View Articles

Why is the BJP-led NDA government pursuing so keenly an unfinished Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh agenda to have a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU), which has been trying to have a free access into India’s burgeoning consumer market since 2007? India stands to gain little from such an arrangement. With its limited and mostly low-cost, low-technology small-value-added export basket, India can at best make only a tiny inroad into the EU market known for its preference to high quality products at competitive prices. On the contrary, EU, a hub of global high-technology products from automobile, transport and power equipment to wine and hi-fashion, can flood the Indian market with its world class wares and unsettle the current trade balance between the two markets.

On the eve of the recent death anniversary of Tollywood actor Uttam Kumar, the Kolkata-based intellectual circle erupted with praise for the long deceased actor. The universal appeal the actor still holds in almost all corners of this side of the fence of Bengal is somewhat astonishing and certainly cannot be attributed entirely through the commercial success of his films or the attempt of the current government administration to use his cult to gain popularity. Uttam Kumar’s appeal lay somewhere beyond these everyday matters and although unlike Ray, he was an insignificant figure in world cinema, his popularity did not dwindle away even after so many years after his departure. But often a man is more than a man, an actor becomes more than his acting skills and summation of his artistic achievements. What it is for Uttam Kumar that transpired him into greatness?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to the people of Bihar to vote the BJP for bringing about a parivartan (change) at his July 25 rally in Muzaffarpur reminded similar promise of change made by the TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in 2010 for ouster of the CPI(M). There was a similarity in the tone of the two appeals but Modi’s appeal was different in one way as he asked for an opportunity to serve Bihar. This simply reinforces the impression that his seeking a chance was not merely admission of his failure to keep his promise made during the Lok Sabha elections but more than that the lingering threat perception of losing his grip on the party.

What is going right with the Modi Government, and what has gone wrong with its rule now into the second year? It took only one year not only to frustrate voter expectations but also raise apprehensions of its divisive approaches worsening the state of polity overall, reflected in some social upheavals, saffronisation of educational and cultural institutions, and an authoritarian style of governance for all to see.

The infamous BJP leader Subramanian Swamy again captures the headline for all the wrong reasons. The unapologetic ultra-right wing leader was accused of delivering a “hate-speech” in Kaziranga University in the province of Assam leading to issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him by the local court. Swamy, with his characteristic swagger and lime-light hogging gestures did not appear to the local court. Instead he directly appealed to Supreme Court “challenging” the very notion of hate speech as unconstitutional. Though Swamy is not the first person to have argued that Indian Penal Codes regarding hate speech goes against the constitutional guarantee of free speech, his current political stature with regards to the nation’s own political equations makes this case a high profile one bringing the query regarding validity of hate speech laws in the fore-front.

Good times never prove lasting, particularly in politics. This reality must have by now dawned on the Modi government and the BJP leadership. Narendra Modi rode to power in May 2014 securing massive popular support. It usually takes time for new governments to lose their honeymoon period. With the passage of time, their failure to fulfill their populist election promises also starts generating anti-incumbency sentiment which climaxes as the next elections near.

The Congress’s emulation of the BJP’s earlier habit of disrupting parliament not only shows a lack of imagination, but is also politically damaging since it exposes the party’s mulishness, especially when it stalls measures like the one on goods and services which it earlier supported.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The efforts of a buoyant Kerala unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to forge a third front in the bipolar state, in the wake of its impressive performance in the Aruvikkara by-election, seem to have hit solid hurdles.

When the BJP was in opposition, it insisted that a union minister or a chief minister, involved in a scam, should first resign before the party would agree to have a debate in Parliament or a state assembly. When the then Railway Minister Pawan Bansal was found involved in an alleged racket, the BJP, as the main opposition, disrupted Parliament day after day, demanding “first resignation and then debate”. It adopted the same approach when the former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar tried to influence the CBI in a case. Ultimately, both the ministers had to quit and faced the inquiry and Parliament was allowed to function.

LUCKNOW: Governor Ram Naik has expressed concern over the deterioration in education and standard and adverse impact of large scale copying in Uttar Pradesh.