Now that The Economist has said it, is it�”official”?� Excerpts from “Bridging the divide” (Nov 7 ’07):
“…but what would have distressed Nehru particularly is the prominent role played by religion in domestic politics. India’s constitution writers tried to get round this in two ways.
The first was to embrace pluralism. The new country would be �a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic…Pluralism is the keystone of Indian culture and religious tolerance is the bedrock of Indian secularism.� (Not strictly true – please see note below*)
The second was to go out of their …

Thanks to Vidhya for alerting me to this article by Shri Arun Shourie…
It reiterates points that have been made by numerous commentators in the past…
WE APPEAR TO BE SLEEPWALKING INTO A DISASTER

Excerpts from�Shilpa Shetty trumps Arunachal again, Arun Shourie, February 12, ’08 (emphasis mine)
“…November 21, 2007: We were all at the weekly meeting of the BJP members of Parliament. L.K. Advani was presiding. Two of our colleagues represent Arunachal in the Lok Sabha � Tapir Gao and Kiren Rijiju…drew attention to the fact that Chinese incursions into …

Starting with this�one by Sandeep�which includes quotes from MF Husain’s recent interview.�The two that I�found most interesting were: (emphasis mine):
MF Husain:
“…Later, in Hyderabad, in 1968, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia suggested I paint the Ramayana. I was completely broke, but I painted 150 canvases over eight years…When I was doing this, some conservative Muslims told me, why don�t you paint on Islamic themes? I said, does Islam have the same tolerance? If you get even the calligraphy wrong, they can tear down a screen.
…
In colleges, you learn about Shakespeare and Keats, …

Stumbled across this news today: “No love on Valentine’s Day, Sena on a rampage“
“… In Delhi, about a dozen Sena protesters briefly blocked a road early on Wednesday and burnt Valentine’s Day cards and gifts, chanting ‘Down with Valentine’.
In Lucknow, Sena activists sent out a diktat against Valentine’s Day celebration and threatened to beat up couples found celebrating their love.
“Our volunteers will check parks, hotels and restaurants and swoop upon young lovers found walking hand-in-hand,” Vijay Tiwari, a Shiv Sena activist in Lucknow, said. “We are deadly against Valentine’s Day,” …

A few weeks ago I got in touch with all the 8 finalist of Times of India’s Lead India�programme and requested them to share their views on a several important issues of national interest with the readers of my blog.
Sadly only one of the contestants bothered to write back (not an encouraging sign)…He was Ujjwal Banerjee�who not only�wrote back, but did so promptly…in spite of his obviously busy schedule.
Ujjwal suggested doing the interview in parts as he needed time to reflect on the questions…So here is Part I of the …