View Articles

The humiliating defeat of the BJP in the Bihar elections, after Delhi rout, has virtually shaken the party and seniors have sharply criticized the party leadership, Party veterans, sidelined by Narendra Modi, soon he assumed power, rose in revolt. L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha, and Shanta Kumar raising a banner of revolt against the leadership of Modi in the wake of Bihar debacle, said that the party has been 'emasculated' in the last one year and was being 'forced to kow-tow to a handful'.

The Bihar State Legislative Assembly Elections 2015, results of which were out on November 8, 2015, have downed the public credibility of media, both print and electronic, rock bottom. The so-called big media houses proved beyond doubt that once again they were wrong in the over all coverage of the election campaign by political parties in fray including the pre-election surveys and exit polls. Entire media coverage came a cropper.

PATNA: If the Delhi mandate gave the first resounding rebuff to RSS and the Narendra Modi government, Bihar has now unfurled the banner of revolt. Describing the Bihar assembly results as a vote against divisive politics of communal hate and religious intolerance practiced by the BJP would indeed be a too simplistic evaluation of the mandate. A closer look at the nature of the verdict makes it explicit that it was a protest against the policy of hegemony of the upper caste and landed gentry.

For the beleaguered NDA government smarting under the bitter Bihar Assembly verdict, the need to put on a brave face by fast-tracking some doable economic reforms to reestablish its credentials of pro-development credo is at no time more urgent than now. With the excruciating winter session looming large where a motley number of Opposition parties have gathered their scattered wits to put the Treasury Benches on the mat, close on the heels of their historic win in Bihar, the task on hand for the feisty Finance Minister and the Man Friday of the Modi Government Arun Jaitley is clearly cut out.

For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its drubbing in the Bihar Assembly elections would negatively impact its prospects in the next round of polls in West Bengal and Assam. Plans are afoot in both states to form Bihar-type coalitions of non BJP parties if possible, to defeat the saffron party. However, signs that the formation of such an alliance in West Bengal would not be easy, are already available.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown himself to be a silent spectator, often on crucial occasions of public disquiet, whether over the “growing intolerance” generated by rabid, violent elements of the extreme fringes of the Sangh Parivar including killing of some of the rationalists, or on challenging issues for his proclaimed “maximum governance” and ‘vikas’ juxtaposed with RSS Hindutva agenda goals.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The leaders of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) are mighty relieved that Finance Minister K M Mani has resigned, albeit more than a year after he came under a corruption cloud. But their sense of relief could prove short-lived if the sullen mood of the Kerala Congress (M) is any indication.

The windfall for the Congress Party in the Bihar Assembly polls winning seven times its present strength in the house has once again focused the attention on the Congress Party’s vice President Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as the president of the party. Even the Congress did not expect such a bonanza in a state where it has reached the bottom these past three decades. Its victory is its second best performance in Bihar since 1985.

India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi recently, the biggest ever foreign policy event to be hosted by India in three decades, has opened up new vistas of opportunities for strengthening particularly economic cooperation between India and 54 participating African countries. Though this is not the first meeting of India-Africa Forum, set in motion in 2008, the third meeting of the Forum in New Delhi has assumed significance with over 40 African heads of governments and states attending it.

Japan-China row is escalating year after year. Notwithstanding Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s remorseful statement on the 70th Anniversary of World War in August, 2015 , warming of Japan and China relation is a far cry. Tokyo might have given a thumping applause to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement. But the statement of remorse was viewed with skepticism in China. Alongside, Japan’s new security legislation for collective self defence added fuel to the Japan and China row.