In the Karnataka Legislative Assembly election of 12th May, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got eight seats short of the halfway mark but won the “prize.” Its party leader, B.S.Yeddyurappa, who has previously spent time in prison, got to be sworn in as the new Chief Minister. He “enjoyed” the throne for just 55 hours. The BJP had made a bid to usurp power but had to give way unceremoniously, even before a test on the floor of the house to prove its majority.
Category Archives: Analysis
The Aadhaar of Unfairness
The following article was written by Sangeeta Delampady, a young political activist based in Bangalore.
It is not a rarity these days to receive frequent text messages asking for the linking of Aadhaar to a bank account or a mobile number. The government has been asking us to link this universal ID to various utilities. It has become voluntarily mandatory for every single citizen to link Aadhaar to several services so as to avail the required facilities without interruption or disconnection. Aadhaar has been hailed as a one-step, or to be precise, one-fingerprint solution for all our needs. This 12-digit number is supposed to make our lives convenient and give an identity to those who do not have any ID-related document. But is that really the case?
Is the end in sight?
Wind of dissent developing against Modi regime. Economic whims of Modinomics will trigger serious, longterm political implications
The current scenario looks like, India’s Modi regime has run out of steam. First time since its euphoric victory in May 2014, it is on a back-foot, even to the extent of backtracking some of its much touted policy economic decisions. Undoubtedly, even within Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), dissension is out and vocal on Demonetisation (Currency Ban) and Goods and Services Tax (GST), making Modi and his coterie vulnerable. Though it may be bit too early to predict BJP’s fortune in 2019 General Elections, for the first time in three years, on a general scale one could see winds of dissent developing against the Party wielding power for the so called monolith of Hindutva.
The assassination of dissent
Gauri lankesh took on the forces of reaction through her meticulous political stand point
It started with Dhabolker, then Pansare, followed by Kalburgi and on 5th September of this year it was Gauri Lankesh. Many of us who rush to write or say things about such horrifying events are dumbstruck even to this day, months after that ghastly murder. Gauri Lankesh, who was our own and personally known to many thousands, her popularity as a people’s person became more than evident on the 12th September “I am Gauri -We are Gauri” rally, which drew thousands from all walks of life. As a testimony to her truly secular nature, people from all faiths and religions thronged the Bangalore rally. Very much like her illustrious father; P Lankesh, Gauri too was undoubtedly a unique person of the masses, who was consciously dissenting, struggling and was avowedly anti-establishment, like her father never feared to say it loudly.
Modern Rasputins!
On 25th August 2017 afternoon, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Panchkula, Haryana – delivered its verdict in a 2002 sexual assault case of two female disciples of Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS). The religious leader of the Dera – Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was convicted of rape. The aftermath of the judgement triggered massive rioting across North India in which around 38 people were killed, 300 injured and 500 arrested. Obviously the tremors of this incident could be felt a lot earlier. But it was the utter shameful and callous administration of the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar – that failed miserably to take sufficient precautionary measures to contain the rioting by the Dera followers and to safeguard the public.