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There are few people more famous in the political song movement than Pete Seeger, whose 100th birthday was celebrated on May 3, 2019. Along with his contemporaries Paul Robeson, Woody Guthrie, and others, Seeger represented the might of song in highlighting the common cause, strengthening courage, and inspiring resistance. For these singers, song was a weapon in the struggle for a fair, equal, and peaceful society.

BHOPAL: Voters of seven Lok Sabha seats will exercise their franchise on May 6. The seven constituencies are Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul. All the seats which are going to poll on May 6 are held by the BJP.

The Congress realized late that surgical strikes ought to be politicized to win elections in today’s India where aspirations are not just about landing plum jobs and having fun at the mall but also winning against Pakistan and flaunting those victories. The “nationalist Bharatiya Janata” Party understood this streak in the average Indian and took advantage of the Congress reaction which was, from the outset, to deny “surgical strikes” and committing the bigger blunder of ridiculing the Indian Army, calling the Army Chief “Sadak Ka Gunda”, and doubting the IAF and more or less labelling the Chief of IAF a liar.

Kerala’s Muslim community has been rattled by a different kind of bombshell, this time from within the community. The minority community’s largest educational body has issued a circular banning the practice of Muslim girls covering their face on the campuses of the society’s institutions.

In his latest election speeches, especially in the Hindi heartland, the prime minister Narendra Modi has is heard emphasizing on the must for having a strong government. Modi has shifted the goalpost from nationalism and revering the sacrifice of army to India having a strong government. This shift obviously implies that all is not well with his nationalism slogan. Something is amiss.

At last, after years of suspense, the office of Lokpal has become functional. The quest for Lokpal began in the 1960s and several expert committees have debated at length on the necessity of a probe panel that is not under the government of day. The Lokpal would have control over investigative agencies like the CBI, when they are investigating corruption cases against public servants. In other cases, the CBI, which itself has been the centre of much controversy, will function under ministry of personnel.

WASHINGTON: Three top female organizers/activists, including Ai-Jen Poo of the labor-backed National Domestic Workers Alliance, have created “Supermajority,” a group designed to unite the nation’s majority, women, and push their issues to the top of the U.S. agenda in advance of next year’s presidential election.

As expected, the Easter Holiday Brexit reprieve was short-lived. And as April rolls into May (no pun intended), progress in breaking the European Union divorce deal deadlock is lacking.

Agent Orange wants Agent Saffron “turfed” out of contention. In a leader carrying the headline ‘Under Narendra Modi, India's ruling party is a threat to democracy’, Agent Orange has written that a coalition government led by Rahul Gandhi is a far better option than a BJP government led by Narendra Modi. But if that is not possible, it should be a coalition led by the BJP but not led by Narendra Modi who, says Agent Orange, has not changed much from the person who failed to prevent Gujarat 2002.

The fifth phase of Lok Sabha Election is marked by no holds barred election campaign. It has reached a new low, and even our Prime Minister is not without blemish, though EC has given him clean chit. The BJP is doing whatever it could to save its majority, but it is too late by now. Elections to the 374 out of 543 seats are already over in the first four phases. NDA, UPA, and Others could hope to win 140, 130, and 104 seats respectively indicating a strong possibility of emergence of a new fragile political realignment in India this month.