October 6, 2007

Last week in these columns was published an appeal from the Mizzima journal, a monthly publication of Burmese expatriates, in its September issue, that instead of cosying up to the Burmese Generals ruling Myanmar with employment of brute force and terror, “India should look to winning the hearts of the Burmese people”.
Thereafter it was written:
As the democratic protests in Rangoon and other Burmese cities and towns acquire an all-encompassing character and one is uncertain of the (…)

I deem it a privilege to be invited to inaugurate today’s seminar on “Politics and Security”, it being the third theme of the Indo-Bangladesh Dialogue. The dialogue itself has been in progress now for over a decade; more importantly, it has retained its autonomous character and has brought together persons of diverse political persuasions and intellectual backgrounds. It is a credible manifes-tation of civil society interaction between the two countries.
I subscribe to the view that (…)

Washington is not interested in New Delhi’s official admission to the nuclear power club because that would enhance the latter’s influence in international affairs. An important objective of the Americans in the region is to turn India into a major factor capable of counterbalancing a rapidly growing China. In order to reduce the SCO’s role and influence in the region and to promote realisation of the American concept of a “Greater Central Asia”, Tokyo and Washington are trying to drag New (…)

The Indian Constitution does not provide for parliamentary approval of an international treaty as of today. In a democratic set-up change of guard is inevitable, but the treaty remains in force binding the nation for decades. If a wrong is done, it cannot be undone for long and the nation has to pay the price, maybe, in perpetuity. That is why a democratic government, unlike an autocratic regime, must seek a broad consensus before committing the nation to a foreign country. It cannot be left (…)

Two years ago, this journal had cautioned our compatriots against falling into the American trap by getting allured of the dream of becoming a great power under her patronage. That was when Pranab Mukherjee, the then Defence Minister, had visited the USA on an exploratory visit, as he described it. However, he returned after affixing his signature to a ten-year long Strategic Defence Agreement. The UPA Government’s record during the past two years has been that the Prime Minister is the (…)

Legendary freedom fighter and martyr Bhagat Singh’s birth centenary was observed on September 28 last week. We are reproducing the following articles (published earlier in Mainstream) in homage to the outstanding revolutionary hero’s abiding memory. He was and remains to this day a source of inspiration for our youth. The first piece carries excerpts from Ajoy Ghosh’s Bhagat Singh and His Comrades (published in Bombay, 1945); a close associate of Bhagat Singh, Ajoy Ghosh was implicated in (…)

Remembering Bhagat Singh on the sixtysecond anniversary of his glorious and heroic martyrdom (March 23) cannot be a ceremonial or routine affair today. When the entire country, plagued as it is with the Hindutva brand of communalism in its worst-ever ferocity and perfidy, is yet to overcome the trauma of the Ayodhya tragedy and the horrendous communal carnage that rocked large parts of this subcontinent thereafter, Bhagat Singh’s words are of particular relevance for our nation and polity. (…)

Bhagat Singh was born in Punjab on September 28, 1907, and was hanged by the British on March 23, 1931. So it may be said that in his short life-span of 24 years political activities covered at the most a period of seven to eight years. The young Indian revolutionary was sentenced to death before he could reach his thirties. It should not be expected that his concepts regarding revolution were full-fledged and mature and had taken definite shape at such an early age. Yet, his short political (…)

BOOK REVIEW
That’s OK, Tammanna and Other Reveries by Dr J. Bhagyalakshmi; Alok Parva Prakashan, New Delhi; pages 176.
It is amazing how Dr J. Bhagyalakshmi, a highly competent professional, could cover a huge field of creative literature with perfect ease and captivate the minds of the readers. So far, I was only aware of the moral and humanitarian aspects of her writings. I had read a very few of her books and seldom any ‘middles’.
That’s OK, Tammanna and Other Reveries, a (…)

The disclosure of the Indo-US agreement for the installation of the nuclear-powered spy device on the Himalayas—forced into the open, ironically, by the American press hunt for subversive CIA activities—is a matter which, shorn of its sensational aspect, brings out the tenuous character of our nonaligned foreign policy. Even the bitterest detractor of Jawaharlal Nehru cannot question his patriotism. And yet he, the father of the concept of nonalignment, was responsible for initiating the (…)