General in his labyrinth: Khanduri and the Uttarakhand Lok Ayukta Act

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"War is too important to be left to the generals," said Georges Benjamin Clemenceau, French premier during World War I. Nicknamed "the Tiger", Clemenceau would frequently visit the frontlines during the war to observe performance of the senior military. Major General Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri's rehabilitation as the chief minister of the poll-bound Uttarakhand a few months back had a clear ringing over-tone: BJP's electoral preparations in this state were being conducted on a war footing. The general was called in to marshal all his resources to mount the final assault. His predecessor, Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, had been "found out"; internal party surveys said he lacked both credibility and ability to take on the Congress. Now what does the general do to lift the sagging morale of his forces and also that of the people? He sends his chief secretary for three clandestine meetings with Anna Hazare's....

Inside Yavatmal: Shakuntal, Bt or the beast

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Shakuntala meanders its way past baked vast tracts of dry land with aplomb and elegance. In 1923, almost a century back when most parts of the country were not even connected by motorable roads, Yavatmal had a railway station and a train which plied every day on narrow a gauge to Murtajapur in adjoining Akola district. So much has happened since then in this part of the country; so much has been written about it. Unperturbed, Shakuntala continues to perform its daily chores. One round trip every day to Murtazapur seven days a week. The British had an economic interest when they laid down these tracks. To mop up raw cotton from the fields of Yavatmal and transport it further to Mumbai. Cotton is still grown in this belt. Now they grow the Bt variety. In Delhi and beyond, the entire issue of genetically....

Inside India: Oranges, farmer suicides, IPL...

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March 28, 2010 Nagpur This is my second visit in thirteen months to the city of oranges - Nagpur. The last time I was here in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls to cover the BJP's national conclave. Two perennial quirks of the city hit me on the face the moment I stepped out of the train compartment - searing dry heat and another newspaper report on farmers' suicide in Vidarbha. "More than a dozen commit suicide" announced a Marathi daily in a two-column page one story; placing the news item strategically below the banner-eight column photograph of a tiger that had strayed onto the national highway near Chandrapur. A national daily in its Nagpur edition had put the figure at nine in a single column on the second page. Though a substantial space on page one was devoted to six youngsters from Vidarbha....

The Shimla Discord

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The Shimla ridge at seven thousand odd feet above sea level is the perfect altitude where the two can co-exist. Lovely deodars and moss coated oaks. As the sunshine washes the valley below after a torrential downpour, and a steady cool gale climbs up through the dense foliage, it's the perfect setting to attune the most discordant notes. Especially during the summer, when the plains below roasting under a livid sun crack open to receive the first monsoon rain; these hills over years have played host to the fiercest of adversaries, nudging them to walk together, talk with each other and at least look for solutions. So no prizes for guessing why the BJP leadership chose to climb up the hills to do some soul searching out of the current mess the party is in. If these majestic heights could make Indira Gandhi and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto shake....

Of Dara Singh et al

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The Council of the States or the Rajya Sabha bids farewell to one sixth of its members every second year. On an average six to seven of its two hundred and forty odd members bid adieu every session. Some are re-elected. Others aren't so lucky. Both Hema Malini and Dara Singh fall in the later category. Later this month, the two stars of yesteryears would retire after a six-year stint in the House of the Elders. Quite expectedly, Dream Girl's dream run in politics (one may call it that compared to Dharmendra's disastrous stint in the other house) drew considerable media coverage. Hema Malini, I am sure would by now be flooded with interview request. Dara Singh's retirement, despite a six feet plus ramrod frame that he carries at eighty; and with innumerable cameos under his belt- both on the silver and small screen- has not evinced....

The Mulayam Touch

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V P Singh, Devi Lal, Chandrashekar, Rajiv Gandhi, Kanshi Ram, Mayawati, Ajit Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Harkishan Singh Surjeet and A B Bardhan. And now Prakash Karat. Mulayam Singh Yadav has worked alongside all these top leaders. So, it's but obvious that the old Lohiate would have amassed considerable credibility and bonhomie in the political fraternity. All these stalwarts at different stages have agreed to forge alliance with him. Also quite ironically, none of these leaders and their parties except Mayawati could survive the Mulayam touch. Even a short spell of electoral understanding with the Samahwadi Party president meant, either losing a substantial vote bank to him or being reduced to the level of electoral redundancy. And who knows it better than the old Mulayam ally, the Communist Party of India, which once had a strong presence in the UP assembly. So while most political commentators seem....

Na Maya Mili Na Ram

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An innocuous piece in news wires caught my attention Sunday morning. One of those days when news flow dwindles. In journalistic parlance- a lean day. A meeting of top congress leaders- the report said- discussed the growth of Mayawati's BSP in the aftermath of the Uttar Pradesh polls. Not many newspapers picked up the story next day. Not surprising. And perhaps editorially correct judgment to make when the government was limping from one foot to the other to survive after the Left jab. But the story in many ways reflects the thinking within the congress as the party prepares for the next general elections, whether they are held in six months, eight months from now or whenever the left decides to pull the rug. In more ways then one, the lady now occupying the "pancham tal" or the fifth floor of the secretariat building in....

The Hu(m)e in Mulayam Land

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Twenty-seven years is a long time, especially in politics. That's how long the congress' present generation took to bring back Etawah on party's radar. Etawah, a small town on the banks of Yamuna as the river meanders towards the chambal ravines in southwestern Uttar Pradesh. In UP's altered political landscape, Etawah now is a district associated more with congress' bete noire Mulayam Singh Yadav. It's his home turf. His backyard. So twenty-seven years after the senior Mrs G, Indira Gandhi campaigned here, the daughter-in-law-Sonia, had ventured into Mulayam's den --- holding a rally in the heart of the town. That's also nearly one hundred and twenty seven years after the first congressman walked into Etawah. A Scottish civil servant by the name of A O Hume became the collector of the district in the pre-independence Central Province in 1880. Allan Octavian Hume. Founder of the congress party....

The Giant Killer

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I first met Om Birla on an early winter morning in Kota. Sharing the traditional Sindhi breakfast - Dal Pakwan - on oil-stained newspaper piece, he looked crestfallen. Hardly the body language one would expect of a budding political leader just days before Rajasthan was to go to polls to elect a new assembly in 2003. A caller from the BJP headquaters from Delhi had just informed him that he would be the party candidate for the prestigious Kota assembly seat in the forthcoming elections. Which meant that the state BJP stalwart Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi had decided to move to a safer territory leaving Birla to slug it out against the incumbent MLA and a minister in the then Ashok Gahelote government, Shanti Lal Dhariwal. Dhariwal, whom I had met a day before was just the inverse image of Birla, challenging anyone and everyone in the state....

UP for grabs

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Two images both from the holy town of Prayag and remarkable in every sense. Two images which also define the shifting paradigm in the Uttar Pradesh politics. A shift that was there in every sense but was missing in political discourse or; commentators were either shy or ignorant to see through it. These images are remarkable for they allude towards the end of a chapter in the politics of the most populous state. A chapter that started in 1989 with the advent of V P Singh's mandal politics and RSS's Ram Mandir movement. The first image is that of state the chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav taking a holy dip at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna on the auspicious day of the mauni amavasya. Nothing wrong in that. Chief Ministers or prime minister, everyone by virtue of the rights enshrined in the constitution are free to....