Lord Curzon must be chuckling in his grave. Recently, in Karimganj district rechristened as Sribhumi in Barak valley, a local Congress leader sang Rabindranath Tagore’s iconic song “Amar Sonar Bangla, Ami tomay bhalobasi”. It immediately drew a sharp reaction from the Himanta Biswa Sarma government. The Chief Minister himself pounced on this seeing ‘an opportunity’ to demonise the opposition and question their loyalty. This song has been adopted as the national anthem of Bangladesh after the triumph of the national liberation movement and formation of the new republic in 1971.

THE Ekalavya episode in Mahabharata is widely known. But it is sought to be embedded in the narrative of valour of Pandavas and their shining tales of struggle for justice. Dronacharya’s extreme act of cruelty on Ekalavya’s incessant effort to accomplish mastery over martial prowess sticks out as a jarring note in the grand narrative of the timeless epic. The modern exponents of Hindutva, in their pernicious act of reconstructing the Indian past, remain busy in rebranding the grotesque caste driven social hierarchy as ‘mother of democracy’.

SHOCKING as it may sound, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) initiated in Bihar by the Election Commission of India (ECI), when seen contextually, would actually unravel graver implications which have now come out in the open. When the process was initiated on June 25, within a few days it became obvious that the exercise was aimed far beyond the scope of purifying the electoral rolls.Three special features of the exercise stood out. Firstly, the exercise would put the burden of proof on the citizen to prove that he/she is a legitimate voter to appear in the electoral rolls.

IT is bizarre that the Ayodhya and Kashi issues have again started unravelling. These questions remained in suspended animation with orders from the highest judiciary. For many, the Ayodhya verdict was an enigma with the apex court order that those who criminally destroyed Babri Mosque were in fact, to be rewarded with ownership, and facilitated in construction of the Ram Temple. Significantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined this judicial validation while inaugurating the Ram Mandir.

THE prime minister recently made an inordinately delayed visit to Manipur after 28 months – 864 days to be precise – of internecine ethnic violence that was presided over by the then BJP-led government in the state under chief minister Biren Singh. The visit itself was a desperate move to try and retrieve lost political ground in the state.