There is no denying that the changing numbers have dented the image of the Election Commission of India, and the credibility of the election process itself under the EVM system is increasingly coming under strain. This is a blow to democratic systems, processes and traditions in India.
If the East India Company used complex mechanisms and took 100 years to seize control and loot a subcontinent, the tech imperialists of today have the power to replay that story with nothing more than code, clicks, and clips that can divide people, break institutions and incite violence.
The conduct of the CJI has thus invited some questions from even his admirers, and given rise to a new conversation on the motives for this distinctly religious bent being brought out openly in public debate, given that the CJI recently visited the Ram temple at Ayodhya. This is not good news for the legal system and the two sides in the…
Minus any of the JRD charisma, and in fact distinctly uncharismatic as he was, Ratan Tata still stood out as a gentlemanly leader who kept a sense of grace and an understated manner in a business world that has gotten all too loud and flamboyant
The BJP is not really taking on the immense political challenge of explaining and then persuading the people to go with the right-wing turns in policies it seeks to implement; it is sneaking it in, and in that it is being met with defeat after defeat.
Yet, this will be a delicate task that may test India much more than Bangladesh. This is because the secular credo of Yunus and a pro-poor agenda that has defined his work and his life pose a unique political challenge to the agenda of right-wing politics that holds centre stage in India.
The government’s answer is to keep the pot boiling as it lives a Rip Van Winkle story – almost as if it slept through the election results and now wants to live an old reality in a new world.
As the world turns more careful and looks to build with caution and care, the Indian State is going berserk in multiple directions with the goal of showing its strength outside India while ordinary Indians are getting the rough end.
In that light, the words of Mohan Bhagwat signal discomfiture. But his hesitation to name Modi and call him out indicates that the RSS is caught in a trap of its own making.
India can be forced to shine but whether the people of India will shine remains the question, and that remains the ground on which the Congress is making huge strides in its fight against the BJP in this election.
