Or comrades in arms. Part-ners in profit? Maybe share holders in spoils. Whatever, but bluff remains the key stock in trade in this heady poll time that is already witness to a series of one night stands between quirky bedfellows making for strange politics. Welcome to the world of alliances wherein you can’t tell a friend from foe from what they say.
Browsing: COLUMNS
The countdown was akin to a perfect space satellite lift-off. At the precise stroke of the end of the 48th hour of ceasefire the guns started booming again, as if set to a default clock. The Sri Lankan regime could not have demonstrated its determination to exterminate the Tigers more emphatically.
It is protests galore world over to the accompaniment of dire threats. It looks as if suddenly the entire humanity has lost patience with, well, entire humanity and wants redressal right away. Given such a mass mood the modes of protest and nature of threats too have come into focus. And how they have evolved over the times!
Minority politics is perennial fare in India, but it peaks at poll time for that’s when secular politicos call in favours from their, er, well, most favoured constituencies. While on paper, the Constitution and electoral guidelines expressly prohibit candidates from seeking votes in the name of religion, strangely those nurturing minority vote banks are deemed exempt.
Poll time would undoubtedly qualify as the peak fooling season. Providence too adds its bit because the electoral process often coincides with April, a month that begins on All Fools Day. So, with the nation now on the threshold of another great democratic overhaul, the fooling spree has begun in right earnest.
The race for Race Course Road is well and truly on. The parade of wannabe PMs cuts across parties, ideologies, age, gender and, not the least, stature and ambition. Clearly, the PM’s gaddi looks to be the easiest to aspire for, even though the path to it may be littered with political potholes, thorns, hurdles and even minefields.
US constitutional law talks of Miranda rights. Now, the origins of this Miranda seems as mysterious as, say, our St Valentine, but the law itself is unambiguous. According to it, the police has to warn a person who has been arrested or placed in a custodial situation in the following words: ‘You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
India’s itinerary for the next 75 days is packed with a curious cocktail of terror, cricket and elections. With Jihadis making their first foray into the cricketing field in Pak, the gentleman’s game will likely be relegated to the pavilion soon. After all, with all the four cricketing nations in the region, India, Pak, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in bloody turmoil in recent times, talking of cricket sounds downright vulgar.
Oscar awardee, Resul Pookkutty’s acceptance comment was quite telling: ‘I come from a civilisation that gave the world ‘Om’, the word before and after silence ….’ Indeed, it is quite heartening to hear India being referred to as a civilisation of yore than as a mere political and geographic nation-state born on August 15 1947.