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Modest Swing Effects 61 Seat Bounty
It was neither a faith in the Congress, nor an out right rejection of the BJP that prompted this somewhat palatable outcome. Neither was this a vote for Manmohanomics, or an endorsement of the government handling of 26/11. It was happenstance, plain and simple. How else can you explain a modest voter swing to effect such a disproportionately large alteration in seats? It was a fluke that vaulted the Congress to a seemingly spectacular victory. I have no qualms about that for it provides us with ...
| Vivek G |
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Mumbia Attack: A Distant Memory?
Will this be another barely legible footnote in the annals of terror in India or will this be a defining moment in our battle against this evil scourge? That is the million dollar question. Close to 3 months have elapsed since the Mumbai terror attack. The statutory period of mourning is over, our mental turmoil has ebbed and the interlude to observe formalities has passed. It is time to make a pragmatic internal assessment of that debacle devoid of distracting emotions, ask uncomfortable but pe...
| Vivek G |
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Pakistan"s Unholy Trinity
It may sound simplistic. But true nevertheless. India cannot parley with Pakistan because Pakistan does not want to. This is the inevitable conclusion that one reaches after days of pondering over the issue, meticulously dissecting every facet of the problem and confronting every argument with a counter thought. The very premise of Pakistan militates against détente with India. The off and on diplomatic goodwill is but a meaningless quirk of an underlying malignant malady.The complex charade tha...
| Vivek G |
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A Hindu CM for J&K: Any Takers?
Earlier this year when the Hindus of Jammu rose up in arms, their gripe was not merely the revocation of land allotted to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, they were in effect protesting their marginalization for the last 50 years or so in this Muslim majority state of secular India.Democracy is not synonymous with brute majorityism. Embedded in a civilized democracy are subtle nuances that transcend mere numbers and which exhibit a refined compassionate element that carries with it all sections o...
| Vivek G |
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Hindu Terror? We need Right Perspective
The arrest of a Sadhvi and a few others belonging to a Hindu radical group in the Malegaon and Modasa bomb blasts case adds an ostensibly unexpected and sensational twist to Indias war on terror but is a corollary that was inevitable. The partisan polemics melodramatised by pre-election histrionics plus the religious parochialism replete with nuanced innuendoes that greeted this news report have only made an unenviable situation (vis-à-vis the anti-terror strategy) even murkier relegating common...
| Vivek G |
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Our weak resolve emboldened terrorists
Islamic terror was an event waiting to happen conceptualized far earlier than what are claimed to be sentinel events. These so called trigger events only served to accelerate the pace of this monstrosity and force out into the open.When we seek a justification for these dastardly acts where none exists, we weaken our resolve and embolden the terrorists imbuing them with a false sense of righteousness. This is the biggest fallacy of our anti-terror drive: a lack of clear thinking that befuddles o...
| Vivek G |
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Amarnath and the Naked English Media
Conclusions that do not conform to the litmus test of objective logic can at best be termed as bigoted or classified under one of its sub categories: communal, racist or sexist. The stubborn attitude of the Kashmiri Muslims vis-à-vis the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer controversy and the obsequious kowtowing by the Indian news media in support of this naked exhibition of communal fervor is a classic example of prejudice and warped journalism. Further when one tallies the land involved ...
| Vivek G |
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