View Articles

Now, if we can forget war, we can get on with life and with the general elections. That is a thought which is not the pitch because war makes a stronger pitch to make all the correct noises to win elections. Watching and listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi is proof. He’s up first light of the day and thereafter it’s a daylong diatribe against rivals who are demonized for not giving a thought to “our armed forces.” It’s as if the entire opposition is “anti-national” and the BJP alone is in the trench with the “jawan.”

Tribal lands have always been for grab. On March 4 the tribals observed Bharat Bandh in protest against their evictions from their own land and accused the state governments of helping the big business in their attempt to grab their lands.

They are fighting on semantics now. The Bharatya Janata Party and the Congress. Whether Pulwama was an “accident” or an attack. It is a deliberate attempt to confuse, to make a ‘Baat Ka Batangad’, some would say. An “accident” when it’s planned is an attack. But who will tell that to Congress stalwart Digvijay Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi? Digvijay Singh called Pulwama an “accident” and invited attack.

Poll issues have changed overnight after the Pulwama terror attack on February 14 and India’s subsequent retaliation. It is clear now that all the earlier issues like Rafale scam, jobs, rural crisis etc. have taken a back seat to the terror narrative which presently gives an advantage to the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Whether it will give them votes is a different question.

Pregnant in the din over demands for proof of kill and statements that patriots shouldn't ask for proof, whether or not targets were struck or only trees were uprooted, is the conduct of the media both sides of the border. Sections of the Indian television news media have turned ‘warmongers’, studio warriors demanding Pakistan be taught a lesson, giving fodder for their Pakistani counterparts to pit India’s militaristic intentions with a ‘peaceful Pakistan’ narrative.

Talk of impeaching GOP President Donald Trump for “high crimes and misdemeanours,” to quote the U.S. Constitution’s language, is heating up in Congress – if not in all of the country – yet.

BHOPAL: Controversial statement by former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh and by two states cabinet Ministers have come handy to the BJP to launch a fierce attack on the Congress.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Communist Party of India’s (CPI) list of candidates for the four Lok Sabha seats it is contesting from Kerala is a judicious mix of youth and experience.

BJP’s Sankalp Rally at Patna on March 3 was different from its other rallies. While at other rallies Narendra Modi would despise and deride the Nehru –Gandhi family, in Patna he was heard borrowing the political punch line delivered by Indira Gandhi in 1971 wherein she had said “I am fighting to finish Garibi, but the opposition was trying to finish me”. At the Patna rally Modi said “ I am trying to finish terrorism but opposition is plotting to finish me”.

Air Chief BS Dhanoa said Monday the “operations are still ongoing”, meaning what? Is he saying India has not de-escalated, doesn’t matter if Pakistan has or has not? Another question: Was Dhanoa fielded by the Modi government to answer some of the questions and “doubts” asked and expressed by the opposition parties? A valid question. BJP is in election-mode and wants to take full advantage of Balakote and the opposition is bent on denying Narendra Modi and Amit Shah any such advantage.