My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Yakub Memon’s Hanging: Communalisation and Polarised Public Opinion By Deepak Parvatiyar August 1, 2015 5.00/5 (100.00%) 2 votes Published in elections.in (http://www.elections.in/blog/yakub-memons-hanging-communalisation-polarised-public-opinion/) In the early morning of 30 July – more than 22 years after the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai had claimed 257 innocent lives – one of the key masterminds Yakub Abdul Razak Memon was hanged to death at the Nagpur Central Jail. Two dreaded masterminds of the Bombay bombings (Mumbai was still Bombay then) – Dawood Ibrahim and Yakub’s elder brother ‘Tiger’ Memon – are still absconding. The Indian government and the law enforcing agencies have failed miserably in bringing them to book. All the key perpetrators had fled to Pakistan with the support of Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI. Mystery Over Yakub Memon’s Arrest In fact, Yakub was the only big catch that the Indian intelligence agencies could manage. However, the t...

Political Equations in Bihar and BJP’s Poll Prospects By  Deepak Parvatiyar Published in elections.in (http://www.elections.in/blog/political-equations-in-bihar-and-bjp-poll-prospects/) July 27, 2015 5.00 / 5  (100.00%)  1 vote Much before the Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh made the state a dreaded place because of the numbers of unnatural deaths of persons involved in the scandal, and the links of political bigwigs in the case, it was actually Bihar that was dubiously referred to as an aberration because of the numerous scandals, political murders and dubious and often criminal track records of the politicians in the state. Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his day’s visit to the election bound state on 25th July, sought to singularly point out at Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal for Bihar’s plight, and ingeniously expanded the party’s abbreviated form, RJD, as “Rojana jungleraj ka dar (daily fear of jungle raj)”. Why so? Ostensi...