Farmer suicides are endemic, who knew? Chances are no one’s heard about Azad’s death in Bachlapur village though Lalitpur, where the Congress, the BSP and the SP are in a battle for votes, is only 15 km away. Farmer suicides aren’t an election plank and parties prefer trading corruption charges. Rahul Gandhi’s much-touted Bundelkhand development authority proposal remains just that. More than 500 committed suicide in the Bundelkhand region last...
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BJP’s Team B by Dhirendra K Jha
The mask is off. Team Anna and his lieutenants are batting for the BJP On 30 October last year, when Mohan Bhagwat claimed that Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement was actually supported by the RSS, the remark conveyed palpable nervousness and attracted criticism from Team Anna. Three months later, as Team Anna launches its voters’ awareness campaign in UP, there is not even an attempt to keep its secular mask intact. The mask,...
More »In U.P. polls, local dalit histories vie with BSP's grand storyline by Badri Narayan
All social communities have a history that is experienced, or perceived, or both. Communities survive and sustain themselves on these histories. When political forces try to mobilise these communities, they usually do so by exploring their history and then giving it a political meaning that suits their agenda. In the beginning, when the political party is new, it gives space and respect to the small histories of each community that...
More »Assembly Election 2012: UP criminals set to contest polls from jail by Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui
At least 30 hardcore criminals and mafia dons are contesting this year's assembly elections from jails, which is high even by Uttar Pradesh's standards. What's different, however, is that this time merely two people with criminal records are contesting as mainstream party candidates; the rest are nominees of fringe outfits.&nBSP; Top among the dons are Prem Prakash Singh aka Munna Bajrangi from Madiyahon (Jaunpur) on an Apna Dal ticket; he is...
More »Kushwaha now faces CBI probe for role in scam
-The Times of India &nBSP; UP Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra has recommended registration of a case and a CBI and Enforcement Directorate probe against former state minister Babu Singh Kushwaha under the Prevention of Corruption and Money Laundering Act.&nBSP; The Lokayukta has found him prima facie guilty of large-scale anomalies in allotment of mines and other financial irregularities and forwarded a report to chief minister Mayawati for necessary action.&nBSP; "There were three specific...
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