TRICKY POLITRICKS

  As the results of assembly elections in the states of Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttrakhand and Uttar Pradesh have been out with the BJP bagging four of the five states and the Aam Aadmi Party forming the government with a record-breaking majority in Punjab, some tropes are bound to follow with the not so surprising results. Formation of a committee by Sonia Gandhi to scrutinize the reasons for the demeaning defeat, primetime shows with absurdly creative headlines discussing for the billionth time how the Modi-Shah duo is unbeatable and the usual frustration and agony of the minorities still looking for a viable option to stand against the BJP juggernaut. By now even the political pundits of tea stalls would have started getting bored with the no masala elections being delivered by the political dispensation. Courtesy: Onmanorama Though, these election results were pretty soothing for the channels banking on their exit polls to be the most accurate, for a political nerd what lies in t...

A neighbour that we all despise. A country that was called ‘Global Migraine’ Madeline Albright, former US secretary of state. She was quoted as “My own sense is Pakistan has everything that gives you an international migraine. It has nuclear weapons, it has terrorism, extremists, corruption, very poor and it is in a location that is really, really important to us.”   It will not be wrong to say that a similar state also exists in India as well, just remove the terrorism characteristic, rather replace it with gangs and crime. A state that is not less than a migraine, but holds humongous importance for India. A huge landmass that is as large as Pakistan in terms of population but is approx one-third of it in area. Unfortunately, has GDP even lower than that of our neighbour’s. A state that is nothing but a bummer to India’s growth. While most of the states in India are showing trends of a shrinking population, this state is growing at a whopping rate of approx 2.7%. Appalling, this ...

India, that is Bharat, is the largest democracy in the world. Even though a partially free one now, it is popularly known for its ‘unity in diversity. Fortunately, or maybe not so, the politicians have been carrying this principle with them successfully. Despite disparities in various aspects, ranging from ideology and economics to caste and reservation, almost all of them have been united on exploiting divisive politics, because apparently, development could not have delivered them what identity can.  Courtesy: Weebly Based on ideological leaning many might think that some states, especially in southern India, are expectational to this fact. My advice to such readers is, think again. People tend to forget that India is a unique country. Maybe the only nation where even the voters of the communist party tend to hold their religious identity close to them. Net net, from the BIMARU states of the Hindi heartland to development models of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, identity has been dominat...