My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

PEOPLE “Voter is more important than representative” By: Trans World Features (TWF) At 90, eminent Gandhian scholar Narayan Desai sees ‘hope’ in the Aam Admi Party. He is the son of Mahatma Gandhi’s personal assistant Mahadev Desai and the chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapeet— founded by Mahatma Gandhi. Yet, unlike Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi, who has formally joined AAP, Desai, instead, prefers mobilising Gandhians’ support for AAP. In an exclusive interview to journalist and filmmaker Deepak Parvatiyar, Desai talks about AAP, Narendra Modi, the Congress, and the issues concerning him and other Gandhians. Excerpts:   0     0     0   Google + 0     0 How do you look at your rare involvement in the deliberations on 2014 elections in New Delhi recently? As a Gandhian thinker, what makes you support the Aam Admi Party? The breakthrough that it (the Aam Admi Party) seems to have created in the present conditions of India  is what has made us support this… Th

Parliamentary elections 2014 South and Central Gujarat By Deepak Parvatiyar (This article was published in all editions of Marathi daily Pudhari on 28th March 2014) http://epaper.pudhari.com/details.aspx?ID=450808&boxid=21322619&pgno=10&u_name=0 Can Narendra Modi’s candidature from Vadodara this election swing the tide in favour of the BJP and can the lotus repeat its performance of 1999 –the party’s best ever performance in Gujarat when it won 20 of the 26 parliamentary seats in Gujarat? The BJP feels that Modi’s candidature from Vadodara is bound to have an impact in four-five nearby constituencies in tribal and central Gujarat – traditionally the Congress bastions. The Congress expects a good return here. Not surprising therefore that the  Congress vice-president  Rahul Gandhi  chose to launch a strong attack on Modi from a massive public rally in this tribal-dominated region of South Gujarat in March this year. Political observers feel that Modi’