A Girish Nikam website Every report that concerns India

By Girish Nikam (गिरीश निकम)

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For all those who were hoping, and many believing, that this would be the last term as the Prime Minister for Dr.Manmohan Singh a clear signal has been given. The “official” endorsement given unambiguously by Congress President Sonia Gandhi last week, that he would “certainly” hoist the national flag on the ramparts of the Red Fort next August 15, should put an end to all speculations about who will be the Prime Ministerial candidate of the UPA in the next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

By Girish Nikam (गिरीश निकम)

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The Cash for vote controversy is assuming a distinctly uncomfortable hue. This is despite the prompt action taken by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as expected of him from every quarter. His decision to call the three BJP MPs, confer with them to convince himself about the prima facie need for an enquiry and his subsequent decision to form a seven member committee all follow a pattern expected of him in such a controversy.

By Girish Nikam (गिरीश निकम)

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When a party like the CPI(M) decides that one of its members has committed “indiscipline”, it doesn’t bother about the consequences. One, who would like to look at it from the point of view of the party, may appreciate it for its principled approach. But after it decided to expel summarily, a comrade whom it had positioned in the highest constitutional position any of its members held in its long history, the question is has it just over-stretched itself. And whether this action is a precursor to a schism if not a 1964 kind of split in the party itself in the foreseeable future?

By Girish Nikam (गिरीश निकम)

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Is the victory of the UPA Government in the Confidence vote an honourable victory? This question will remain always just like P.V.Narasimha Rao’s victory in 1993, when he had won the confidence vote.
In 1993, there were only whispers about votes having been bought. There were no TV channels to conduct a sting operation then. 2008 however was different. Even as the Congress and the other UPA allies celebrate their victory, a CD of the sting operation conducted by the CNN-IBN, which lies in the safe custody of Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, when it is revealed may just be a cause for much regret, if not shame for the UPA.

By Girish Nikam (गिरीश निकम)

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During the last over a year and half when the nuclear issue dominated(it continues to dominate) the media space, this column had consistently taken a stand that though it looked like a personality clash between two people, Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, superficially, it was in fact an ideological clash. There has been no other issue in the past few decades which has lead to such an intense ideological debate in the country.

By Girish Nikam (गिरीश निकम)

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We seem to be living through a period of dualism in a philosophic sense. As pointed out in these columns earlier, when two brilliant minds like, Dr.Manmohan Singh and Prakash Karat, are involved in a battle of ideas, the ordinary mortals to whom it is aimed are bound to be left confused or even confounded. No wonder we are witnessing this battle now not just in the media space, but even in parks and offices, where people are seen and heard arguing vehemently for or against the ideas thrown up by the above two.