Kumar Ketkar
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Articles by Kumar Ketkar
Samajwadi Party To Exit MVA After Babri Demolition Post By Uddhav's Aide
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Maharashtra SP unit chief Abu Asim Azmi | Photo: X/Abu Asim Azmi Maharashtra SP unit chief Abu Asim Azmi | Photo: X/Abu Asim Azmi Samajwadi Party (SP) announced on Saturday that it would exit Maharashtra's Opposition alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The decision follows controversy surrounding Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray's close aide, who allegedly praised the demolition of the Babri Masjid and a related newspaper advertisement.
Indira Gandhi, The Nationalist
She lived India’s Politics all her Life: Indira Gandhi, circa 1975 Photo: Getty Images She lived India’s Politics all her Life: Indira Gandhi, circa 1975 Photo: Getty Images If Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes his current term in office, he will exceed Indira Gandhi’s term in office by a few months short of a year.
Aggressive Zionism and elusive peace: the Gordian knot of Gaza and the IMEEC
India risks getting tangled in a dangerous economic web in West Asia, quite apart from the political corner it has already painted itself into Why is the world silent even as the genocide in the Gaza Strip continues into its 10th month? It’s been a common question from activists and allies of Palestine, not to mention the Palestinians themselves.
‘Opposition’ has its task cut out
Oppositions can lose their raison d’être. The INDIA bloc will do well to remember why it came together Most parties in today’s INDIA bloc have hobnobbed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the past or have been in governments led by them. From Mamata’s Trinamool Congress to Karunanidhi’s DMK, from Shiv Sena to the Samajwadi Party, from the National Conference to the PDP to the various Janata Dals.
Will this square peg fit the round hole?
The Lok Sabha election verdict has cut Narendra Modi to size in more ways than one. Can he survive a coalition? There were hardly any victory celebrations. None of the delirious song and dance and firecrackers you saw at the time of the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. At the BJP headquarters in Delhi, the mood on counting day was palpably sombre. Even the fact that the NDA still looked comfortably ahead was poor consolation, after all the hype and hoopla about ‘400 paar’ and what not.
What storms will 4 June bring?
There is reason to hope the worst is over, there is reason to fear it’s yet to come, writes Kumar Ketkar You’ve heard they’re coming back, you’ve heard they are not. You’ve heard they will return with a thumping majority and you’ve heard Modi has sensed the end is near. You’ve also heard about his latest stunt — the 45 hour (televised) meditation session at Kanyakumari’s Vivekananda Rock Memorial, a short ferry ride from the mainland at the confluence of the three seas.
Everyone knows the 'hawa' has turned, but...
Kumar Ketkar uses political intuition to read between the lines of psephological predictions Can you even imagine a humiliating setback for Modi–Shah’s BJP in this election? How could anyone, in the face of a propaganda blitzkrieg of such scale and range? Even their detractors and diehard sceptics struggle to envisage an outcome where they are out of power. There are, however, enough indications that Modi’s carefully crafted image has developed cracks.
Does Modi understand Biden's plans for the Indo-Pacific?
We should be wary, for the renewed tension between the US and China is not in India’s best interest The general election in India has entered an uncertain phase and is less predictable than it was even a month back. The Modi government, as is known, expects to return to power for the third consecutive term with an overwhelming majority, though BJP leaders have admitted that ‘ab ki baar 400 paar’ was meant to motivate party workers and should not be taken literally.
What does India gain by cold shouldering the SCO?
India must avoid falling into the ‘Western’ trap of undermining the growing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Last year, India hosted the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) summit for the first time since becoming a member, along with Pakistan, in 2017. It turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax though, as the summit was held online.
INDIA in 2024: Know your enemy to fight it
The I.N.D.I.A. bloc has to recognise that it is fighting not just a right-wing political party but a global neo-liberal cabal, which works like the mafia I.N.D.I.A.—the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance—the new umbrella of opposition parties, is in fact a theoretical construct in Indian politics. So is the idea of ‘Hindutva’ a theoretical construct—except that it has captured the imagination of a section of people in India.
Can a 138-year-old Congress revitalise the idea of India from the grassroots?
The resounding success of the Nagpur mega rally, marking the grand old party's foundation day, was a heartening show of unity, creativity and confidence It was surely a creative and bold political initiative to hold a magnificent mega rally in Nagpur to celebrate the 139th foundation day of the grand old party, the Indian National Congress. And it turned out to be a great success, demolishing detractors who had argued that Nagpur was an inappropriate choice.
SCO Summit 2023: Modi is clearly no Nehru
The government has developed cold feet over meeting Pakistan and China together on the same turf Days before a grand event to mark the Shanghai Cooperation Organisations (SCO) Summit in New Delhi (to be held on July 3-4) was to take place, the Government of India, usually very hung up on event management, changed tracks and decided to call off the physical meet.
Modi is an oracle but not invincible
The opposition has his image to battle along with his politics With the first meeting of Opposition parties having taken place in Patna on Friday, the obvious question to ask here is: can the politics of “Anti-Congressism” be replaced by rebranding the formula and marketing the new product as “Anti-BJPism” or anti-Modism”? There is a fundamental flaw in this rhetorical question.
Why the media needs ‘non-alignment’
Our overdependence on Western sources is distorting our view of world affairs and our sense of what is in national interest There was always a certain Western bias in Indian media, and despite radical changes in the world order, the economic and political crisis in Euro-American countries and the rise of China, Indian media still tends to gravitate to the Western perspective.
Celebrating 150 years of Kolkata’s tramways: Can they keep up with the city’s frantic pace?
The best way of slowing down time is to stir a pot of tomato soup. Or ride a tram. An Indian-American friend who lived and worked in Kolkata for a while once said that. She was right. That is not to say a tram is slow. But in a city that is always in a hurry, the tram is unperturbed. It will not try to overtake anyone. It will not jump lanes. It moves at its own rhythm on its own track—an act of resistance to a frantic city. Kolkata was the first Indian city to have trams.
Uddhav Thackeray: Down but not out
The so-called political observers and the excitable media appear more despondent and desperate than Uddhav Thackeray, or even his son Aditya, following the Election Commission’s February 17 decision to allot the name “Shiv Sena” and its election symbol of bow and arrow to the Eknath Shinde faction. Some commentators attribute their stoic approach to their political immaturity or social insensitivity.
Congress Party: A safe house for every Indian
That’s what the Congress used to be back in the day, but can it again be something for everyone? When a well-known political sociologist coined the term ‘The Congress System’ way back in 1970, said ‘system’ was under tremendous strain and disintegrating. The threat came not from the outside but from a centrifugal force within, for newer kinds of political assertion. In 1967, the Congress was defeated in as many as eight states.
Congress and the Gandhis: Decoding the ‘Dynasty’ Syllogism
One cannot even attempt to understand the so-called Sonia mystique without taking a look at the role history seems to have assigned to the Nehru family One cannot even attempt to understand the so-called Sonia mystique without taking a look at the role history seems to have assigned to the Nehru family. I do not want to use the word ‘dynasty’ for two reasons. One: Sonia Gandhi was not born into the Nehru family.
Why is Jawaharlal Nehru a thorn in their flesh?
Why is Nehru being targeted so viciously by the ruling dispensation 58 years after his death? Why is Nehru being targeted so viciously by the ruling dispensation 58 years after his death? He is not here to answer the wild allegations and demeaning attacks on him, but he still looms like a spirit they must exorcise, because the Hindutva project cannot succeed till the idea of India associated with that man, resting in the many folds of the national consciousness, has not been expunged.
Bharat Jodo Yatra: Tuning in to their ‘Mann ki Baat’
Rahul could at once connect with Deglur’s multi-lingual, multi-faith ethos. After a huge and glittering welcome, he garlanded the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj The Bharat Jodo Yatra was delayed by over three hours as it entered Maharashtra on Monday, November 7, the 60th day of the long march. But the enthusiasm of people at Deglur did not flag. There had gathered in their thousands, and when the Yatris finally entered the state around 9.45 p.m., the welcome was tumultuous.
Review of Shivaji: India’s Great Warrior King: Individual against empire
Vaibhav Purandare is neither a formal historian nor an academic scholar. He is a journalist who has dared to take up controversial historical figures to write books and throw new light on. What is particularly adventurous is that he is neither intimidated nor inhibited by the current vicious and polarised political atmosphere. His book, Shivaji: India’s Great Warrior King displays his courage and conviction.
Game Of Thrones: Fall Of The Maharashtra Government Was Two Years In The Making
The true and full story of ‘Operation Double Cross’ in Maharashtra may never be known. But bits and pieces are out and many of the dots can be connected. The operation was in the works for over two years. It was meticulously planned, and involved the Enforcement Directorate, the Intelligence Bureau and the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, ring-mastered by the wily Devendra Fadnavis. Eknath Shinde was spotted quite early.
Shiv Sena will survive: Kumar Ketkar on Maharashtra crisis
Sooner rather than later, there will be a blockbuster movie, ‘Guwahati Files’. I have learnt from reliable sources that the movie contains sensational shots and conversations between the bosses in the BJP and the brave rebels from the Shiv Sena. There are the usual elements—money bags exchanged and contracts signed for petrol pumps and, of course, luxurious flats in metros.
Reflections from the Rajya Sabha: Suspended, but why? Apologise? For what?
12 RS MPs were suspended this week for the entire winter session. While the Chair has cited unruly conduct, MPs say suspension undemocratic and 'Apologise? For what?' Opposition MPs protest in front of Gandhi Statue inside Parliament House campus against the suspension from Rajya Sabha When I was an undergrad in college in the midsixties, I had come across a word, which I could neither pronounce nor fully understood: Pandemonium.
Maharashtra: MVA proves sceptics wrong
The MVA government has till now overcome the odds and dire predictions to complete two years in office Ideology is out. Power matters. Altruism is irrelevant. Skulduggery defines power. Institutions are enslaved. Blackmail undermines institutions. Purpose is outdated. Fear psychosis prevails. Ever since Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre, parameters of governance have changed. The Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition emerged in an environment of distrust.
Decline of Parliamentary Democracy: ‘President’ Modi in 2022?
Will India too succumb to the global trend of Democracies dying as feared by Levitsky and Ziblatt? In the monsoon session, Question Hour was dropped, Zero Hour halved and the government held it had no data on farmers’ suicide, job losses and migrant workers who died Currently political pundits and intellectuals in the US and Europe are in heated debate triggered by the recent book, “How Democracies Die”, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, both well known scholars.
In memory of Mumbai’s Red Rose: Roza Deshpande’s death marks the end of an (...)
Home > 2020 > In memory of Mumbai’s Red Rose: Roza Deshpande’s death marks the end of an (...) by Kumar Ketkar A full 91 years of political life. Her father, the celebrated and renowned communist leader, Comrade Shripad Amrit Dange was arrested in Mumbai by the British Raj in the famous Meerut Conspiracy Case. The year was 1929. Roza was just a few months old.
RSS and its balancing act
The “personality cults” are condemned. And yet today, the RSS and the BJP are seen actively promoting the cult of Narendra Modi. But it must also be noted that the “old school” Swayamsevaks are extremely upset and even angry at this build up. They also fear that their organisation, the redoubtable RSS would be marginalised if this cult envelopes the social and political ethos. This “old school”, largely marginalised in the last six years, has a different political and cultural upbringing.
Is India heading towards a presidential form of government?
The apprehension is that we will then become One Nation, One Party, One Election, One President, One Religion,One language domination, One Leader and One Culture Representative Image Are we the same people we were, say, thirty years ago? Are we sure of that? Well, I am not sure. Something has fundamentally changed. Could we imagine three decades ago that our institutions will become irrelevant?
Making sense of Rahul Gandhi
At which turn of recent history of post-independent India, did forces of cynicism and regression become dominant? How and when was ‘Politics of Hope’ overtaken by the ‘Politics of Hate’? When did violence enter in our politics, and the ideal of non-violence become irrelevant? One cannot pinpoint a specific date, but it is obvious that there was not much violence in the air till the mid-sixties.
BJP hates Nehru and his legacy, not the Congress, its leaders or even its policies
Irrespective of whether the Congress is in power or not, anti-Congress sentiment intriguingly remains strong and an active political agenda. That is why BJP spokespersons and TV anchors feel the need to question the Congress in opposition, even when the party does not have the required number in the Lok Sabha to be designated as the main opposition. It is the weakened Congress in opposition, which surprisingly remains the target of the ruling party on issues of governance.
The Government has a lot to answer in an India, where no institution or even Gandhi is safe
The Parliament, Election Commission, the Reserve Bank of India, the judiciary and even the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi are all under attack in Incredible India Mahatma Gandhi was killed. Abraham Lincoln too was killed. Gandhiji was killed because he tried to bring the Hindus and Muslims together. Lincoln was killed because he fought against the evil practice of slavery. Nobody in America celebrates the killing of Lincoln. Nobody honours the killers of Lincoln.
New order in Maharashtra
First things first. To understand the tumultuous events in Maharashtra of recent days, journalists, armchair political analysts and the like must accept that politics, like life, can be far more complex than it may appear. Second is that in politics, parties identify a common enemy, or rival, first — even before they choose their friends. Third, not one week, but one day — even a few hours — can be a long time in Maharashtra politics.
Understanding Nehru and the need to continue his mission
His understanding of the symbiotic relationship between freedom and peace as expressed in the Discovery of India, is a profound reflection on the history of mankind as well as direct response to the troubled decades of war and devastation in the First and Second World War. Actually, it was written a couple of years before the war was over and the Nazis vanquished.
Modi-Shah’s BJP blamed regional parties for instability. But India is more destabilised now
File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah | Kamal Singh/PTI Text Size: Where are the so-called powerful regional parties of India and their strong local satraps who were, until about a year ago, being feared for their ability to destabilise the polity and threaten national security? Today, leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik, Nitish Kumar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Mayawati appear much weaker than just a decade ago.
How Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena made Devendra Fadnavis’ life a Vijay Tendulkar play
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis with NCP chief Sharad Pawar | ANI Photo Text Size: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is not known for his literary taste. Like most Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ‘karyakartas’, he too keeps away from modern littérateur class. So, it is unlikely that he would know about Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar’s famous play – “Mee Jinkalo, Mee Harlo (I won, I lost)”.
National media has discovered every region of Maharashtra this election, but not Mumbai
Pedestrians and traffic move past buildings in Mumbai | Representational photo: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg Text Size: On the eve of the assembly election in Maharashtra, political experts sitting in TV studios are talking about everything but Mumbai. National media has discovered Marathwada, Vidarbha, Konkan, north Maharashtra and, of course, western Maharashtra. It’s as if Mumbai has no politics.
Nathuram Godse has a lot to give to the opposition in Maharashtra’s assembly election
File photo of NCP president Sharad Pawar | Photo: Pankaj Nangia | Bloomberg Text Size: The ghost of Nathuram Godse is haunting the Maharashtra assembly elections. Supporters of NCP leader Sharad Pawar are routinely targeting M.K. Gandhi’s assassin in their campaign across Maharashtra. Last week, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi called out the divisive atmosphere in India, saying Godse may have killed Gandhi once, but modern-day Godses are killing Gandhi’s India on a daily basis.
Indian media’s obsession with Pakistan and Imran Khan is to serve a bigger purpose
Illustration by Soham Sen | ThePrint Team Text Size: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the US for the United Nations General Assembly’s 74th session, a media blitzkrieg went underway at home. All newspapers, TV studios and FM radio channels besides public broadcasters repeated ad nauseam the same lines, same comments, same anecdotes, and hugely exaggerated reports of Narendra Modi’s “unprecedented popularity”. But there was one more thing the coverage had in common.
Sharad Pawar can’t be caged by ED probe. That’s why he is Modi’s guru, Sonia’s trusted ally
File photo of NCP president Sharad Pawar | Photo: Pankaj Nangia | Bloomberg Text Size: Sharad Govindrao Pawar, the president of Nationalist Congress Party, is the political equivalent of legendary magician Harry Houdini. The Hungarian-born American artist could leave even the most rational and sceptical ones in his audience surprised. It may seem unfair, and perhaps even a bit absurd, to compare the illusionist with the Machiavellian politician.
Ab ki baar Trump sarkar: Modi knows the key to winning in India is winning overseas Indians
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the 'Howdy, Modi!' gala event at Houston in the United States on Sept. 22, 2019 | PTI Photo Text Size: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is perhaps more at home when he is abroad. Whether he be in the US taking victory lap holding President Donald Trump’s hand up, or in the UK or Rwanda, the prime minister behaves like a global rock star.
Modi-made economic crisis won’t disappear by chanting Jai Shri Ram
PM Narendra Modi delivering his speech on the Independence Day celebrations | Photo: PTI Text Size: The brouhaha over the second Narendra Modi government completing its 100 days has been generated through the many claims of ‘achievements’. If anything, this celebration is premature. These ‘achievements’ don’t take into account the results, or rather the consequences, of the government’s decisions.
Chidambaram won't get bail under Modi rule. Everyone isn't Salman Khan
Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram being taken to CBI custody | ANI Photo Text Size: When former Finance Minister P.
Indians voted for Acche Din under Narendra Modi, got Absurd Din instead
Prime Minister Narendra Modi | File photo: PTI Text Size: Indians who voted, twice, for Acche Din have got Absurd Din instead. A high court judge has a problem with the books an accused reads. Be it Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Biswajit Roy’s War and Peace in Junglemahal: People, State and Maoists – we live in an era where they have already judged the reader by the title of the book. And of course, their focus is on ‘war’ and not ‘peace’. This is happening not just in India.
Not similar like Pepsi and Coke – Congress, BJP have different values, different icons
Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi | Illustration by ThePrint Text Size: After some senior Congress leaders supported the Narendra Modi government’s decision to abrogate Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, it has become fashionable to say that the BJP and the Congress are the same. People who say this also cite the similarities between the economic policies espoused by the two parties and their Hindutva-soft Hindutva politics.
Not terrorists, Congress or voters, this is who scares PM Modi the most
File photo of PM Narendra Modi | ANI Text Size: The post-truth world believes perception is reality. Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks invincible. His popularity only increases – year after year, election after election. With majority support, it seems like only he could have abrogated Article 370 the way he did or criminalised triple talaq or won with a massive mandate even after demonetisation and downfall of the economy. And yet, Modi is fearful. Who can possibly scare the Prime Minister?
Under Modi rule and economic crisis, media is still free to question - but only Congress
Congress President Rahul Gandhi addresses a press conference, at AICC HQ, in New Delhi | PTI Text Size: There was time under the Congress government when the media could truly perform its function as a pillar of democracy. The press was free to expose and question the ruling party. And it often did. Under the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, the media is also free — but just to attack the Congress party.
How Narendra Modi's BJP has become Jawaharlal Nehru's Congress
A graphic featuring Jawaharlal Nehru, Narendra Modi, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee from L-R | Siddhant Gupta Text Size: Political scientist and CSDS founder Professor Rajni Kothari had in the 1960s described India’s political system as ‘the Congress system”, formulating the ‘One-Party Dominance’ theory. The Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress defined India’s polity then, while the opposition was largely at the fringes.
Congress must not go the BJP way in Karnataka. Wait for the Brutus to strike
KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao, AICC general secretary Karnataka in-charge K.C. Venugopal and party leaders rejoice after Congress-JD (S) won bypolls in Bengaluru | File photo | PTI Text Size: Karnataka’s new chief minister and BJP’s state president B.S. Yediyurappa had been brazen about being able to form the government in the state all along — as far back as in March.
Lack of opposition in Parliament doesn’t mean there won’t be any opposition to Modi govt
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah during the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting | PTI Photo/Kamal Kishore Text Size: With Narendra Modi-led BJP riding back to power with a brute majority and the Congress not really improving on its 2014 tally, many political experts argue that the opposition is almost dead.
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