US politician and Obama’s first ambassador Timothy Roemer, a keen observer of demographic trends, rather dramatically describes the changes taking place in the Indian state of Punjab due to immigration from Eastern India and Bangladesh. Based on his interaction with social and political leaders from the state, Roemer also noted that the Islamic religion — […]
Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar has expressed his reservations about the Government’s political judgement and called its actions arrogant and out of touch. “It is unimaginable that a popular movement is being blocked like this,” Ravishankar, one of the founding members of the India Against Corruption alliance, said. “So many blunders are being committed. The […]
Despite the US’ official stand favoring an expansion of the UN Security Council, new diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks show how it was doing everything it could to delay or mould the reform process to its ends. According to them, the US delegation to the United Nations worked out a clear strategy to delay or […]
The Americans saw India as the biggest stumbling block in their attempts to achieve a compromise over the expansion of the UN Security Council to include new members. In diplomatic cables dating from 2007 — when the negotiations started gathering pace — to 2010, the US delegation to the UN variously characterised India as an […]
UN negotiations are often dull, drab and devoid of drama. However, occasionally, like on September 15, 2008, they become the stage for high drama that can give any Hollywood potboiler a run for its money. The following incident, which may aptly be characterized as an all out diplomatic war, happened between two opposing groups of […]
Two years before Japan, India, Brazil and Germany forced a showdown over admitting the four of them to the permanent member club of the UN Security Council, the Japanese had secretly approached the US with a proposal to admit just two new members. Going by the clues in the subsequent US diplomatic cables leaked by […]
Many who have never been to China wonder how it would be like, how it would feel to live in a reportedly ‘authoritarian’ monolithic society where strict control is exercised on all forms of expression and, apparently, fear rules. Whether the above image of China is the correct one or simply the result of Western […]
NDA leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has denied that the BJP-led opposition at the centre is playing dirty politics on the issue of the Lokpal bill. He denied the Congress’ accusation that the BJP led National Democratic Alliance is opposed to the strict anti-corruption law proposed by the campaigners led by Anna Hazare. […]
Former US representative to the United Nations, Peter Burleigh has taken over as the US ambassador to India. Burleigh, a former in-charge of the US embassy in New Delhi, had been impressed by Rahul Gandhi’s political skills, as revealed by a cable authored by him in 2009 and leaked by Wikileaks. In the cable, he […]
Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has called the ‘bubble gum’ episode “India’s Watergate” and called for a thorough investigation into the matter. “Is it that the Government was spying on its own Finance Minister? Or is it a Corporate House,” she asked in a tweet, echoing the […]
Baba Ramdev, the Yogi with crores of followers, especially among the elderly, is in no mood to give up his bid for a rightful place in India’s anti-corruption campaign despite being forcibly thrown out of Delhi once. Acharya Balkrishna, the main aide to the Baba, said the Baba will “join” Anna in his protest in […]
A US diplomatic cable written two years ago has revealed how the Left parties, which opposed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal tooth and nail, were the most aggressive when it came to enjoying the fruits of that agreement. The alliance between the Congress party and the Left parties (which were supporting the UPA at that […]
An official from the US embassy at Islamabad was so ruffled by the harsh reactions of Pakistani foreign and defence experts to the Indo-US nuclear deal that he suggested a new name for the conference in a bitter account of his ‘travails’. “…the conference should have been billed ‘Seminar on U.S.-Indian Perfidy (untrustworthiness)’” the official […]
Baba Ramdev may get most of his demands met by the government even before he starts his fast in less than 24 hours from now. According to sources, the Government is keen to present him with an ‘action plan’ at the venue of his planned fast, which is due to start tomorrow. The marathon meetings […]
The crowd tells you all. The kind of people you associate with also defines the contour of your movement. Unlike the crowds that donned the movement of Anna Hazare against the corruption couple of months ago, Baba Ramdev’s movement against corruption has assumed communal tinge with the association of the RSS and the BJP and […]
Kapil Sibal, cabinet minister and chief interlocutor for the Government in the Baba Ramdev case, accused the Baba of going back on his word after promising to withdraw his agitation by 6 June. “By 2 pm he was supposed to announce that he would end the fast on 6 June (Monday). He did not keep […]
Kiran Bedi, former IPS officer and one of Anna Hazare’s Lieutenants, blamed India’s opposition parties for failing to take up the issue of corruption and pointed out politics is not the preserve of those who seek to monopolize it. She said that people like herself and Anna Hazare were forced to take up the issue […]
Anna Hazare’s fast at Raj Ghat — the final resting place of Mahatma Gandhi — is sharply focused on protesting the violent crackdown on anti black money protest last Saturday and upholding the people’s right to peaceful protest. “The Government is saying that if you are going to say things that are unpleasant to us, […]
Vincent M Concessao, archbishop of Delhi Arch Diocese who had expressed reservations on Baba Ramdev’s movement, has joined Anna Hazare at his fast site near Mahatma Gandhi’s final resting place at Raj Ghat. The gesture is seen as an endorsement of the anti-corruption movement and a reply to those who try to portray the movement […]
Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare has termed the crushing of Baba Ramdev’s agitation on Saturday a “crime against humanity” and compared it to the Jalianwalah Bagh massacre, “but for the shooting.” He alleged that the Government has been putting up obstacles in the process of framing the Lokpal bill. “If this keeps on happening, I state, […]
