By Sidharth Mishra

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has advised Prime Minister NarendraModi to accept Pakistan’s Prime Minister-elect Imran Khan’s offer of friendship and add a positive dimension to tense relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Mehbooba feels that a better relationship with Pakistan means the ending of bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir. Cricketer-turned politician Khan, in his first public address after leading his party to victory in the general elections, had said Pakistan is ready to improve its ties with India and his government would like the leaders of the two sides to resolve all disputes including the ‘core issue’ of Kashmir through talks. Khan, whose party emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly elections, has also asserted that the blame game between the two neighbours should stop.

By Sidharth Mishra

The AamAadmi Party (AAP) should celebrate the Supreme Court last week’s order as a major political victoryonly with a pinch of salt. Though the judgment in spirit may be seen to be backing the elected government it has done little in words to add to the powers of the city’s political executive. There are three major points to ponder over, which in essence will not allow any material change in the relationship between Delhi Secretariat and the Raj Niwas. These are:

• The Supreme Court has upheld its earlier nine-judge bench judgment which ruled out full-statehood for Delhi.
• It has not enhanced the limited powers of legislation of Delhi Assembly.  
• The Supreme Court has not set aside the Delhi High Court order which had upheld the MHA notification of May 21, 2015. Add a comment

By Sidharth Mishra

Peace must return to Jammu and Kashmir, which has been on the boil for several decades. The growing role of non-state actors has only worsened the condition over the years. The inability of our successive Central and state governments in blocking the flow of aid to separatists from abroad and within the country has always provided a kind of financial and moral cushion to the unscrupulous forces to carry out their anti-India activities in the Valley.

When the BJP came to power at the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the nation hoped that things would improve in the strife-torn Valley. The hope further got a boost when the BJP decided to be a part of the state government in alliance with the PDP. However, there was little improvement in the condition at the ground level. The stone-pelting on armed forces assumed a critical dimension.

By Sidharth Mishra

The nine-day-long drama which Delhi chief minister ArvindKejriwal unfolded in the ante-room of Lieutenant Governor’s office opened discussions on several political repercussions which it believed to have caused. While a quadruple of Chief Ministers, belonging to Opposition parties and in the town for a NitiAayog meeting, did not miss the opportunity for a photo frame. On the other hand, the Congress leadership was on the receiving end of brickbats hurled at them for not joining the opposition party.

All through the nine-days that ArvindKejriwal and his aides had the television crews holed up at Raj NiwasMarg, they did not bother to address the ‘official opposition’ that is the Delhi BJP. Despite having won the last round of polls in the city – the municipal elections in 2017 and having seven LokSabha MPs from the city, Delhi BJP failed to make an effective presence in the political drama. It was left to the Lieutenant Governor and the bureaucrats to fend for the centre’s cause.

By Sidharth Mishra

in 2013, as Sheila Dikshit’s 15-years-long tenure as Chief Minister of Delhi inched to closure, several of her close confidantes in the bureaucracy took voluntary transfer out of Delhi. Around the same time ManoharParrikar had come to power in Goa and was forming his team. Since Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories have a common pool of all India service officers to draw from, several of these officers got transferred to Goa.

One morning a newspaper headline screamed, “Sheila’s confidantes now part ofParrikar’s team.” This sums up the nature of bureaucracy in this country – apolitical. The political leadership should have the wherewithal to make the bureaucracy work, which owns its final accountability to the blue book drafted by a gentleman called Dr BhimraoAmbedkar, laws passed by the parliament and rules of business drawn thereafter and not the whims and fancies of elected body of law makerswhich are sought to be camouflaged as “desire of the people”.

By Sidharth Mishra

Within hours of HD Kumaraswamy taking over as Chief Minister of Karnataka, the social media noticed quiet posting of a tweet by union home minister Rajnath Singh. The post said, “Congratulations to Shri HD Kumaraswamy and Shri G Parameshwar on taking oath as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka. I hope, Karnataka will move forward towards peace, progress and prosperity under the new Govt.”

This post came at the time when the world was going gaga over the presence of almost all the opposition leaders in Bengaluru at the swearing in of the JD(S) leader as the new chief minister and the Congress leader as his deputy. The swearing in ceremony in Bengaluru was happening after much animated political activity which had followed the fractured mandate. The post surprised the Modi-Bhakts, the BJP-sympathisers and the BJP-opponents alike.

By Sidharth Mishra

A vehicle on a downhill drive has a peculiar feature. It moves at high-speed and takes several sharp U-turns. AamAadmi Party (AAP) leadership in the past six-months has gone on a U-turn drive, apologising to one and all, and trying to make-up with their rivals including country’s Finance Minister ArunJaitley.

Now the latest is the reported ‘offer’ made by AAP leadership to the Congress to enter into some kind of an alliance in Delhi to take on the BJP in the 2019 LokSabha polls. This ‘offer’ comes close on the heels of former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit giving an interview to a Hindi daily saying politics was all about possibilities and Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal complementing Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken for his son’s performance in school board examination.

By Sidharth Mishra

With the coming of the Monsoon in 2011, dawned in Delhi along with the rains the ‘India Against Corruption’ movement led by Anna Hazare. The anti-corruption crusader from Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra sat on a fast at the Ramlila Ground and held the centrestage in the national politics for the next fortnight. During the protest, the activists’ creativity was at its best and one clearly recalls a poster which had pictures of Anna, ArvindKejriwal and KiranBedi anointed as Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Jhansi’s queen Lakshmi Bai; all in the same frame.

Ideologically the three historical figures do not make to one frame. But such mass movements are like that when people with different ideological leanings come together for a common cause. Some months later on a television debate, when the movement converted into a political outfit – the AamAdmi Party (AAP), its then main ideologue YogendraYadav was asked about the ideological moorings of the organization.