Random notes

“Has your wife stopped beating you?” Many henpecked husbands, troubled by their own nagging spouses, in an attempt to achieve a sense of come-uppance with their co-victims use this phrase especially as the respondent is unable to answer it. A ‘yes’ would mean acceptance of the humiliation in the past and a ‘no’ would mean its continuation in future.* “Is Congress anti Hindu?” is a similar question. A ‘yes’ would mean a confirmation that Congress’ practice of competitive communalism projected as secularism is actually Anti Hindu whereas a ‘No’ while giving some solace for the present would mean an internal acceptance that a party is trying to project an image with the populace based on latter’s religious identities. The answer though would be a 'yes' from many cadres, most supporters as well as all detractors. If it wasn't, the questions would not be needed to be asked. But the pertinent point here is not about the answer but the adequacy & relevance of...

So, P. Chidambaram thinks that Indian National Congress might elect / appoint a non Gandhi as President. This piece is an attempt to analyze the possibility of such an occurrence. In the prevailing political situation, average Congress worker does not believe that Rahul Gandhi can lead the party out of its current morass. Forget about a victory at hustings, the worker on the street has lost faith in his ability to lead a spirited campaign which the opponents will take seriously. They squirm at the way opposition simply laughs off his attempts to deliver a game changing speech and are also tired of waiting for their prince charming to come back from his frequent absences (rumored to be vacations, possibly abroad) to take out some time to attend to the political issues. Next rung leaders are behaving like zombies, ambling around without purpose or direction. They Life is tough, Mom. don’t know whom to blame for the loss in parliamentary elections, whom to give credit for t...