India First

Do We Need Aarogya Setu? As COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe over the last few months, governments across the world have had to absorb a flood of information from a 360° window, probably 24 hours a day, and have taken series of decisions to protect their nations’ populations from the dreaded infection. Among the many progressively enforced measures have been restrictions on travel, socialising, commuting, maintaining personal hygiene, and finally lockdowns in many countries. India was the first country to impose a nationwide lockdown, which has been extended twice, with some relaxation in rules being introduced in the second and third lockdowns. Even before the pandemic hit India, Government of India (GoI) has been severely attacked across the political spectrum and beyond for having let the economy go into a tailspin. Irrespective of whether the attacks were exaggerated or accurate, everyone will agree that the lockdown has dealt a body blow to the economy, even as one ne...

Of Bhakts and Bhakti Movements in Indian politics, when The Gods and Goddesses are all too Human Edited: 28-Oct-18 As most Indians would know, bhakti means devotion to God. The Bhakti Movement, which has its origin in Medieval India, was characterised by complete surrender of oneself to God, the love of a selfless devotee or bhakt . According to an insightful article on Bhakti Movement, “Bhakti poets emphasized surrender to god”. Let’s shift to a different world – that of post-Independence politics in India. Indian politics witnessed a landmark development in May 2014. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured power in the Lok Sabha election with a clear majority – a feat not achieved by any government since 1984, and never by any party other than the Indian National Congress (INC). Between the elections of 2009 and 2014, there was a generational shift within the BJP – a generation of politicians who had been its most prominent face since it was formed in 1980, and befo...

Can a Religious Leader Delivery as Chief Minister? On Sunday morning I was very surprised to hear of BJP’s choice for Chief Minister for UP. Honestly, I can’t recall any of Yogi Adityanath’s statements that contribute to his present negative image among urban Indians. At the same time, even for BJP supporters there is some negativity associated with our impression of him. One associates UP with social backwardness (to put it mildly), social divisions along religious lines (for those who love to hate BJP, let’s not forget the contribution of our “secular” parties in having achieved so), high crime rate, and I’m sure it’s pretty backward economically too. The govt of such a large and problem-ridden state would need to plan and perform along multiple dimensions for a decade before social and economic reforms begin to show. But parties are lucky to have more than five years! Why then, would a firebrand religious leader be chosen? He has no experience in administration. We can’t ...