South Asia Citizens Web

Ashutosh Varshney in his article in Indian Express (Modi the Moderate) writes that Modi may not have Vajpayee’s style but, substantively, his campaign over the last few months shows roughly similar traits.” Varshney gives instances of Modi paying tribute to Maulana Azad in one of his election speeches; stitching alliances with the dalit parties, including with those who fought against him and finally, Modi pointed out in one of election speeches that Haj quota from Gujarat was full whereas quotas from Bihar and UP could not be filled as Muslims were backward as compared to Gujarat. In all the three instances cited, Varshney claims that Modi’s campaign has departed wholly or very substantially from the tenets of Hindu nationalism. There are two issues here – whether the three instances cited amounts to departing from Hindu nationalist position; and second, if it does, is it merely an election strategy or a substantial ideological repositioning on part of Modi?

(npr.org - April 02, 2014) Morning Edition’s Renee Montagne, who’s reporting from Afghanistan, talks to New York Times reporter Carlotta Gall about her new book, The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan: 2001-2014.

THE celebration of the first International Day of Sport for Development and Peace on the coming Sunday (April 6, 2014) will be an appropriate occasion to determine whether the children and youth in Pakistan can enjoy their right to play.

India’s Left parties, among the world’s biggest parties belonging to the Communist tradition, face a huge crisis as the Lok Sabha election approaches. The election will largely decide if they can reverse their recent setbacks, or go into a steep decline, with waning political-intellectual influence and growing organisational disarray. The Left, led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) — the world’s second largest Communist formation after the Chinese party — saw its Lok Sabha strength plummet from 61 to 24 seats between 2004 and 2009. The Left lost the West Bengal Assembly in 2011 after a world record of being democratically elected to power for 34 uninterrupted years. It was also defeated in Kerala, and later in the West Bengal panchayats.Going by ground reports, and opinion polls, the Left’s Lok Sabha strength could shrink further.

सांप्रदायिकता और सुविधापरस्ती के गठजोड़ से निकट भविष्य में नरेंद्र मोदी के प्रधानमंत्री बनने और संघ परिवार की जड़ें और मजबूत होने की संभावनाएं लोकतांत्रिक सोच रखने वाले सभी लोगों के लिए चिंता का विषय हैं। औसत भारतीय नागरिक घोर सांप्रदायिक न भी हो, पर बढ़ते सांप्रदायिक माहौल के प्रति उदासीनता से लेकर सांप्रदायिक आधार पर गढ़े गए राष्ट्रवाद में व्यापक आस्था हर ओर दिखती है। आखिर तमाम तरह की मानवतावादी कोशिशों और धरती पर हर इंसान की एक जैसी संघर्ष की स्थिति की असीमित जानकारी होने के बावजूद ऐसा क्यों है कि दुनिया के तमाम मुल्कों में लोग संकीर्ण राष्ट्रवादी सोच के बंधन से छूट नहीं पाते! इस जटिलता के कई कारणों में एक, शासकों द्वारा जनता से सच को छिपाए रख उसे राष्ट्रवाद के गोरखधंधे में फंसाए रखना है। इतिहास का ऐसा नियंत्रण महंगा पड़ता है।