'Curfew City' will never change its ways

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As I'm writing this blog, the entire old city of Hyderabad is under curfew. At least one person died and over 50 were injured in the communal clashes in the last two days. Having failed to control a bunch of rioters, the Hyderabad City Police have decided to lock all the residents in their homes by clamping indefinite curfew. About an hour ago, a senior police official issued a statement saying that the situation was peaceful. He was ridiculously correct. After five hours of imposition of curfew, what else does he expect other than peace? But can he guarantee peace once the curfew is lifted? In the recent years, Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, has earned several new names. The Hitech City, Cyberabad and the Silicon Valley. But it only deserves to be called the 'Curfew City'. A few people belonging to both the communities....

Why Women's Reservation Bill is Anti-Muslim?

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The empowerment of one group leads to the weakening of another. That's one of the basic principles of Indian politics. The passing of Women's Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha is another such step. Once it crosses all hurdles, the Bill will certainly empower Indian women, in general. But it will also prove to be a death knell for the Muslim politics. Of 543 Lok Sabha seats, 84 are already reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 47 for Scheduled Tribes. Once 33 per cent of the total seats are reserved for women, the Muslim leaders will be left with very few seats to contest and win. The intelligentsia argues that Muslim women can contest and win from the reserved seats. But the chances of active participation of Muslim women in politics look remote. India failed to produce a single Muslim women leader at the national level since....

The anatomy of Telangana agitation

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It happened once again. On 20th February, a student Yadaiah attempted suicide by setting himself ablaze in the Osmania University campus in full public view. Minutes after he was shifted to the hospital, the Telangana agitators started waving his life-size photographs. Even copies of his 'suicide note' reached the scores of reporters covering the violence in the OU campus. While Yadaiah's love for Telangana is undisputable, I suspect whether he willingly attempted suicide. At least I don't want to believe that Yadaiah's suicide bid was a spontaneous reaction. The authorities need to find answers for: who were all aware that he would attempt suicide; who were possessing the suicide note and why; when, how and who brought his life-size photographs in the campus and how the media representatives got access to his suicide note even before the police got it and why did he choose the place where....

The mirage of Muslim reservation

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Exactly 12 days after India achieved independence, the Scheduled Castes and the Muslims were given political reservation. Following a debate on 'Report on Minority Rights', they were classified as 'minorities' and the Constituent Assembly passed a bill giving them reservation proportionate to their population. The next day, some members intelligently brought an amendment to the bill stating that the SCs were part of the Hindu community. A day after the bill was passed (on 28th August 1947), Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a member of Constituent Assembly, objected to the use of word 'minority' for 'Muslims'. "I refuse to accept Muslims to be a minority. Now you say you have done away with this communalism. Are we not calling a minority to refer only to Muslims? The Muslims refuse to be called a minority if parties are formed on political line," he said. Maulana was not allowed to speak....

Political mafia is ruling Hyderabad

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The process of creation of separate Telangana state is going on in reverse direction. Usually, any government first examines a particular demand (Telangana in this case) through an expert panel; based on panel's recommendations, it consults all the concerned parties; builds consensus and then makes a final statement. But Home Minister P.Chidambaram first made a statement acceding Telangana; then the government tried to build consensus; later, it invited all parties for talks and now it announced the constitution of an expert panel to study the demand. This reverse process has badly hit the lives of common man in the entire Andhra Pradesh. Since the last few weeks, Hyderabad has been witnessing the ugliest moments in the history of Andhra Pradesh politics. Political leaders, businessmen, sportsmen, film makers and the general public are being forced to bow before the goons and those who are leading them. All elected....

Babri Masjid is back, again

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Babri Masjid is still haunting the Indian politics. Though its structure was demolished on December 6, 1992, its ghost is refusing to die ever after 17 years. From the origination of this controversy in December 1949 to the leakage of Liberhan Commission report today, the Babri Masjid issue must have been debated in the Parliament for several times, but without any results. Strategically, the politicians are just discussing the problem and not the solution. The observations of Liberhan Commission were not surprising and new. It took nearly 17 years and 48-extensions for Justice Liberhan to understand that the BJP leaders were "pseudo-moderates". It took over a decade-and-a-half for the commission to establish that LK Advani and Vajpayee were responsible for the demolition. He appears to have re-told an already known story using a different terminology. The leaked report also talks of inaction by the police....

Should Jagan replace YSR?

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Who will be the next Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh? Though K.Rosaiah already took over as the chief minister, everyone says he is just an 'interim' CM. A majority of Congress Ministers, MPs and MLAs in the state are now demanding that YSR's son Jagan Mohan Reddy be made the next CM. YSR ruled the state for over 5 years. He died in a tragic helicopter crash. There is no doubt that YSR's death has shocked everyone in the state. Despite all controversies, he emerged as the most powerful leader. But does his father's political profile entitle Jagan to replace him as the chief minister? YSR was a not a superficial leader. He was four-times MP and six-times MLA. He was the opposition leader from 1999-2004. He toured the entire state on foot to take his popularity to a high. Infact, YSR earned the chief ministerial post on....

I will remember YSR, forever

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It was the most difficult coverage of my career. I never thought that I will be forced to report the death of a person whom I admired the most. Being a crime reporter, I have reported innumerable deaths in the last 13 years. People died due to bomb blasts, train and road accidents and various other reasons. Over the years, like many other reporters, I became so inert that I stopped feeling bad about anybody getting killed, especially if he is a politician. But YSR's death changed everything. "CM Sir, one small sound-byte in English," "Sir please spare five minutes for the national channels," and similar requests that I made to YSR in the last 5 years started echoing in my mind, soon after we got confirmation about his death on last Thursday. Most of the time, YSR accepted those requests. He used to look at the waiting reporters....

Do we need a Muslim party?

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"Delimitation makes Muslims a force." This was the headline of a leading English daily of Hyderabad which claimed that the delimitation process has made Muslims a dominant force in 15 Lok Sabha seats of the State and a deciding factor in 40 assembly constituencies. There were several other media reports explaining how the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies may benefit the Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh. Such stories, of course, increased the enthusiasm among the Muslim voters. Many political pundits predicted that 2009 general elections would see an increase in the number of Muslim representatives in the elected bodies. The election process began and ended. But as always, Muslims remained where they were five years ago. The number of Muslim MLAs remained 11 while the representation in the Lok Sabha got reduced from two in 2004 to only one now. This time major parties nominated....

The Business of Politics

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This is a simple story of how rich are becoming richest in India. A 36-year young man wanted to start a new business. Several corporates came up with huge piles of cash to help him. Even before one business became fully operational, he decided to venture into another. Again nearly a dozen corporates operating in different domains arranged hundreds of crores of rupees in no time. With the right kind of financial back up, the young man became so successful that his worth has increased by over 200 times in less than five years. You may be surprised as to how this story of unprecedented success was never reported by any of the business newspapers and channels in the last few years. Surprisingly, this young gentleman never wanted publicity for his success. Infact, he was never accessible to the media. He never spoke to the media about his....