While reading Swapan Dasgupta’s take on the Rushdie affair, I stumbled on these lines (emphasis added):
Those who felt offended and let down by Rushdie’s absence from Jaipur were regarded as inconsequential members of the non-voting classes.
Their protests could safely be disregarded.
It struck me that this was also the reason why the government did the shameless “dance” on Lokpal Bill.. and capitulated in the case of Rushdie.
And then I came across this remarkable essay by Arun Shourie on Vote Banks (do read, if you have not already) in which he …

Video of the extempore talk I gave on the “Political Philosophy of Hindutva” at the Ilford Hindu Centre in London, at an event that was presided by Dr Koenraad Elst on 8th Jan ’12. Comments and criticisms welcome.

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As I stress towards the end of the seminar (and in the slides), this is work in progress. So suggestions, corrections and modifications will be garetfully acknowlegded and incorporated.   Thanks. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Related Posts:  Hindutva and Liberalism, “Sukhasya moolam Dharmah”
Why I am a proud nationalist,
Understanding Raj-Dharma – Part I and Part 2
Somewhat Related: “People are …

Yesterday evening, I spent several hours in an truly educative and wonderful discussion with Dr Koenraad Elst.
Dr Elst is a savant – in the truest sense of the word..We discussed a huge range of topics – from Ayodhya and Hindutva  to martial traditions in Buddhism, caste, scriptures, “Vedic Hinduism”, Islam, Infiltration from Bangladesh and thoughts on a Hindu identity…

Several hours into the evening, even as we approached midnight, it still felt as if we had just begun…Amitabh did a video recording of some parts of the discussion which I hope …

..and below the surface to understand the real causes of what you see around you.
As an example, see this recent news-report about pending RTI applications…
Staff shortage results in a pile of 19,000 pending RTI appeals in Maharashtra
Does this surprise you? Probably not.
Which is why I keep making the point that the real solution must be to focus on “Open Government” rather than another law or more babus…That is how things should be..We don’t need a law (RTI) and then additional bureaucracy (staff to deal with RTI applications). Far better to insist on openness, …

Many of you may remember this shloka that used to preface each episode of the seminal series “Chanakya”. I continue to find it profoundly inspiring…Here’s wishing you and your loved ones the very best of health, happiness and prosperity in 2012…
|| Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti… ||

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I would be grateful if any of you can help me with the translation of the entire shloka. Thanks.

In a post titled, “Politics and democracy“, Pragmatic Euphony mentions why it is important to get the nomenclature right (emphasis added):
Whatever might be your primary vocation, once you are in politics, you are a politician.
Does it matter? Yes, it does. This narrative betrays a lack of trust in our politics and politicians — an economist is better than a politician. In a democracy, there is no way of bypassing politics; politicians should and must matter. It is dangerous to assume that a non-politician can fix the system. Yesterday it was …