FTN Blog: For the BJP, Jinnah is about politics, not history

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If only the BJP has read Jaswant Singh's book - Jinnah India-Partition Independence before expelling him! Actually, the thesis in the book is not new. Many earlier writers such as even Maulana Azad in his autobiography, MC Chagla in his autobiography Roses in December, and the Pakistani historian Ayesha Jalal in her book, The Sole Spokesman, have written that it was Congress' intransigence and stubborn-ness that led to Partition. Jaswant Singh makes the same point, squarely blaming Nehru and the Congress for Partition. At the same time turning an objective eye on Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Being as he was a BJP member at the time, Jaswant Singh has written a brave book. Mahomedali Jinnahbhai, as the book shows, was a Gujarati-speaking khoja Muslim, a westernized liberal constitutionalist who believed the mass movement unleashed by Gandhi was also leading to widespread religious divisions in the public because of the....

No checks please, I'm a Bollywood star

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Ah, India and its ridiculous VIP syndrome again! Once again the syndrome of Don't-You-Know-Who-I-Am. Once again politicians are outraged that actor Shah Rukh Khan was questioned at Newark airport in the US. The UPA is in a state of high outrage. Shashi Tharoor says the incident is deeply offensive. Praful Patel says it's a matter to be taken up with the US government. Ambika Soni says there should be "tit-for-tat" frisking. Are you serious Mrs Soni? Is frisking a game for you? I-frisk-you, you-frisk me? Mrs Soni you are reducing vital security procedures to an eerie charade, to a nonsensical ritual. It is precisely because of such attitudes that we are so vulnerable to attacks and precisely why Indian security systems are a joke the world over.When rules are bent for hundreds of VIPs, what do terrorists have to fear? Perhaps the wonderfully talented Shah Rukh Khan, beloved of....

In August company

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Lets make a pledge this 15th August 15th August is approaching. We are getting ready to celebrate that great document that forms the foundation of our modern existence: the Constitution of India. As Independence Day rolls around again, lets discuss the most fundamental principle of our constitution, the principle of equality. Do we practice it in our daily lives? The ludicrous fracas by politicians over the "frisking" of APJ Abdul Kalam was an example of how we continue to overthrow the principle of equality. Pray, how is a routine security check a violation of anyone's self respect? We live in a democracy yet strangely we continue to regard democratic norms as insulting. Not only do we refuse to stand in queue and patiently wait our turn, but when a wonderfully idealistic citizen and archetypal aam admi like Kalam happily stands in queue and submits to a....