By Sanjay Jha Mayawati , UP chief minister, took majestic strides supervising the bricks and boulders near her half-constructed towering statue. She looked furious as her concrete nose was incorrectly positioned at a vertical angle of 82 degrees north-west. A disconsolate crow sat there pensively staring at parched agricultural land. Cancel that stupid police commissioner’s investigation into the nasty bee attack on me with immediate effect , she roared aloud, as nervous birds rapidly … [Read more...]
Resurgent Congress, obsessively on the offensive
March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment
We're in the middle of a lull on the women's reservation issue, so we thought we'd post this piece from the Times of India to remind us about Sonia Gandhi's game-changing leadership: Sonia Gandhi’s Congress is not content just to be in power. This is clearly a resurgent party setting agendas, taking risks, pushing for big change. Whether it is loan waiver for farmers, NREGS, Rahul Gandhi working the youth or, now, the Women’s Bill, the Congress is wresting the initiative from both the … [Read more...]
“The Method in the Madness of Mayawati”
March 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
While Sanjay humorously takes on the bee-zarre developments in the politics of India's premier state--as in that gives us Prime Ministers--here's an incisive take on Behenji's real motives. Courtesy Anil Padmanabhan at MINT: Watching the Mayawati show of opulence through the prism of mainstream television last week, undoubtedly, revolted our middle-class sensibilities. Going beyond the initial reaction, it is more than apparent that there was a method to the madness of the wily … [Read more...]
TO BEE OR NOT TO BE ! MAYAWATI”S DILEMMA
March 17, 2010 By 1 Comment
By Sanjay Jha Mayawati, the inimitable UP Chief Minister sat in her car after supervising the installation of yet another massive statue , this one to have a 24 hour supply of fresh honey from the Himalayan ranges rolling down it’s monstrous proportions as she clutched feverishly at a monumental garland and a gargantuan purse. Her clairvoyant , cunning and constant companion, a Brahmin confidante seemed somewhat perturbed. But WHY, Maam? Said Mayawati with a sly grin: This will be a … [Read more...]
IPL goes ‘Tender’
March 15, 2010 By 1 Comment
By Sanjay Jha In IPL money does not just speak, it shouts. If today's report in a leading national newspaper is to be believed then Mr Sunil Gavaskar and Mr Ravi Shastri have risen in a collective remonstrance against the supposed "reprimand" given to their beloved reincarnate of Moses Lalit Modi, IPL Commissioner by the BCCI President Shashank Manohar and other assorted members of the governing council. Gavaskar's staunch defense of Modi even overshadows his classic postures at the crease at … [Read more...]
HAMARA CONGRESS RECOMMENDS 20% FOR 20 YEARS ON WOMEN’S RESERVATION BILL
March 9, 2010 By 1 Comment
By Sanjay Jha As has already been stated in an earlier article by the author on the Women’s Reservation Bill, the Bill should have ideally a fixed quota of only 20 %. Secondly, it should be time-bound to a maximum of 20 years and then de-reserved as two decades is a long time to ameliorate and emancipate the social and working conditions of women in a structured and focused initiative to be undertaken by women Lok Sabha representatives from different political parties , which is a … [Read more...]
Flashback 1971
March 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment
As we strolled around the blogosphere, we came across this insightful "scrog" (scrapbook blog) called Twenty22--India On the Move. Here's a piece from that scrog that takes us back to Indira Gandhi and the Liberation of Bangladesh. Posted in full with a hat tip to the scrog's author: Rohit Dabrai. "She suckered us. Suckered us.....this woman suckered us." So said an enraged US president Richard Nixon of Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi after learning that war had broken out on the … [Read more...]
Mounting the Everest
March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
-By Sanjay Jha I was in nearby Dubai watching Janko Tipsaveric upset constant British-hope of renewal Andy Murray in the ATP Masters 500 tennis tournament when I received a text message from both a passionate cricket aficionado and the publisher of my forthcoming book. It was as concise and compact as the man it described, the little Master of epic dimensions, Sachin Tendulkar. At first, I ignored it, accustomed as one is to Tendulkar's incredible flourishes (particularly in the light of his … [Read more...]
