My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Was BJP a lenient opposition as compared to Congress? By Deepak Parvatiyar August 4, 2015 5.00/5 (100.00%) 1 vote  Published in elections.in (http://www.elections.in/blog/was-bjp-a-lenient-opposition-as-compared-to-congress/) The impasse over ‘Lalitgate’ and ‘Vyapam’ scam threatens to washout the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament. After an all-party meeting convened by the Lok Sabha Speaker on 30 July failed to break the Parliamentary deadlock, the government convened an all-party meeting to save the session on 3 August, but without any success. Instead, things came to a flashpoint the very same day when Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs for five days after the government approached the Speaker for frequent obstructions in the House throughout the session. Disruptions in Parliament and Suspension of Congress MPs Although Mahajan was well within her powers to suspend the Congress members, her unprecedented action is now being t...

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...