If Narendra Modi’s ego is as large as his detractors claim, then he will want to be remembered as a great prime minister, better even than Atal Bihari Vajpayee. To do that he will have to focus on growth and development. At the end of this interminably long election of fear and loathing, three questions: […]
What sort of prime minister will Modi be? Read More »
Physician, writer and avowed communist, Rashid Jahan was an inspiration for young Muslim women. Woman of fire In the winter of 1932, three men and a woman published a collection of short stories and sparked a literary storm. Sajjad Zaheer, Ahmad Ali, Sahibzada Mahmuduzaffar and the woman, Rashid Jahan, were writing an angry book, Angarey (embers) that railed against social inequity, hypocritical maulvis and
Book Review | A Rebel And Her Cause Read More »
Compared to the geeky earnestness of her brother, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is a star. Her belated entry will not stop a likely UPA defeat, but you have to credit her with putting up a fight. If the Congress campaign suddenly seems to have shifted to a more combative mode, it has one woman to thank
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is a charismatic enigma Read More »
A slim optimism lies in the start to a conversation of a changed India, an India where women outnumbered men as voters in all five of the recently held assembly elections. A slim optimism lies in the start to a conversation of a changed India, an India where women outnumbered men as voters in all
A very tiny stepping stone Read More »
Redemption really came in the final segment of the show when Aamir Khan interviewed two remarkable rape survivors. In the two hours that it took to telecast the first episode of Star Plus’ second season of Satyamev Jayate, over five women and girls would have reported rape somewhere in India. In a country where a woman
Lounge Review | Satyamev Jayate Episode 1: The rape roadmap Read More »
We attack students because they look a certain way, we hound out Africans from neighbourhoods because ‘they are not like us’, we tie up books in lengthy litigation because we find their ideas unpalatable. This has become our national sport. The debris of intolerance is all around us. Not protests nor black flags, just a
Intolerance has become India’s national sport Read More »
AAP’s failure would be a severe setback to any future would-be reformer. And any success of its increasingly visible vigilante-style politics will send absolutely the wrong signal of a ‘success formula’ to rival parties. In Birbhum West Bengal, a village decides that the girl must be gang-raped as ‘punishment’ for falling in love with a
Keep a distance from the mob Read More »
Political parties are slowly realising that women constitute the largest vote-bank and they need to at least look concerned. But, dressed-up manifestos and sops like saris and pressure cookers won’t cut it any longer. I am a woman. When I vote, I do not cast my ballot because my husband tells me to vote for
I will vote as a woman Read More »
The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate should know that national pride lies in not wanting the world to look at India in admiration. It lies in making your country a better place for its citizens. The man who hopes to be India’s next prime minister is talking about national pride. It will be built on the
Narendra Modi should make real promises, solve real issues Read More »
So what changes now? Now that four convicts in the Delhi gang rape case have been sentenced to death will your daughter be able to take a bus from a late evening film show without worrying about making it safely home? So what changes now? Now that four convicts in the Delhi gang-rape case have
No going back from here Read More »
The juvenile justice system needs many changes to reflect social reality. This is what worries me. Three years or two years or how so ever many months from now, the juvenile who at 17 years and six months of age gang-raped, brutalised and eventually killed a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in December will walk free. We
They’re not minor offences Read More »
Never before has India’s lack of leadership been as depressingly obvious as it has been in the past few weeks. Never before has the moral vacuum that accompanies those in charge been so apparent. Never before has India’s lack of leadership been as depressingly obvious as it has been in the past few weeks. Never
Failing at the top Read More »