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To learn to lose is an art, but it gets quite complex when winning becomes a crafty science. This came out in the elections to the Bihar Legislative Assembly, where the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a massive number of 202 seats of the total of 243. Within the NDA, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 89 seats, the Janata Dal (United) or JDU won 85, while the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) or LJPRV won 19. NDA allies such as the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) got five and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha won four seats.
Let us recall the achievements of Indira Gandhi, whose birth anniversary we celebrate today. She has undoubtedly been one of India’s most powerful rulers ever — with a baggage of controversy as well.
She took over as the Prime Minister of India on 24 January 1966, following the unexpected death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. The senior leaders in the Congress assumed that, as she was a frail woman and quite inexperienced, they would continue to rule with her as an ornamental PM.
Himanta Biswa Sarma is upto his reprehensible antics once again. This time, he has picked on a very popular Rabindranath Tagore song Amar Shonar Bangla (‘O! My golden Bengal’) to declare its singing as an act of treason.
The massive street protests in Sri Lanka (2022), Bangladesh (2024) and Nepai (2025) toppled three legitimately elected governments primarily because the demos, common people in Greek, were convinced that the “democratic” structure which was meant to reflect their will did not do so. Surprisingly, Plato was critical of Athenian democracy and considered it to be chaotic, prone to mob rule, which elevates unqualified leaders through oratory, not virtue, and risks tyranny. Aristotle saw democracy as a flawed system often swayed by emotion or demagogues, leading to mob rule.
Fourteen years ago, the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had promised to convert Kolkata into London, and she also made a recent visit to the great city — to update herself. However, we really don’t know when this will happen, and, frankly, all we now hope is that our city sheds the stigma of being the world’s most unsightly capital. This is evident through heaps of garbage, ugly shanties right on main thoroughfares, and rags covering the pavement stalls.
In July-August last year, Indians were quite shocked at the scenes of street violence in Bangladesh, as police and armed forces strained to quell an unprecedented mass uprising against then prime minister Sheikh Hasina. What began as a students’ protest against the reimposition of hated quotas for families of ‘freedom fighters’ (of the 1971 war of liberation) turned into a all-out battle between forces for and against Sheikh Hasina. Lakhs of angry protesters moved their target from ‘quotas’ to her autocratic governance – and dragged India in, for propping up her unpopular regime.
Assam, one of India’s most beautiful and bounteous states, is today troubled and in turmoil. The reason for this is deep-rooted anxiety among the indigenous Assamese of being swamped by ‘outsiders’, mainly Bengali Muslims — often automatically branded Bangladeshis. The problem is, however, more complex.
Now that the G7 summit is done and dusted, we may try to assess whether it has helped India break its disastrous isolation that Operation Sindoor revealed....PM Modi did get a last-minute invitation to join the G7, but not as a participant— only as an observer. There was jubilation among his lesser-informed fans, fanned also by his multi-million rupee IT cells and the enthralled majority in Indian media. The narrative was that he is too important not to be invited and that India is not isolated, or never was. It is, was and continues to remain the Vishwa-guru.
One may or not take what Mamata Banerjee says very seriously all the time (provided one can unscramble her choice of words), but when she declares open war on the BJP for trying to finish off the Bengali people, it is time to take note. She takes up the challenge by leading countless thousands of protesters, oblivious of monsoon showers, along the main thoroughfares of Kolkata. It would be quite contemptuously Jinnahesque to dismiss them (as he did in East Pakistan) as excited Bengali-speaking rabble.
Award-winning film director Mira Nair’s son, 33-year-old progressive Zohran Mamdani, is shaking up Trump’s America as few could. He swept the Democratic Party’s primary nomination process, defeating the redoubtable Andrew Cuomo and is contesting the New York city mayoral elections. This is historic, as he keeps shattering at least three of Donald Trump’s most aggressive planks.
Now that Ambubachi— India’s greatest festival that celebrates the inherent fertility of women— has begun, let us run over certain similarities in women-centric rituals of this period. These are celebrated almost all over India — from up north and the east to the upper Deccan —just before or at the start of the monsoons. First comes Vat (banyan) Savitri that is faithfully observed by women for the welfare of their husbands and family in the month of Jyestha (Jaistha) mainly on the Purnima day (25th May in 2025) though a large section observes it on Jyestha Amavasya (new moon or the dark day) that was on 10th June in 2025.
As elections have already been announced in Bangladesh, India needs to be extra careful. We need to consider that, as of now, except Bhutan, India has no real friend in the neighbourhood, and everyone is playing the China card.
But how India infuriated its last friend, Bangladesh, is a case study in insensitive handling. It is an open secret that India was completely outwitted by the US, supposedly an ally against China, after the regime change in Bangladesh last August. We now need to review our age-old approach to Bangladesh politics.
It is pretty clear now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will probably not join the elite G7 meeting in Alberta, Canada, scheduled from June 15 to 17.. Alberta is not among the cities he seems to have seen so far in his 152 foreign visits to 72 countries in the last 11 years. So, it’s a bit of a miss on both sides. What he may miss more is not being able to hug the new Canadian PM Mark Carney (what a relief, after that hostile Trudeau!), the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his known leaders, like PM Starmer of the UK, President Macron (after that dreadful family incident) and PM Ishiba of Japan.
April is the cruellest month...", TS Eliot had once declared. April this year has indeed been unusually cruel.
On the third day of the month, the Central government rammed the controversial Waqf (Amendment) Bill through an incensed Lok Sabha — obviously more to needle the Muslims than grab their endowments. The next day, it harangued and bickered and bullied the Rajya Sabha, until it cleared the amendment at 2 o’clock in the morning. Muslims seethed with rage, while the Opposition licked its wounds.
It is often believed that the whole business of setting off riots-at-will began after the arrival of a single individual, who is well versed in such matters. But then, to be fair to him and to history, we can trace this phenomenon back by a decade before, to the fateful day when the Babri Masjid was razed to the ground.
Now that we are hell bent on becoming a Hindu Pakistan, how can we do without a Sunni-Shia divide, that has led to innumerable killings among Muslims in the real Pakistan? When hate becomes the cornerstone of the one-religion-one-country demand, then the ghost of Jinnah is bound to roam all over, to ensure that this hate just does not stop at one community.
There are admirable traits in all religions that I salute. Very recently, the world's largest congregation of humanity took their sacred dip at the maha-prayag of Mahakumbh. Yogi's team claims 66 crores bathed, while mature estimates place this at 25 crores — which is still a world record of faith drawing so many. We admire the tremendous social service that Sikhs render across the globe, like offering free food to all irrespective of religion or origin, in every Gurudwara.
This refers to Vinay Sahasrabuddhe’s article, ‘In with the new, and the old‘ (IE December 24, 2024). He writes that Indic ideas can contribute to good governance. We are keen to know which Indic ideas he refers to. From the potpourri of statements made by him as a spokesperson of the current regime, we shall restrict ourselves only to his “old Indic” inspiration for good governance, and not contest his many political and contemporary claims.
Few world leaders have caused such universal consternation, even before they formally accepted their office, as President Donald Trump has. Much of this apprehension arises out of his past record of extreme aggression whenever he perceives that American interests are hurt, leading to a lot of sabre-rattling and chest thumping. The more worrisome part lies in his weaponising of tariff protect the American market against importers, until they zip open their markets to him or toe his political line.
The terrible rape and murder of a junior doctor, pseudonymously called Abhaya, at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on 9th August 2024 suddenly shattered the normally placid acceptance of several chronic problems of health sector in West Bengal and elsewhere. It led to immediate strikes in hospitals and medical institutions all over India and triggered the longest-ever agitation by enraged citizens and junior doctors of Bengal. There is no doubt that this protest is surely a historic landmark in many, many respects.
It is a matter of concern that, till now, we have no comprehensive study or publication in English on Bamapada Bandyopadhyay (Banerjee) of Calcutta, whereas we have countess books, studies, videos and even a movie on his senior, Raja Ravi Varma of Travancore, Baroda, Bombay and Mysore.