Karnataka - An outsourced Congress government?

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DK Shivakumar, one of the most powerful Vokkaliga leaders and a six-time MLA was in the race for the Chief Minister's post till last week. He has now failed to secure even a ministerial berth in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet. Charges of corruption against him forced the Congress high command to drop his name from the list of ministers. Another strong man of Congress from Bangalore R Roshan Baig has also missed his chance of becoming a senior minister on alleged corruption charges. Mining baron Anil Lad has also been denied a ministerial berth because of his alleged involvement in the mining scam. According to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he has been forced to keep at least five powerful Congress MLAs out because of pressure on him not induct 'tainted' people. Siddaramaiah's 28 members strong Karnataka Cabinet is now being described as a very weak ministry in the....

In Karnataka, the lotus won't bloom this summer

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First things first. The BJP can see the writing on the wall and realise that the urban local body poll results are the beginning of the end of saffron party in Karnataka. Political pundits and political leaders are having a field day analysing the results threadbare with their own versions. Any sane person in Karnataka will agree that the current BJP government is the most corrupt since Independence. Such a discredited party does not need any other reason to pack its bottomless bags and leave. In 2008, the BJP came to power on its own due to various reasons. BS Yeddyurappa used Kumaraswamy's betrayal to the hilt. He campaigned like a man possessed. He cleverly managed moneybags, disgruntled leaders in the Congress and played the Lingayat card by publicly winning the support of powerful Lingayat mutts across the state. The voters also wanted to give a....

Public fury over Delhi gangrape case

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'Fasi do, Fasi do - death to rapists, death to rapists' - slogans continue to rent the air at India Gate to Vijay Chowk. Young people from all parts of Delhi descend over the heart of Lutyen's Delhi. They are angry, they are upset, they have no faith in the system and some want to change it over night. Twenty one-year-old Neha is from a South Delhi family. She is doing MBA at a prestigious college. She was upset that somebody asked her if she was from Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). "I don't belong to any party. I have no interest in politics. But, I want a safe city. I have come here on my own," she fumes. Nineteen-year-old Pinky is from Vinod Nagar in East Delhi. She works at a Super Market as a salesgirl. She was at India Gate....

Why Karnataka is not Gujarat Part Two

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On 13 February, I wished Pramod Muthalik a 'Happy Valentine's Day' in advance! To my surprise, Muthalik, whose Sri Rama Sene, known for its strident opposition to 'foreign culture,' was more than welcoming. When I asked him about this sudden change of stand, Muthalik said rather philosophically, "I tried my best to oppose such things in the past. The BJP government persecuted me for that. I have been facing more than 20 criminal cases slapped by the BJP government. The BJP government in Karnataka could be anything, but a pro-Hindutva government. It is a gang of criminals and people without any morality or committment to Hindutva ideology. Why should I suffer by opposing Valentine's Day or pub culture? I have decided to keep quiet this time. I want the people to kick this government out in the elections next year." After two days, Tehelka carried a cover....

I am a farmer and I want FDI

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I was still in college when farmers' leader Professor MD Nanjundaswamy's men ransacked the first outlet of Kentucky Fried Chicken on Brigade Road in Bangalore. That was in the mid-1990s. The vandalism attracted national and international attention. It led to a fierce debate over the entry of foreign retailers into India. Anti-KFC people argued that the American eatery would eliminate local poultries. I was confused. But I believed the anti-KFC lobby was right. Fifteen years on, I admit that I was mistaken. It is true that KFC has opened outlets all over India and is thriving. But not a single poultry or chicken shop has downed its shutters because of the advent of the American fried chicken chain. The ongoing debate over FDI in the retail sector brings back memories of those days when foreign brands ran into stiff resistance when they tried to enter India. I....

In Ayodhya, Dasaratha's wives gorged on idli-dosa

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AK Ramanujan's essay,'Three Hundred Ramayanas-Five Examples And Three Thoughts On Translation,' has finally been dropped from the history syllabus of Delhi University. I wrote the following article in the last week of February 2008. Nothing has changed in the last three and a half years. I think my three and a half years old article is as relevant today as it was then. The late AK Ramanujan is arguably one of the best-known Indian writers worldwide. Ramanujan, who taught at the University of Chicago for decades, introduced India's oral folktales to the West through his scholarly and fascinating writings and translations. The Mysore-born Ramanujan died 15 years ago in the United States but he is now making news in Delhi, no thanks to our ill-informed and self-proclaimed custodians of Hinduism and Hindu mythology: the outfits of the RSS like ABVP and VHP. Ramanujan's essay, "Three Hundred Ramayanas-Five Examples....

Solitary Song of Shimoga

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The only thing most people in Shimoga discuss these days is real estate. The real estate bug has bitten the people of Shimoga. Wherever you go in this booming town in the south central Karnataka, you witness construction work in full progress. Shimoga is no longer a sleepy, quiet provincial town once known for its great intellectual wealth and its people's unending quest for knowledge. Shimoga has always been a politically very important district contributing four chief ministers to the state. The latest contribution is the current chief minister B S Yeddyurappa. With his "ascension" as the first BJP CM in the entire South, Shimoga's real estate fortunes started to soar. A close family friend of mine whose family has been in Shimoga for over three centuries told me that a small piece of land he bought 15 years ago for just....

Gill is over the hill

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Sports minister M S Gill is an instant politician (instant as in instant coffee). He has never won any election. (The Rajya Sabha election isn't really an election. It is just a nomination and India would be better off without the house of so-called 'elders'). His understanding of public sentiment is poor. People who get power without effort begin to believe power is their birthright. They owe their authority to some individual, not to the people. This turns them into big abusers of power. With them, you must watch out for a daily display of arrogance. Gill behaved like a lout when distinguished sportsmen visited his house on Tuesday. His graceless act of pushing Satpal Singh, legendary wrestler and world champion Sushil Kumar's coach, has shocked the nation. But I am neither shocked nor surprised by Gill's behavior. He has a history of shameful, silly behavior. Six years....

Mangalore Diary: Highrises, malls & beautiful Bunt women

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One of the best descriptions of Mangalore comes from 'Outlook' editor Krishna Prasad. He writes: "The tourist guidebooks don't quite put it that way, but Mangalore has always been a bit like the city's trademark ice cream, the 'gadbad'. A potpourri of religions and languages-Hinduism and Islam, Christianity and Jainism, Tulu and Konkani, Kannada and Malayalam-that's one delicious whole. Canara Pinto buses dovetail Durgamba; Yenepoya College isn't far from St Aloysius, which isn't too far from Kasturba." Many Mangalores exist within Mangalore. It is Mangalooru in Kannada, Mangalore in English, Kudla in Tulu, Kodiyala in Konkani, Mykal in Beary and Mangalapuram in Malayalam! Perhaps no other city in India (and perhaps in the world) has so many names in so many languages. Most Mangaloreans speak three languages: Kannada, Konkani and Tulu. A few speak two more: Beary and Malayalam. Once our firebrand leader George Fernandes....

The second landing for the king of good times

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It's the latest partnership in Indian politics, the King of Good Times with Karnataka's farmer king. Liquor baron Vijay Mallya stepping out to file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha, two years after his first term ended. Backing him in his efforts is H D Deve Gowda who has 27 MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly. Gowda refused to support the Congress, and his decision to back Mallya instead has sparked off speculation of the nature of the deal struck between Mallya and the former prime minister. Mallya walked the corridors of Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore, flanked by two of Gowda's MP sons and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and JDS legislative party leader and MLA H D Revanna with nomination papers in his hands. Gowda's most favourite son, H D Revanna, handled all the paperwork before Mallya filed his nomination papers. For a change, Mallya was behaving....