By T.J.S. George Power makes small people smaller. When the wheel of history turned and BJP became the ruling party, many of its adherents saw India exclusively as Bharat, their inheritance to play with. The tactically wise among them spoke in moderate terms even as they pushed their agenda forward. Prime Minister Modi, for example,…
By T.J.S. George In the 1950s, the Urbs Prima in Indies was Bombay, not Delhi. All important people lived there, all influential newspapers were published there, all ideological battles were fought there. Into this theatre of war came V.K. Krishna Menon, all guns blazing. The theatre of the absurd followed. Krishna Menon was a Congressman…
By T.J.S. George Prime Minister Modiji said at Belur Mutt: “Swami Vivekananda lives in the hearts and minds of crores of Indians.” Then he said: “The new citizenship laws will not take away anyone’s citizenship.” Then two things happened. 1. The Belur Mutt lost no time in distancing itself from the Prime Minister’s position. The…
By T.J.S. George What is happening to our country? Suddenly, it is a ship drifting in a storm, rudderless and captainless. The brutality that was unleashed in JNU last week was unprecedented, more in-your-face than the violence that recently rocked Jamia Milia and Aligarh. The goons, who beat up students and teachers at JNU, were…
By T.J.S. George Allow me to welcome the New Year with some old words. Actually they are timeless words, always relevant. They are reminders of our heritage, our possibilities and our shortcomings. Let them speak for themselves. M.K. Gandhi, January 1948: My fast, as I have stated in plain language, is undoubtedly on behalf of…
By T.J.S George The President of India in June 2019, six months ago: “My Government has decided to implement the process of NRC (National Register of Citizens).” The Prime Minister of India in December 2019, just a few days ago: “My Government has never discussed the word NRC.” So whose Government is running the country?…
By T.J.S. George All of a sudden India is in the throes of a second independence movement. Across the country, streets are aflame with rebellion, campuses are reverberating with protests, people are defying the law and thousands are getting arrested. Just as it was when the nation fought British imperialism. A new swadeshi imperialism has…
By T.J.S. George When will Sri H.D. Deve Gowda realise that people are fed up with his politics? His own followers are fed up. Many have quit and joined the BJP, including the President of the JD(S) Karnataka unit, A.H. Vishwanath. In last week’s by-elections, 15 seats were at stake. The BJP got 12 and…
By T.J.S. George Rahul Bajaj’s reference to “the atmosphere of fear in the country” has drawn widespread attention. Newspaper editorials and channel discussions carried its echoes. Failing to understand the mood of the moment, Nirmala Sitaraman added to the atmosphere of fear by warning that if personal impressions such as Bajaj’s gained traction, it would…
By TJS George This week, I shall plagiarise. Without shame. I shall reproduce whole sentences from a book review in the Financial Times of London because they are sentences that sum up our lives here in our country. The book is How To Be A Dictator by Frank Dikotter and the reviewer is Tony Barber,…
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