Undermining Parliamentary Democracy

THE CPI(M)’s recently concluded 21st Congress spoke of the trident of challenges facing the country and the people. The aggressive pursuit of the neo-liberal policies of economic reforms; the relentless onslaughts on the secular democratic foundations of the Indian republic by the sharpening of communal polarisation and the movement towards an authoritarian rule through the erosion of democratic institutions and methods considered sacrosanct in a parliamentary democracy, constitute the current constellation of challenges before us.

Resist Modi Govt’s Anti-farmer Policies

THE tragic suicide of a kisan during the Aam Aadmi Party rally in New Delhi last week sharply brought out the real face of the deep agrarian distress that has gripped our country. Though these columns were highlighting this growing crisis and distress in Indian agriculture periodically, the depth of what this means to India in general and rural India in particular came under sharp focus with this suicide. Official governmental records show that nearly three lakh farmers have been driven to distress suicides during the last two decades.

Modi Govt’s Unfolding Trimoorti

WITH reference to the manner in which this Narendra Modi government was bulldozing legislations in the parliament with scant regard to parliamentary procedures and rules, we had commented in this column that this is a dangerous portend adding a third dimension to the unfolding of the agenda under this government.

Wither Achhe Din Aanewale Hain?

AS we go to press, floods have, once again, begun their cruel devastation in the Kashmir valley. Soon its impact will be felt in the state of Jammu & Kashmir and neighbouring areas. J&K is yet to recover from the earlier devastation. The promised relief and rehabilitation has not yet even begun to reach the people in many parts of the state, particularly in the Kashmir valley.

LAND ACQUISITION BILL AMENDMENTS: PM Modi’s Disinformation Campaign

THE Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels launched Hitler’s fascistic propaganda blitz advancing a famous dictum which went as follows: If you tell a big enough lie, frequently enough, it becomes the truth. Over the past few decades, it appeared that the RSS/BJP had mastered this technique. A number of instances can be listed. Take one, for instance: the entire propaganda leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the campaign for the construction of a temple at that very place was orchestrated around an assertion that this exact place was where Rama was born. Any historical ev

Spreading Communal Poison

THE communal poison being spread by the various tentacles of the RSS are leading to an increase in the physical attacks against places of worship belonging to religious minorities. The whipping up of such communal intolerance is creating an atmosphere permitting horrendous physical attacks against practitioners of minority religions in the country. This is in direct contrast and contradiction with the fundamental rights provided by the Indian constitution to the religious minorities in the secular democratic republic of India.

PM Modi’s Anti-Communist Tirade: Fabrication of Facts

THE annual address by the president of India to a joint session of the parliament is always a balance sheet of the past year’s work of the government and a roadmap of its proposals for the next one year. This speech is both prepared and endorsed by the union cabinet and subsequently delivered by the president. In both the houses of the parliament, a motion of thanks is moved by the ruling party expressing gratitude to the president for having delivered his/her speech.

J&K Government: Opportunist Alliance

THE PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has finally assumed office. This was preceded by two months of intense negotiations between the two parties. While Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is the chief minister, Nirmal Singh of the BJP has become the deputy chief minister. This is the first time that the BJP has become part of the state government in Jammu & Kashmir. This has disturbing implications.

Attempt to Circumvent Parliamentary Democracy

THE budget session of the parliament, the session in which the Modi government will present its full-fledged budget substantiating its aggressive advocacy of the neo-liberal economic reform trajectory, began this week. The session began with the Modi government appearing to brazen out the reality of the Delhi assembly election result – a result which shows that this Modi government is, perhaps, seeing the growing of an anti-incumbency sentiment in probably the shortest period of time after assuming the reins of government by any party at the centre. Within nine months of forming the gover

Modi Govt’s First Full Budget:Fulfilling Peoples’ Aspirations?

NEXT Monday (February 23, 2015), the budget session of the parliament begins. Naturally, all attention will be focused on this Modi government’s first full budget presentation.

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Peoples Democracy

Editorial