Despite the US’ official stand favoring an expansion of the UN Security Council, new diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks show how it was doing everything it could to delay or mould the reform process to its ends. According to them, the US delegation to the United Nations worked out a clear strategy to delay or […]
NDA leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has denied that the BJP-led opposition at the centre is playing dirty politics on the issue of the Lokpal bill. He denied the Congress’ accusation that the BJP led National Democratic Alliance is opposed to the strict anti-corruption law proposed by the campaigners led by Anna Hazare. […]
Former US representative to the United Nations, Peter Burleigh has taken over as the US ambassador to India. Burleigh, a former in-charge of the US embassy in New Delhi, had been impressed by Rahul Gandhi’s political skills, as revealed by a cable authored by him in 2009 and leaked by Wikileaks. In the cable, he […]
A US diplomatic cable written two years ago has revealed how the Left parties, which opposed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal tooth and nail, were the most aggressive when it came to enjoying the fruits of that agreement. The alliance between the Congress party and the Left parties (which were supporting the UPA at that […]
Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has called the ‘bubble gum’ episode “India’s Watergate” and called for a thorough investigation into the matter. “Is it that the Government was spying on its own Finance Minister? Or is it a Corporate House,” she asked in a tweet, echoing the […]
Baba Ramdev, the Yogi with crores of followers, especially among the elderly, is in no mood to give up his bid for a rightful place in India’s anti-corruption campaign despite being forcibly thrown out of Delhi once. Acharya Balkrishna, the main aide to the Baba, said the Baba will “join” Anna in his protest in […]
An official from the US embassy at Islamabad was so ruffled by the harsh reactions of Pakistani foreign and defence experts to the Indo-US nuclear deal that he suggested a new name for the conference in a bitter account of his ‘travails’. “…the conference should have been billed ‘Seminar on U.S.-Indian Perfidy (untrustworthiness)’” the official […]
The crowd tells you all. The kind of people you associate with also defines the contour of your movement. Unlike the crowds that donned the movement of Anna Hazare against the corruption couple of months ago, Baba Ramdev’s movement against corruption has assumed communal tinge with the association of the RSS and the BJP and […]
Kapil Sibal, cabinet minister and chief interlocutor for the Government in the Baba Ramdev case, accused the Baba of going back on his word after promising to withdraw his agitation by 6 June. “By 2 pm he was supposed to announce that he would end the fast on 6 June (Monday). He did not keep […]
Kiran Bedi, former IPS officer and one of Anna Hazare’s Lieutenants, blamed India’s opposition parties for failing to take up the issue of corruption and pointed out politics is not the preserve of those who seek to monopolize it. She said that people like herself and Anna Hazare were forced to take up the issue […]
Anna Hazare’s fast at Raj Ghat — the final resting place of Mahatma Gandhi — is sharply focused on protesting the violent crackdown on anti black money protest last Saturday and upholding the people’s right to peaceful protest. “The Government is saying that if you are going to say things that are unpleasant to us, […]
Vincent M Concessao, archbishop of Delhi Arch Diocese who had expressed reservations on Baba Ramdev’s movement, has joined Anna Hazare at his fast site near Mahatma Gandhi’s final resting place at Raj Ghat. The gesture is seen as an endorsement of the anti-corruption movement and a reply to those who try to portray the movement […]
Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare has termed the crushing of Baba Ramdev’s agitation on Saturday a “crime against humanity” and compared it to the Jalianwalah Bagh massacre, “but for the shooting.” He alleged that the Government has been putting up obstacles in the process of framing the Lokpal bill. “If this keeps on happening, I state, […]
Anna Hazare warned his followers at the Raj Ghat not to respond in kind if the Government uses violence today. “There is a possibility that the Government may do something, but I want my followers to remain peaceful.. We have another four hours to go. Do not respond to violence through violence,” Anna said. The […]
Like many citizens of this country, I was shocked to wake up on Sunday morning and find that the Government had lathi-charged what I thought was a rather harmless satyagrah going on in Ramlila grounds. Like most of my fellow-citizens, I was quick to condemn the violation of our constitutional right to peaceful agitation — […]
Israel felt that a BJP government showed more enthusiasm in advancing mutual co-operation between India and Israel, compared to the Congress-led UPA government, going by a cable released by Wikileaks. According to it, the then Deputy Director General for Asia and the Pacific with Isreal foreign ministry, Ruth Kahanoff, felt that the [Congress-led] government was […]
Baba Ramdev may get most of his demands met by the government even before he starts his fast in less than 24 hours from now. According to sources, the Government is keen to present him with an ‘action plan’ at the venue of his planned fast, which is due to start tomorrow. The marathon meetings […]
Pakistan diverted most of the money it received for counter-insurgency operations from the US to non-military uses, the country’s then finance minister Shaukat Tarin told Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Pakistan in late 2009. In a US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks, Tarin also requested Patterson to share how much money the US pays […]
The US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, argued strongly with her Government to sell Pakistan more F-16 fighter jets to, ironically, prevent a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Patterson, in a 2009 cable, pointed out that Pakistan is likely to use Nuclear weapons against India in a matter a few days if the two […]
Many oil-rich Gulf states, ostensibly allied with the United States, have a policy of turning a blind eye to the terror planning and financing activities on their territories with Kuwait and Qatar being the worst offenders, according to a US diplomatic cable. Saudi Arabia has done the most to disrupt terror networks, particularly the al […]
