As terror comes to Dhaka
By Vijay Darda | 06-07-2016 Terror attacks across national capitals are becoming increasingly frequent. So, whether it is Paris or Brussels, Istanbul or Kabul or for that matter Baghdad or Peshawar all remain vulnerable to such violence. We may evolve a cliche that terror has no religion or that these acts of violence have […]
Understanding neighbours & friends
By Vijay Darda | 07-06-2016 I have met and interacted with Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on several occasions and can take the liberty of calling him a friend. He is a professional diplomat – warm knowledgeable, friendly yet firm and persuasive. It was at a dinner for the visiting delegates of […]
Remembering a visionary
By Vijay Darda | 21-05-2016 To be the prime minister of the world’s biggest democracy at the age of 44, and to be assassinated within seven years just on the verge of the second term can only spell the irony in the life of Rajiv Gandhi. It is exactly 25 years ago, that his […]
The foreign policy disarray
By Vijay Darda | 19-04-2016 A lot of our energy is usually expended in deliberating over our troubles with Pakistan and China whenever attention is focused on foreign policy affairs. This is quite natural because bulk of our security and strategic challenges emerge from Islamabad and Beijing. The fact is that these two countries […]
Not by doubting everyone’s patriotism
By Vijay Darda | 11-04-2016 It is a given that every Indian is a patriotic citizen. No one has to pass any test of patriotism. That is simply an anathema. It is like being asked to prove your loyalty to your parents. Of course, there are ways and means prescribed in the law and […]
The message from Brussels
By Vijay Darda | 28-03-2016 Is the world losing the war against terror? Will it be a new normal for people to live under the shadow of a terror attack? Will Europe have to remain suspicious about the migrant populations? Don’t we have any method to fight radicalism? These are just some of the […]
India-Pakistan dialogue beyond official talks
By Vijay Darda | 14-03-2016 We are all conditioned to an atmosphere of ‘enmity’ when it comes to Pakistan. If anyone has any doubt about it, then it is erased by any exposure to a media debate on an issue related to India and Pakistan – like the recent terror attack on the Pathankot […]
JNU crisis: A self-goal
By Vijay Darda | 22-02-2016 If the crisis managers of the Modi government were to sit back and take a detached and relaxed look at the events that have followed since the arrest of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar under sedition charges, they would be the first ones to accept […]
Post-Pathankot: Not by words alone
By Vijay Darda | 11-01-2016 It does appear that the six Pakistani terrorists embarked on their mission to attack the Pathankot airbase with the idea of derailing the peace process that was highlighted with much fanfare by the Christmas day dash to Lahore by prime minister Narendra Modi and all that followed in the […]
Comrade who worked out a President
By Vijay Darda | 04-01-2016 For most Nagpurians and the rest of us in Maharashtra, from the 60s onwards Comrade Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan was a loser. He would lose election after election, but was still the CPI candidate. Yet, he is the only comrade who worked out a President of India. Roll back to […]