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| 'The BJP forged a politico-business nexus in K'taka' | 22-NOV-09 |
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| The recent crisis in the BJP government in Karnataka was focused on whether B S Yeddyurappa would remain as the chief minister or would the rebels get their way, or whether the BJP central leadership would succeed in affecting a compromise. |
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| Roles reversed | 20-NOV-09 |
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| How much the world has changed is best exemplified by its attitude towards China. A journalist asked CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury whether India should adopt the Chinese model of development. Yechury was quick to reply, “In 1978, when Mao Zedong said China needs capitalism, everyone criticised him. |
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| No one's home | 17-NOV-09 |
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| Interestingly, the familiar Left faces were not to be seen on various TV channels after the party got wiped out in the West Bengal by-elections. Sitaram Yechury, the most visible face of the CPI(M) on nightly television, was in Madrid participating in the 18th Congress of the Spanish Communist Party while Brinda Karat was in Brazil attending another fraternal party’s conference. Prakash Karat was in London around the same time. |
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| Abode of turmoil | 08-NOV-09 |
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| It is an eloquent comment on the deplorable state of the country’s higher education system that Visva Bharati, a central university founded by none else than India’s first Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore, was allowed to remain shut for about six weeks from September 24. Worse, neither the education ministry at the Centre nor the government of West Bengal, where the university is located, intervened in any constructive manner to defuse the crisis. At the centre of the controversy was the university’s vice-chancellor (VC), Rajat Kanta Ray, an academician of repute. The striking employees and teachers had alleged corruption, financial mismanagement and nepotism in a few of the decisions Mr Ray had taken. The VC’s response to these charges was to call for an external inquiry not only into the allegations against his conduct, but also into the “activities” of some of the workers. |
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| Room for manoeuvre | 03-NOV-09 |
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| While the CPI(M) is planning to restrict the tenure of the office bearers to a maximum of three terms (nine years), it is also keeping the backdoor open for a handful of leaders. The proposal of restricting the tenures in key posts, adopted at the last Central Committee meeting of the party, says that, in exceptional circumstances, for the interest of the party, an office-bearer can remain in his post even after his nine-year term comes to an end. |
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| Keeping Bush at arm's length | 01-NOV-09 |
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| CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri was invited to participate in the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. While giving him the invite, the organisers told him about the other participants, including former US president George Bush. When Yechury was asked the time that would be convenient to him, he made just one request — ensure the maximum possible time gap between his and Bush’s sessions. |
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| Musical politics | 30-OCT-09 |
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| Kabir Suman, the maverick singer-cum-MP in Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress takes politics so seriously he manages to convert even his musical shows into mini-rallies. At his first performance in the capital after he became an MP, Suman chose not to sing his popular songs, and instead sang song to sympathise with the Maoists and slamming the West Bengal government. He also gave short speeches in between the songs. “Whatever I did in life, people said someone else had done it before. But I am the first singer to defeat CPI(M)”. As the winter chill set in on the open air stage, Suman said, “I am sure the CPI(M) is thinking that if I die in the cold there will be a by-election and they can win back the seat. But I will not die so easily.” He did announce though, that he would not contest the Lok Sabha election again. |
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| Not by force alone | 28-OCT-09 |
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| Facts often become a casualty when politics starts dominating policy debates. A case in point is the ongoing wrangle over whether the West Bengal government should have let off some tribal women to obtain the release of one of its police officers, abducted by the Maoists operating in that region. Odious comparisons have been drawn between this incident and the release of hard-core terrorists in return of passengers of the Indian Airlines plane hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan about a decade ago. The reality is somewhat different. No proclaimed terrorists or convicted criminals have been released to obtain the freedom of the West Bengal police officer. The tribal women released by the government are neither members of the Maoist groups nor have they on their own indulged in terrorist activities. They were only mobilised by the Maoist groups in support of the latter’s cause. |
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| 'A constable is the most used and abused person ever' | 25-OCT-09 |
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| The challenge of internal security has two dimensions. The first is the state of our police system. That system is completely outdated and our police forces are ill-trained, ill-equipped and ill-paid. Adding to these woes are the short-sighted policies followed by governments with the objectives of control and patronage. |
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| CPI-M for PM's intervention in spectrum allotment issue | 23-OCT-09 |
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| The CPI(M) today said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take appropriate steps to ensure accountability in the controversial spectrum allotment issue, in the wake of CBI searches and Telecom Minister A Raja ruling out resignation. |
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| Congress starts to feel the Trinamool heat | 16-OCT-09 |
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| When Mamata Banerjee registered strong, vocal and public objections over the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, it was dismissed by the other allies in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as another one of her eccentricities. |
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Content Guide
