There was a time when people said UP has five and half chief ministers. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, Ramgopal Yadav, Azam Khan, and the woman who was chief secretary were said to be the five chief ministers. Akhilesh Yadav was half chief minister. Gradually Akhilesh Yadav asserted himself. In 2012 he had led the…
Sahara and Birla
Rahul Gandhi on 21/12/2016 at Mehsana said Narendra Modi when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat had received 40 crore rupees from Sahara and 12 crore rupees from Birla. That set off reactions. Rahul Gandhi had not said anything new. Arvind Kejriwal had said this. Prashant Bhushan represents Common Cause in a PIL regarding Sahara…
69 years of black money
BJP members speak of 70 years of black money. It is 69 years since independence. Narendra Modi became Prime Minister on 26/5/2014. It means there was black money generation under Modi government and also under Vajpayee government in 1998-2004. BJP has been in power in many states. In Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttarakhand, BJP…
Operation Crackpot
Fools rush where angels fear to tread. Modi government’s move to replace 500 and 1,000 rupee notes with new 500 and 2,000 rupee and later 1,000 notes has been a disaster. The inconvenience for people was supposed to last three days. People with old notes can deposit them up to 31 December 2016. Banks were…
Trump Triumphs
The strong man is the strongest when he fights alone. It is not over till it is over. Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. The best laid plans of men and mice go awry. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Donald John Trump won the Presidential contest against many unfavourable…
Black money and notes
In USA, 8 November 2016 was Election Day. Indian channels were interested in the election and in the evening there were discussions about elections. I put on RT at 8.08 a.m. At 8.40 p.m. I switched to India Today. It was a surprise to see Modi talking. Greater surprise was to hear about demonetisation of…
Cyrus Mistry strikes back
On 24/10/2016 Tata Sons Board removed Cyrus Mistry as Chairman and appointed Ratan Tata as Interim Chairman. On 25/10/2016 some spoke on the side of Ratan Tata. Harish Salve said Cyrus Mistry was incompatible with Tata values. Next day Dushyant Dave said Ratan Tata does not have good reputation due to his association with Niira…
Return of Ratan Tata
On 24/10/2016 Tata Sons Board removed Cyrus Mistry as Chairman and replaced him with Ratan Tata as Interim Chairman. This was a surprise. Ratan Tata is 78. He had retired in 2012. Cyrus Mistry is 48. He was 44 when he became Chairman. Mistry’s election in 2011 was a surprise. He was in the committee…
SBI should be split
There is a plan to merge SBI’s five subsidiaries with SBI. This is a bad plan. Arundhati Bhattacharya has got one year extension ostensibly to oversee the merger. The extension reflects poorly on the government and other SBI officials. SBI has lost thousands of crores of rupees if not lakhs of crores of rupees due…
Uri aftermath
On 18/9/2016 there was an attack on Indian soldiers at Uri resulting in 17 deaths that day and one more death next day. Most have called this attack a terrorist act and referred to 18 dead soldiers as martyrs. Some have said this is an act of war and not fair to call dead soldiers…