South Asia Citizens Web

Following a voluble campaign, Narendra Modi has gone remarkably quiet after taking over as Prime Minister. So has his entire government. The Bharatiya Janata Party which runs the government is also muted after its president and most of its spokespersons were appointed ministers.

On completion of 30 days in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he had no luxury of ’honeymoon’ period. Any neutral observer would tend to disagree and can easily throw light on the great hiatus between Mr Modi’s claim and actual situation on the ground.

World Socialist Web Site reporters this week visited the Sri Lanka coastal town of Aluthgama, 60 kilometres from Colombo, where Buddhist extremist thugs have attacked the Muslim community. The communal violence was whipped up by an anti-Muslim meeting organised by Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Brigade, in Aluthgama on June 15.

Almost as incredible as the Left parties’ electoral rout, which halved their Lok Sabha seats to their lowest-ever total (12, even counting two Left-backed independents), is their failure to come to terms with its magnitude, quality and causes. Instead of acknowledging the debacle as the result of deep-rooted flaws in its programmes and strategies, a massive leadership failure, and its alienation from the people, the Left first practised denial by alleging large-scale rigging, then admitted to its “poor” showing, and finally accepted its central leaders’ “primary responsibility for the failure”.

Threats from pro Tamil groups scuttle screenings Sri Lankan film in India