroy the country for his personal hatred of another party. Not to mention incompetent. Wake up – stop deluding yourself.
Like yours, my personal feel is bank nationalisation was the best move to isolate the economy from external factors. Very few countries in the world own their bank and that is the reason of their economies at the mercy of international factors. Anyway even US had to bail out Lehmann’s from its Treasury.
The issue of PSU banks underperforming has more to do with politics than with their management.
Poor foresight with the blinkers of next elections have eclipsed the wisdom of the politicians and awareness and expression of discontent by public is the go forward.
Howsoever hard you try, you failed to link catch 22 and RSS. The article would have developed much better but for the futile attempt to link it with NAMO.
It seems since Modi is not following your one way approach, you have assigned him the statist innuendo. Tell me who will buy distressed banks, some brave entity in private sector may take it up but at a significant discount price. On the contrary, if the banks are recapitalized and their books are in order – valuation of banks would be much higher and a significantly high premium price could be obtained.
Call me naive – thankyou – but the way i understand it is that banks lent to private businesses who leveraged in anticipation of the “Land Reform Bill” which never showed up. Now that Modi has the majority in the upper house – it might come through.
Shekhar! We have botched up right from independence. We people are steeped in our thoughts of getting our gods to grant us everything for free. Only requirement is prayers and elaborately designed rituals. Last 70 years have seen god being replaced with ‘sarkar’ for vote gains. To add to it, we are hardly the democracy type and it comes up loud and clear in one of the recent surveys where 55% preferred autocracy. When there is fire you douse it without thinking whether it is catch 22 or 23 or 24. We need a new constitution that is rooted in our peculiarities and not an imported one like the current ‘khichdi’.
Shekhar! We have botched up right from independence. We people are steeped in our thoughts of getting our gods to grant us everything for free. Only requirement is prayers and elaborately designed rituals. Last 70 years have seen god being replaced with ‘sarkar’ for vote gains. To add to it, we are hardly the democracy type and it comes up loud and clear in one of the recent surveys where 55% preferred autocracy. When there is fire you douse it without thinking whether it is catch 22 or 23 or 24. We need a new constitution that is rooted in our peculiarities and not an imported one like the current ‘khichdi’
i read you often but i got very confused reading this article by so many analogies. perhaps you should have stayed away from milo, coolidge, catch 22, and even mohan bhagwat. instead you could have spent the space on more facts related to the banks’ situation and how they got there. and then moved on to modi as to what he should do.
Since the column quotes Mrs Gandhi and her nationalisation of banks – which also allowed her to privatise the Congress party – it would be instructive to recall how fragile her electoral strength proved to be, despite the aura of the creation of Bangladesh and the nuclear test of May 1974. The first oil shock set off high inflation, popular unrest and then the emergency. Governments must help put more and better food on the table for their citizens. No other way to sustain their popularity.
Call it the beauty of the market : even with the Harshad Mehtas and the Ketan Parekhs surfacing with distressing frequency, it delivers superior outcomes than a government dominated, statisit set up, even if it is run by men of exceptional industry and integrity.
I enjoy reading Shekar Gupta’s writing. He is original. On Mr. Modi’s reformist credentials, we have his record as CM. If anything, He is a more accomplished polariser than a reformist.
Hi Shekhar!
I’m in constant awe of your brilliance!
Your biggest fan
Agree. I have grown up reading his articles in India Today. He is certainly one of the most objective journalists.
Well said.
To the moderator: Sir, you should NOT cull plain, simple comments posted by readers as long as they are NOT offensive and abusive. I feel that you prefer to post comments that look ‘intellectually weighty’. You should be happy that ordinary readers like me are coming to your website and reading your articles.
‘Jekyll and Hyde’ and ‘hatred for another party’ are opinions. The issues are better analysed through the prism of Ramachandra Guha’s 23rd Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture or through the theories of leadership. As long as democracy is not subverted, and electoral process is fair, who cares whether Modi hates Congress. The people of India will decide whether they want bold leadership or spineless, mute proxy rule by a family bent upon perpetuation of dynasty in a country with 1.25 billion people. Thank you.
If bold leadership is cold (blooded) leadership where the bold leader is immune to people dying because of his policies like demonetisation, (or incompetent at Law & Order records like in Gujarat), then I’d prefer spineless leaders. They might stay stuck at 6 pc GDP instead of 9, but they might have some empathy – basic human considerations. The world has had enough ‘bold leaders’ who sacrificed a few without blinking for the benefit of what they perceived as greater good. I thought Indians were smarter than to fall for such foolishness. Maybe they aren’t, but plz don’t sell some gratifying macho idea of ‘bold leadership’. India’s young generation has many yrs to live and can do without such cold leaders who are simply unmoved by their citizens dying.
Go for it. But if it does not happen, do not whine that so and so got only 30-35% vote share and therefore has no right to be at the helm of affairs. And please do NOT come up with ‘EVMs tampered’ argument unless you have solid proof. Not defending any personality here, but there is no holier-than-thou in the post-1975 political landscape in India. If majoritarianism is winning, it is because Liberals in India (borrowing from Alexis de Tocqueville) ‘are so enamoured of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal than unequal in freedom’.
It’s stunning how delusional the author is. The “reformer” and RSS are the same man. I understand India has wholesale bought into the idea that his communal agenda and his “development” are Jekyll and Hyde. But it’s just distressing that a seasoned writer can be conned into believing that this is two different ppl. He is just a cynical Congress baiter who will destroy the country for his personal hatred of another party. Not to mention incompetent. Wake up – stop deluding yourself.
Like yours, my personal feel is bank nationalisation was the best move to isolate the economy from external factors. Very few countries in the world own their bank and that is the reason of their economies at the mercy of international factors. Anyway even US had to bail out Lehmann’s from its Treasury.
The issue of PSU banks underperforming has more to do with politics than with their management.
Poor foresight with the blinkers of next elections have eclipsed the wisdom of the politicians and awareness and expression of discontent by public is the go forward.
Howsoever hard you try, you failed to link catch 22 and RSS. The article would have developed much better but for the futile attempt to link it with NAMO.
It seems since Modi is not following your one way approach, you have assigned him the statist innuendo. Tell me who will buy distressed banks, some brave entity in private sector may take it up but at a significant discount price. On the contrary, if the banks are recapitalized and their books are in order – valuation of banks would be much higher and a significantly high premium price could be obtained.
Call me naive – thankyou – but the way i understand it is that banks lent to private businesses who leveraged in anticipation of the “Land Reform Bill” which never showed up. Now that Modi has the majority in the upper house – it might come through.
Shekhar! We have botched up right from independence. We people are steeped in our thoughts of getting our gods to grant us everything for free. Only requirement is prayers and elaborately designed rituals. Last 70 years have seen god being replaced with ‘sarkar’ for vote gains. To add to it, we are hardly the democracy type and it comes up loud and clear in one of the recent surveys where 55% preferred autocracy. When there is fire you douse it without thinking whether it is catch 22 or 23 or 24. We need a new constitution that is rooted in our peculiarities and not an imported one like the current ‘khichdi’.
Shekhar! We have botched up right from independence. We people are steeped in our thoughts of getting our gods to grant us everything for free. Only requirement is prayers and elaborately designed rituals. Last 70 years have seen god being replaced with ‘sarkar’ for vote gains. To add to it, we are hardly the democracy type and it comes up loud and clear in one of the recent surveys where 55% preferred autocracy. When there is fire you douse it without thinking whether it is catch 22 or 23 or 24. We need a new constitution that is rooted in our peculiarities and not an imported one like the current ‘khichdi’
i read you often but i got very confused reading this article by so many analogies. perhaps you should have stayed away from milo, coolidge, catch 22, and even mohan bhagwat. instead you could have spent the space on more facts related to the banks’ situation and how they got there. and then moved on to modi as to what he should do.
Since the column quotes Mrs Gandhi and her nationalisation of banks – which also allowed her to privatise the Congress party – it would be instructive to recall how fragile her electoral strength proved to be, despite the aura of the creation of Bangladesh and the nuclear test of May 1974. The first oil shock set off high inflation, popular unrest and then the emergency. Governments must help put more and better food on the table for their citizens. No other way to sustain their popularity.
Call it the beauty of the market : even with the Harshad Mehtas and the Ketan Parekhs surfacing with distressing frequency, it delivers superior outcomes than a government dominated, statisit set up, even if it is run by men of exceptional industry and integrity.
… statist …