The dice is loaded in favour of the Kerala faction of the CPM in its stand-off with the Bengal unit. Yet, this marks the Marxist party’s most bitter internal divide yet.
India’s Home Minister is getting it from all sides. If the Maoist menace is not a headache enough, he’s got critics on his back, angry colleagues, and even jealous vibes within the Congress to fend off.
Amaresh Mishra, handpicked by Digvijaya Singh to lead Congress’ anti-communal front, has accused Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram of creating a ‘mindset of terror’ in the party.
At Aligarh Muslim University, which wants to confer honorary doctorates on Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, the Congress is caught in a bind of its own making.
TCA Raghavan is a former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and Singapore. His first book, Attendant Lords: Abdur Rahim and Bairam Khan: Courtiers and Poets in Mughal India, was awarded the Mohammad Habib Prize by the Indian History Congress. He is also the author of The People Next Door: The Curious History of India’s Relations with Pakistan and History Men: Jadunath Sarkar, G S Sardesai, Raghubir Sinh and Their Quest for India’s Past. His latest book is Circles of Freedom: Love, Friendship and Loyalty in the Indian National Struggle