A new era of opportunities and challenges
By Vijay Darda | 01-06-2014 It is not just a coincidence that Narendra Modi begins his tenure as a Prime Minister on the eve of 50th death anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru — India’s first Prime Minister. The results were declared on May 16, and he had got a clear majority. So, there was […]
Modi – big campaign, bigger victory
By Vijay Darda | 30-05-2014 Although the formal notification of the election schedule came much later, the campaign for general elections was kicked off when the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was anointed as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate in its Goa conclave on September 13, 2013. From then onwards till […]
Modi’s quest to be BJP
By Vijay Darda | 24-03-2014 There was a time when a Congress president Dev Kant Baruah became infamous for a slogan — “India is Indira”. Those were the days of post-1975 Emergency. It is something that the BJP never forgets to remind us. But then the last week has conclusively proved that Modi is […]
The essence of a sincere man
By Vijay Darda | 03-02-2014 The Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi made himself available to the most intense grilling at the hands of the country’s acutely aggressive television anchor for over 80 minutes. There was no question under the Sun that was not put to him, and by any standards it went on for such […]
Decency needed in dialogue
By Vijay Darda | 28-01-2014 In recent times we have seen a flurry of some very unbecoming public conversations. There has been the scenario of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi daring the Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav to transform UP into a Gujarat, and then observing that the latter cannot do […]
A long wait for the people’s verdict
By Vijay Darda | 02-12-2013 Amid all the hue and cry over sexual harassment cases in high places, it seems to have been forgotten that five states are in the midst of elections that could very well define the agenda for the next Lok Sabha elections in 2014. In fact, by the time the […]
No excuses only punishments
By Vijay Darda | 25-11-2013 Any expression used to condemn these acts would be mild. In recent days, we have read reports of a retired Supreme Court judge, a chief minister aspiring to be the prime minister, and a senior editor with a holier than thou moral stance all indulging in acts that violate […]
The use of word power
By Vijay Darda | 18-11-2013 All of us went through a collective emotional experience recently when the master blaster Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar retired from international cricket after creating such a stunning record of playing 200 Test matches, and being the only international cricketer to have scored 100 centuries and 30,000 runs. All of us […]
Rahul hit where it hurts most
By Vijay Darda | 28-10-2013 One can sense an air of a frustrated annoyance in the election speeches of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. He has always been aggressive and contemptuous of the Gandhi family. He deploys a mocking tone, and is loved by his loyalists for it. But now he has been […]
For a slice of life in India at New York
By Vijay Darda | 23-09-2013 Not long ago, the image of India in the West was that it is a country of elephants and snake charmers. No doubt it was true that elephants did walk and still walk on the Indian streets, as did the snake charmers enthral people and still continue to do […]