A Tamil economist, the late S. Guhan, used to say that Delhi was a capital in search of a country. I was reminded of that remark during the fortnight of May 29 to June 11, 2011. In that fortnight, if one watched the ‘national’ channels or read the ‘national’ newspapers, one would think all of India was involved in one way or the other with the ideas and practices of...

Swami Ramdev is a yoga instructor in saffron robes; he walks on wooden sandals and has an elastic body, an involuntary wink, flowing black hair and a full beard. He claims to have renounced worldly pleasures, but that excludes flying in private jets. He is at the helm of a thriving business in traditional treatments, herbal products, media and textiles that is worth at least hundreds of millions of dollars. Nebulous...

On a day when the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notice to the government seeking reports within two weeks on the early morning crackdown on Baba Ramdev's supporters on the Ramlila Grounds here on Sunday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the episode as “unfortunate” but justified it, saying there was “no alternative.” In his first comments on the episode here, Dr. Singh told journalists: “It is unfortunate that the operation...

Civil society member on the Lokpal Bill drafting committee Arvind Kejriwal said at a news conference here on Saturday that all the members on the panel were ready for an independent inquiry into allegations against them. Asked whether Mr. Shanti Bhushan had offered to step down from the panel at Saturday's meeting, he said, “Nothing is going to come out from his leaving the panel. We have offered ourselves to any...

They played to the gallery, grabbing every opportunity to put Hazare's agitation centre stage. THE movement against corruption led by Anna Hazare had the media completely on its side. The agitation, which began with Hazare announcing that he would begin an indefinite hunger strike on April 5 demanding the passage of a people-inspired Lokpal Bill, ended on April 9. The five days of the agitation saw the mass media, especially...