Nitish took a calculated risk, but an ambitious BJP would be a different animal in 2020
On the evening of July 26, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad was preparing to go to Ranchi to appear before the CBI court in the fodder scam case hearing, when he received a call from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “Main pranam karta hoon. Yeh mera antim pranam hai (Accept my greetings. These are my last),” said Nitish, whose party, the Janata Dal (United), was an alliance partner of the RJD. “It will not be possible to go further,” Nitish told a stunned Lalu.
Nitish was on his way to the Raj Bhawan to meet Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to submit his resignation. “What will not go further? What are you talking about?” Lalu asked. But Nitish hung up on him. Within minutes, the alliance was over.
Apparently, Lalu had known that something was amiss. That was why he did not take an earlier flight to Ranchi. Both the RJD and the JD(U) had legislature party meetings ahead of the upcoming assembly session that day. Ironically, the alliance had been formally announced exactly three years ago, on July 27, 2014, when the RJD, the JDU and the Congress had come together to contest 10 assembly seats in the by elections.
Curiously, when Nitish submitted his resignation to governor, answering the “call of his conscience” on the issue of corruption (by Lalu and his family), the BJP’s parliamentary board, the highest decision-making body in the party, was meeting in Delhi. It promptly announced the BJP would back Nitish, and within minutes Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted in his support. Nitish thanked him in a reply tweet.
Denne historien er fra August 13, 2017-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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Denne historien er fra August 13, 2017-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
