06 May, 2009
Forming A Stable And Better Government
From A Hung Parliament
By Dr. Satinath Choudhary
Much has been made out regarding likely instability of the government out of hung parliament or fractured or fragmented mandate, which can actually give us a better, fairer and even more stable democracy than the ones obtained from a single party majority, lopsided or otherwise
14 March, 2009
Why BJP Went Back To Ram
By Gladson Dungdung
BJP is in a do or die situation. One should not be surprised if the Congress emerged as the biggest party in the next general election and instead of UPA another alliance headed by the Congress take oath at the centre as the people need peace, security and development instead of Ram Temple. In that case, Advani will lose a chance to say Jai Shree Ram forever and might blame his party leaders or lord Ram for it
06 March, 2009
Celebrity Influence In The Lok Sabha Election
By Abdullah Khan
Politics, which was once described as cesspool by none other than the Amitabh Bachchan continues to be in that frame but has, in fact, become dirtier and murkier. For the glamour world, celebrities from the world of cricket and cinema are not new to the political power circles. But with elections to the Lok Sabha round the corner, the bollywood and the cricket fraternity have suddenly become a fertile candidate outsourcing agencies for all major political parties
For The People By The People, Finally!
By Anjali Singh
Mooted by well known columnist Kuldip Nayar, People's Politics Front has been formed to build a political alternative in the country so that people's issues can be brought to center-stage
24 November, 2004
Big Winner
In Indian Elections
Remains Best Kept Secret
By Thomas C. Mountain
The BSP increased the percentage of the national
vote total it recieved in 2004 to 5.35% from 4.17% in 1999, over 25%,
continuing a trend by increasing its percentage of the popular vote
by nearly 50% since the 1996 election
19 July, 2004
Emergent Challenges
Before The New Government
By Goldy M. George
The major challenge now is how the UPA government
reverse the trends of imperialist globalisation and Hindutva fascism.In
the past the Communists and Ambedkarites have taken the challenge against
these two outgrown trends. Could they continue to resist and combat
them?
20 June, 2004
Speedily Implement
The CMP
By Praful Bidwai
The UPA has a historic opportunity on its hands-to
transform domestic politics and India's global role. It must not squander
it through indecision or pusillanimity
19 June, 2004
Options Before
The BJP
By Valson Thampu
It would be a mistake if the BJP assumes that a
return to militant Hindutva can revive its political fortunes
16 June, 2004
Hardline Hindutva
Or Rudderless Drift -
The future of the BJP
By Praful Bidwai
The BJP can at best hope to operate as a pressure
group, representing sectoral upper-caste interests. That's exactly what
the Jana Sangh was
Indian Elections-2004:
Implications
For Democratic Polity
By Ram Puniyani
Social movements will be faulting in their commitment
to social issues if the divisive politics is not combated at social
level. And this government must feel duty bound to morally uphold these
initiatives for harmony and the efforts in the directions, which strengthen
the grass root bonding and amicable atmosphere
15 June, 2004
How The Bharatiya
Mundan Party
Took The Experience Of Defeat
By Githa Hariharan
Even a leader like Milosevic appeared on national
television in October 2000 to make a gracious speech conceding defeat.In
the elections of 2004, we witnessed a somewhat different kind of response
to defeat a response that ranged from sulky silence to farcical
theatrics
06 June, 2004
New Secular
Government And Its Secular Tasks
By Asghar Ali Engineer
The government by the United Progressive Alliance
inspires confidence among minorities and the poor. However, this initial
confidence has not only to be sustained but strengthened through proper
action
05 June, 2004
Welcome UPA, Without
Illusions
By Praful Bidwai
Unlike the common minimum programme of the United
Progressive Alliance, government formation has been messy and driven
by exigencies. P Chidambaram is an ideologically driven neo-liberal
who, like many other Harvard Business School graduates, remains dedicated
to "free-market" doctrines. Neither Mukherjee nor Shivraj
Patil can be accused of being imaginative or firm in adhering to principle
03 June, 2004
Sonia Gandhi And
The Hypocrisy
Of The Saffron NRIs
By Vijay Prashad
In the darkest of nights, the stars are seen clearest.
The rule of Hindutva was a dark night, and the struggles of India's
people had the luster of stars. Let us hope that these stars will rule
their leaders, egg them to justice and refuse to entertain intolerance
and cruelty again
01 June, 2004
Victory Of Secularism
By Asghar Ali Engineer
The minorities should have full faith in the Indian
democratic system. Many Muslims had despaired that no change is possible.
Some even joined BJP out of this desperation. All of them have been
belied
Celebrating The
BJP's Departure
By Praful Bidwai
The UPA's mandate is not just for growth or development.
It is for equitable growth and for development which has people right
at its centre. It is for healing and repairing the secular fabric of
India, which has been severely damaged by the NDA over the past six
years. It is for reintegrating the values of humanity and decency into
the very core of Indian politics
25 May, 2004
India Rejects Neoliberalism
And Communal Politics
Report By Insaf
Although the BJP led coalition was comprehensively
beaten in the recent elections one should not look away from certain
important factors. The progress made by the Congress appears to be the
result of circumstantial and accidental factors while the BJP appears
to be well entrenched and spread all over India despite apparent set
backs
Three Cheers
For Indian Democracy
By Ram Puniyani
Rot is setting in different aspects of India's
polity and administrative machinery. Social welfare schemes related
to education and health are collapsing. The sufferers of all this are
of course the poor and deprived. And they have voted against the policies,
which are ruining their lives
24 May, 2004
The Fight Must Go
On
By Ganesh S. Iyer
The elections have seen the rout of the BJP from
the political arena.The monster of communalism still stalks Indian society
and has the potential to catapult its practitioners to power. The fight
against communalism must go on
21 May, 2004
BJP's Allergy
To Democracy
By Praful Bidwai
Sonia Gandhi's renunciation of the primeministership
exposes the BJP as an egregiously intolerant party, which is deeply
uncomfortable with democracy, and has contempt for political decency
and Constitutional law
19 May, 2004
Sonia Gandhi's
Dilemma
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan
A combination of religious and political interests
in India is trying to subvert election results by forcing the congress
president Sonia Gandhi keep out of the prime ministership applying a
distinction based purely on race -- bypassing the constitution!
Exit Chandrababu
Naidu
By George Monbiot
The poster boy of neoliberalism, Chandrababu Naidu
is voted out in Andhra Pradesh
17 May, 2004
Is Sonia Gandhi
Eligible To Become
The Prime Minister?
By Ram Puniyani
Is being a citizen not good enough for holding
any post of the people find you fit enough for that? Sonia Gandhi or
no Sonia Gandhi the guidelines should be derived from the constitution
Feeling
Good
By Beena Sarwar
Indian elections, a view from Pakistan
Bye, Bye, Mr.
American Pie Vajpayee
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Atal Behari Vajpayee's tenure as prime minister
of India will be remembered, as a squandered opportunity, mistaking
galloping consumption for real upliftment
14 May, 2004
BJP Defeated In
India
By Harish Khare
The Indian electorate has decisively rejected the
Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance and has voted
in a Congress-led coalition spearheaded by Sonia Gandhi
Let Us Hope The Darkness
Has Passed
By Arundhati Roy
For many of us who feel estranged from mainstream
politics, there are rare, ephemeral moments of celebration. Today is
one of them. The rightwing BJP-led coalition has not just been voted
out of power, it has been humiliated
Rural India Humbles
Vajpayee
By Edward Luce
"This is a cry of impatience for corrupt and
self-serving politicians to finally start delivering the goods."
Mass Media vs
Mass Reality
By P. Sainath
Elections 2004 brought back to the agenda the issues
of ordinary Indians
Sonia's Journey
From A Small Town In Tuscany
By Randeep Ramesh
Sonia Gandhi's rise from small-town, postwar Italy
to the whitewashed British Raj bungalows of Delhi is a story of love
and death in India's political cauldron, culminating in the most sensational
victory since India became independent in 1947
27 April, 2004
The Responsibility
Of The Voters
By Ganesh S. Iyer
Elections 2004 are going to be a defining moment
for Indian democracy. This election perhaps may decide whether this
country remains secular or it turns theocratic under the Hindutwa fundamentalists.
The responsibility of the voters is tremendous
25 April, 2004
BJP's Overtures
To Minorities
By Ram Puniyani
This election (April2004) is very crucial to survival
of Indian democracy. Its also crucial for those who want to bring in
Hindu Rashtra, as having been in the seat of power from last six years,
the victory in this election will give them a lever to push forward
their agenda at a higher speed
22 April, 2004
Power, Reality &
Dream Merchants
By Aman Namra
Dream merchants have again arrayed pawns &
pieces of dreams and promises on the chessboard of Indian election.
Common masses are being lured and beguiled by the major parties
21 April, 2004
India Shining
Lies, And The PR Firms That Sell Them
By Raja Swamy
The BJP-NDAs India Shining PR
campaign is a project of the global PR giant Grey Global Group.
The 7th largest PR firm in the world, Grey Globals operations
have earned notoriety in the United States on account of the activities
20 April, 2004
The Shadow
People
By Bhaswati Chakravorty
Orissas migrant labourers are always away
from home during elections
The Bizarre World
Of Realpolitik
BY N C Gundu Rao
Intimidatory tactics now adopted in the run-up
to the polls veers on the edge of fascism and bodes ill for a democracy
18 April, 2004
Muslim Dilemma In
Atal Times
By Zafar Agha
Election-2004 is surely a difficult election for
Indian Muslims.Vajpayee's image-makers are recasting the BJP as another
liberal party.The Congress's attitude towards Muslims has been and is
still, "vote us but don't expect anything from us"
Congress-BJP
And Electoral Choices
By Ram Puniyani
What ever be his stated motives the likes of Arif
Mohammad Khan are joining BJP, is it that a sheep, outraged by the inefficiency
of the shepherd deciding to befriend the wolf himself?
17 April, 2004
Voting For Your
Favourite Millionaire
By P. Sainath
It is quite likely that most if not all
of those elected could be worth, on an average, between Rs. 50
lakhs and Rs.1 crore. How representative will they be of voters whose
annual average income does not exceed Rs.12,000?
Saffronisation,
Adivasis And
The Politics Of South Gujarat
By Dionne Bunsha
It is because political parties have deflected
attention from development that many voters may not turn up to vote.
Not in disgust. But simply because many villages such as Kadvali are
empty. Migrants cannot afford to vote
07 April, 2004
Bharatiya Janata
Party: Political
Agenda-Economic Policies
By Ram Puniyani
Essentially BJP is not a party of modern era, the
one, which can keep all the economic and social progress in tune with
times. More so it is very biased and partial towards a narrow social
groups
25 March, 2004
Goa- Secularism
Under Threat
By Rajan Narayan
The choice before the people in the Parliamentary
elections in Goa is between a corrupt Congress and an equally corrupt
and rabidly communal Bharatiya Janata Party. Tragically it is the senior
leaders of the minority community who are colluding and conniving to
further the designs of the BJP. RAJAN NARAYAN warns that voting for
the lotus will endanger the
unique tradition of communal harmony and fusion which is Goa's most
cherished and precious legacy
23 March, 2004
A Manifesto For
Democratic India
By Harsh Mander
First discussion draft ll for the conference on
RESISTANCE to be held in DELHI on 4 th April in the context of the General
Election of 2004
22 March, 2004
Shining Delusions
By Praful Bidwai
BJP claims that India is shining, but a closer
look reveals to the contrary
21 March, 2004
Tampering With
Voting Machines
By Dr. Satinath Choudhary
"I am worried that the electronic voting machines
may simplify
hijacking of the upcoming election." An Open Letter to the Election
Commission, India
BJP's Consolidation
Will Be Hard
To Break In Chhattisgarh
By Yogendra Yadav
The BJP's real success in consolidating its base
in Chhatisgarh has been in dividing the adivasis, who constitute about
32 per cent of the population
18 March, 2004
Is Vajpayee Another
Nehru?
By Mani Shankar Aiyar
They cannot be compared. They are, in fact, a study
in contrast
15 March, 2004
The Millions
Who Cannot Vote
By P. Sainath
By having elections in April when millions of the
poor migrate in search of work, we are simply excluding an ever-growing
number of citizens from the vote
10 March, 2004
Stampeding Through
The Heart Of India
By Raja Swamy
Mr. Advani begins his yatra from Kanyakumari hoping
to garner as much political mileage as possible, while stampeding on
the heads of hapless Indians, with thousands of paramilitary cadres
hell-bent on destroying any pretenses of democracy left in India
05 March, 2004
Elections 2004-Protents
For Future
By Ram Puniyani
A victory for BJP in the coming national elections
in India, with or without allies will push the country more towards
the goal desired by RSS. The creeping fascism in the society can be
transformed into an aggressive Moditva as and when planned
04 March, 2004
Can India 'Shine'
Under Hindutva?
By Asghar Ali Engineer
Those who think that India can politically shine
only if secularism goes strong can never accept a dispensation in which
the BJP is a dominant partner. And the day BJP wins majority of its
own one can expect all kinds of steps to convert India into Hindu Rashtra.
Then India will never shine again
25 February, 2004
Hindutva Culture
And Electoral Alliances
By Nalini Taneja
Despite the recent victories in the assembly elections
one can say that in electoral terms the BJP remains just where it was
in the last round of national elections. In ideological terms it is
much stronger than it was in the last round, primarily because its social
and political vision finds favour with and reflects the prerogatives
of the ruling classes better than any other party
21 February, 2004
India Shining:
Ram, Raymond
And Goan Holidays
Advani admits that the NDA government got the
'feel good' inspiration from a Raymond Suiting ad. Hence you have the
glossy India Shining images chasing and mocking at you wherever
you go
10 February, 2004
Why It Is Imperative
To Defeat BJP
By Harkishan Singh Surjeet
General Secretary of the Communist Party of India,
Marxist argues why BJP and its allies should be defeated in the forthcoming
parliament elections
30 January, 2004
Ayodhya Mayhem
Machine As Mascot
By I.K.Shukla
Mr. Vajpayee has announced he would launch the
poll drive for Lok Sabha with Ayodhya Pranam (Salute to Ayodhya). This
is tantamount to declaring that the electorate has to vote Hindu Terror
back to power
22 January, 2004
Is
Feel Good Factor Good Enough For NDA?
By Pankaj Vohra
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started
with an advantage over the Congress initially, its inability to forge
a concrete alliance in the southern states would not only become a cause
of great worry for the party but could also tilt the balance in favour
of its opponents