The interesting times of April |
I do not know which planets will confluence or which planet will be retrograde but, looking at the political scene in India, I can say ‘we live in interesting times’.
Contrasting Fundamentals
Elections to the Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, the UT of Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be conducted on April 9, 23 and 29. For the first time in recent years in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the BJP is challenging entrenched Left-of-centre political parties. In the ideological spectrum, both the UDF and the LDF in Kerala are positioned on the Left of the centre. The DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu (that includes Congress) and the AITC (TMC) in West Bengal are avowedly Left-of-centre parties. All of them swear by the Constitution, federalism, primacy of Parliament/Legislature, secularism, social justice, development with equity, welfare measures, freedom of the media, and liberal economy. The LDF, DMK and TMC rule the respective state governments.
The challenger is the BJP that has positioned itself on the Right of the ideological spectrum. I can think of only the RSS as more to the Right, but the RSS claims it is not a political party. However, it reluctantly concedes that its prominent leaders were, and are, in key positions in the BJP organisation, and many ministers of BJP governments were pracharaks and continue to be swayamsevaks. The common citizen views the RSS as the........