By T.J.S. George Unlike father Rajiv Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi has to wear two crosses — the Gandhi dynastic cross and the Vadra controversies cross. The second hurts more. The haste with which the Government has opened the Vadra can of worms points to the viciousness of today’s politics. But the worms…
Why North-East Citizens Rebel
February 5, 2019By T.J.S. George Imagine all South Indian States uniting on a platform of ethnic difference from the North, as C.N. Annadurai briefly contemplated once upon a time. Something similar is happening in the North-East. Ethnically, culturally and historically, the North-Eastern States have been different from the rest of India. North-Easterners often talked about going to…
When midgets hijack Democracy
January 29, 2019By T.J.S. George Small men in big chairs are usually dangerous. It isn’t just the Napoleon Complex: the tendency among short men to be overly assertive to make up for their lack of height. A politician who occupies a chair too big for him gets not only overly assertive but also contemptuous of others and…
MLAs for sale, again and again
January 22, 2019By T.J.S. GEORGE What a curse democracy has become. It truly is bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. With no stops. Look at the cabinet circus in Karnataka. Look at Devendra Phadnavis fighting ally-turned-enemy Shiv Sena. Look at Yogi Adityanath still struggling to figure out whether governance is animal or vegetable….
Ayyappa politics is sacrilege
January 16, 2019By T.J.S. George Two factors are preventing the Sabarimala conundrum from moving towards a solution — and the self-promoting politics of BJP-RSS forces are too unimportant to be one of them. It’s true that Hindutva extremists’ political obstructionism drew attention in the early days through violence. Although their campaign was in the name of tradition,…
Claims Vs Facts in a New Year
January 8, 2019By T.J.S. George Now that a week has passed, we can reckon how many New Year resolutions have already been broken and how many are left to go down the drain. There is nothing here to feel guilty about. What are New Year resolutions for if not for breaking? Anyway, a brand new New Year…
How Ambedkar makes us richer
December 25, 2018By T.J.S. George The Hindus wanted Vedas, and they sent for Vyasa who was not a caste Hindu. The Hindus wanted an epic, and they sent for Valmiki, an untouchable. The Hindus wanted a constitution, and they have sent for me.” That was B.R. Ambedkar at his biting best. He went on to underline an…
Hinduism triumphs over Hindutva
December 18, 2018By T.J.S. George This column has said more than once that the greatness of India lies in its majority community voting, not as Hindus, but as Indians. By far the most dramatic — and comforting — confirmation of this has been provided by the latest election results. The drama is contained in basic population figures….
Manufacturing humans to order
December 11, 2018By T.J.S. George Is editing babies in the womb the next big thing? A Chinese scientist who claimed the first embryo-engineered birth said the babies he produced would get neither HIV nor Alzheimer’s. The implication is that you can have children made to order as per your taste and preferences — children with blue eyes and…
Politics promotes bad manners
December 4, 2018By T.J.S. George When we say or do things that we should not say or do, it’s bad manners. In this election season bad manners became the very norm of public life. How else can we explain an educated and experienced political leader saying that Narendra Modi, Uma Bharati and Sadhvi Ritambara are lower caste people…
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