Home Truths

43

In the forbidding corridors of North Block, the shadow of Sardar Patel, the country's first home minister looms large. Every person who has since occupied the powerful office is constantly reminded of the Iron Man of India: a life-size portrait of Sardar stares down at them. It's a burden which has weighed heavily on Patel's successors, which is perhaps why the country's roll call of home ministers is littered with notable failures. There was SB Chavan who fiddled while the Babri Masjid was brought down; Brahmanand Reddy who silently acquiesced in the Emergency; Buta Singh, whose singular act in bowing his head at the feet of VHP mentor Deoraha Baba was a new low in Indian politics; Charan Singh who was constantly plotting on how to become prime minister; Indrajit Gupta, who like a good leftie spent more time on pay commission hikes than on fighting militancy; and, of....

Wake up, Mumbai

68

As the megapolis one grew up in, there is an obvious emotional attachment to Mumbai. Which is why, at a studio discussion this week, when a panelist referred to the maximum city registering minimum voting as a sign of Mumbai's "resident non-Indian" mentality, I felt a little aggrieved. Surely, a city with the energy and enterprise of Mumbai, a city which literally never sleeps, cannot be seen through such a cynical worldview. And yet, as voting day for the Maharashtra assembly elections wore on, it became increasingly apparent that Mumbai was struggling to pass Pappu's electoral test. The overall voting percentage was just around 45 per cent, only a shade better than the disgraceful 43 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections, and still well below the state average of 60 per cent. If Naxal-affected Gadchiroli could see a voter turnout of 63 per....

Maharashtra becoming recipe for political chaos

20

The mess that is Maharashtra is perhaps best exemplified by the Mahim Dadar constituency in the heart of Mumbai. Considered the fortress of the Maharashtrian middle class, once famous for the assembly line of cricketers thrown up by the neighbourhood, it is now symbolic of the deeply fragmented polity of the state. Contesting in the state assembly elections here is a popular regional television star who has just joined the Shiv Sena against a 'defector' who switched overnight to the Congress from the Sena and was 'rewarded' with a ticket. Also in the fray is the X factor of the Maharashtra elections, a candidate from Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Three Shiv Sainiks in direct conflict in a constituency which the Sena hasn't lost in over 20 years: can there be a better example of how Bal Thackeray's legacy is now splintered? The predicament of....