Contents

The Stage Is Set for the Lok Sabha Elections

The stage is almost set for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and battle lines are nearly drawn. Major parties of the ruling classes – whether ‘national’ parties like the Congress and the BJP or the host of regional parties wielding power in various states – are giving finishing touches to their battle plans....Full text

The Anointment of Modi and Yet another Resignation Drama by Advani

Mr. Advani has done it again. In the evening of his life, the sulking leader once again resigned from all his posts in the party only to withdraw it the next day at the instance of the RSS. His resignation had come just after the BJP national executive committee in its meeting held in Goa, which Advani had skipped, anointed Narendra Modi the mascot of the party’s forthcoming Lok Sabha poll campaign....Full text

The JD(U)-BJP split : Opportunities and challenges for the Left in Bihar

Dipankar Bhattacharya

The JD(U)-BJP alliance has finally come to an end. According to Nitish Kumar, the alliance was no longer tenable and the time had come when it had to be ‘sacrificed’ for the sake of ‘principle’. ...Full text

The Worst Attacks on Democracy Are Conducted by Its Supposed Custodians

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has described the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, which claimed the lives of several Congress leaders including Salwa Judum leader Mahendra Karma, as an ‘attack on democracy.’...Full text

USA and Indian Government:

“Big Brother is Watching You.”

― George Orwell, 1984

The USA, which likes to style itself as the defender of freedom and democracy, has emerged as the real-life totalitarian ‘Big Brother’ imagined by Orwell’s dystopia, invading every inch of privacy all over the globe....Full text

Movement against gender violence enters a new phase in Bengal

Kasturi

For any movement to reach a point of phase transition where the critical mass shoots up and sparks spread like prairie fire across the society, a few objective conditions must come together....Full text

Patriarchal and Anti-Dalit Offensive in Tamil Nadu

(Kavita Krishnan with inputs from Bhuvana)

For the past few months, Tamil Nadu has been witnessing an orchestrated political offensive against the rights of Dalits....Full text

Uttarakhand’s Himalayan Tragedy :

Suffering for the Crimes of the Ruling Class ‘Development’ Paradigm

Radhika Krishnan

“Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us....Full text

The Emerging Japan-India Relationship:

Nuclear Anachronism, Militarism and Growth Fetish

(This article is reproduced from the Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 11, Issue 22, No. 1, June 2, 2013. The emerging India-Japan relationship has been met with extreme reactions – from enthusiasm and protests in India and Japan, to concern in China. This new “strategic partnership,” and particularly the nuclear cooperation under negotiation, does not portend well for Asia. P K Sundaram, a strong advocate of better relations between the people of India and Japan, tells us why.)

Strong ties between India and Japan can be seen as a pre-requisite for the emergence of Asia and could, in the context of a broader Asian regionalism, provide a way out of the morass created by a 20th century dominated by the West: militarism and wars, ecological crises and growth-obsessed economies. ...Full text

Statewide Protests Demand Dissolution of Jharkhand Assembly

On June 11 CPI(ML) organised demonstrations and protests throughout Jharkhand demanding immediate dissolution of the Jharkhand Assembly and fresh elections....Full text 

Turbulent Times in Turkey, Brazil and …

Arindam Sen

From a totally peaceful a sit-in at Istanbul’s Gezi Park (Taksim Square) to a country-wide militant mass movement – the rapid progress of the latest protest movement in Turkey graphically demonstrates the trend of the times....Full text

Cover

Democratise BCCI and
all other Sports Bodies

The BCCI is managing the IPL spot-fixing scam much the same way the UPA government is managing the string of scams it wears shamelessly like a garland. Even though several of his ministers have been caught red-handed in scams, Manmohan Singh has refused to take responsibility and resign....Full text