More in Short Posts
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Understanding the pesudo-opposition leader
In the summer of 2007 we heard a gentleman utter these sagely sentences – “I belong to the family which has never moved backwards, which has never gone back on its words. You know that when any member of my family had decided to do anything, he does it. Be...
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Tamil Nadu fishermen – murder on the high seas
It is to the credit of unrelenting Tamil blogsphere and Twitterati backed by grass groots activism by some organisations that the issue has for the first time survived the scissors of news-cycle management in Delhi. The plight of Tamil fisherman was until recently given less than adequate, some say negligble, coverage. In the duty of directing the nation’s attention towards the recurring brutal murders it can be safely said that most establishments were most certainly callous and delinquent.
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Gauging Gadkari
Little more than a year ago, Nitin Gadkari was catapulted in to the centre stage of national politics, thanks largely to behind the scène machinations of few unelected but powerful apparatchiks operating out of Nagpur. Outside of Maharashtra, where he is held in high esteem across political spectrum for his...
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Angry Kaoboy
(CRI commentariat wishes to place on record that its deeply distressed and dismayed at the news of Shri B.Raman’s ailment. We all wish him a fast recovery and hope that he continues his yeoman service to cause of heighteneing the awareness of strategic security challenges this country encounters) Open medium comes with distractions, don’t...
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Pilgrimage as a Secular Activity: A Constitutional Perversion
By justifying state spending on pilgrimages in the name of secularism and tolerance, the Supreme Court has undermined the Constitutional ban on state promotion of religion, a central tenet of a truly secular state. In the absence of any requirement for equitable distribution of largesse, the judgment could well open the door for competitive religious appeasement much wider than it is today.
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Tiranga at Lal Chowk: Manmohan’s folly.
We are told that the BJP’s yatra right into the belly of the beast to hoist the Tiranga at Lal Chowk would hurt the sentiments and needlessly needle Kashmiris. Implicit in this argument is the innuendo that perhaps Kashmiris have not acquiesced to their integration with the Union and that...
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TN 2011: Beyond One Caste Politics
The turbulent and troublesome past 5-6 years for PMK may be a valuable lesson for the newly rising Kongu party. Confining a party to a narrow regional-caste range spells defeat. Simply casteism can quickly run out of steam in terms of votes captured. It is true that community organisations are a great stepping stone to political organisation and mobilisation. However, such organisations cannot be sustained on chauvinism alone.
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Minimum Age of Voting Vs Political QC
I’ve been wondering about the link between low Minimum Ages of Voting and its adverse impact on political leadership standards. Most people will agree that we had a very high standard of political leadership when there was limited franchise and this trend continued for a time after we adopted Universal...
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Rahul Gandhi 101
It is impossible to miss the name Rahul Gandhi if you are reading, talking, discussing India . His appointment within the Congress party was not by employing any democratic means, but simply because the Congress president, his mother, chose him. This in the world’s largest democracy and in a party...
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Understanding the BJP – Part 1
Thanks to reasons ranging from facile political punditry to motivated media propaganda, BJP has largely been straight jacketed as ideologically homogenized political force orchestrated by some shadowy unelected backroom knickerclique in Nagpur. Nothing could be further from the truth. Think of the Republican party in America, ideology of which is...
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Ghalib se Aziz Burney Taq: A Critique of the Urdu Media
By Gordon Gekko I have been an avid fan of Urdu poetry ever since I heard Ghulam Ali sing “Hungama hai kyon barpa, thodi si jo pee li hai.” And ever since then I have been mesmerised with the lilting cadence of this sweet language. It was but natural for me...
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Rahul Gandhi’s leaks – Focus on ideological basis
Today’s reports revealing Rahul Gandhi’s leaked observations over conversations with foreign diplomats have created a furor. Rahul Gandhi, the “crown prince” of Indian politics, told the American ambassador last year that Hindu extremist groups could pose a greater threat to his country than Muslim militants. In comments likely to cause a storm...
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NDTV and Prannoy Roy, once upon a time
During 1997 and 1998, the names of NDTV and its founder Prannoy Roy appear in newspapers and magazines in relation to a corruption case in Doordarshan. In the context of the recent allegations of financial malpractice by NDTV and its founder Prannoy Roy, I followed up on this interesting tweet...
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The Beijing Consensus: How China’s Authoritarian Model Will Dominate the 21st Century
I recommend that you concentrate on Stefan Halper’s and Ted Galen Carpenter’s presentations and skip Bonny Glaser. Stefan Halper’s achievement lies in the fact that he succeeds in framing China’s challenge to the West in primarily ideational terms consciously effacing the geopolitical and economic narratives that tend to dominate less original assessments. The Western values he speaks of...