From the Editor: Anil Tyagi

DECADES ago, when I was sitting with Harmohan Dhawan, the then minister of Civil Aviation in the Chandra Shekhar Government, I was told that the latter had asked the relevant ministers to give 5,000 telephone connections and 5,000 LPG connections to win the Lok Sabha election from Chandigarh constituency. I suggested to him, “You cannot win a Parliament election with only largesse. What you really need is a political narrative that can appeal to and woo the masses.” He ignored me; he also lost the election. A leader needs a compelling electoral narrative to enhance his support, especially with the growing population of fence-sitters and first-time voters. Similarly, decades ago, Narasimha Rao, the former Prime Minister of India, was asked by his party colleagues on what could be done to stop the rising popularity of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after it embraced the Ram Mandir strategy to win the elections.

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Corruption: From Raj to Rafale 7 – A Mother’s Son & Son of God

In the seventh part of the series on corruption in modern India, Alam Srinivas looks at how Indira Gandhi’s efforts to centralise corruption led to two of the most high-profiles scandals—one was bizarre and mysterious, and the other was an extreme case of nepotism and crony capitalism. Both established that dishonesty stemmed from the top, and percolated downwards. They were the Nagarwala case, and the making of the People’s Car.

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Cover Story : Let’s lure voters – again

In this century, national elections across the globe are rigged on social media. Online social networks can make or mar any election, be it the US, the UK, France, Brazil, India, or African nations. There are just a few unanswered questions: If everyone knows about it, and there is enough evidence floating around about these malaises, why doesn’t someone do something about it? Why do we hear and read about internal and external malicious influences in every election on a regular basis? Why doesn’t this stop or reduce?

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Cover story: Challenge of 2019: A Parliament for the people,not politicians

RECLAIM the Republic”, these are the words resonating these days in the intellectual circles and is trickling down to the grassroots as a cry for saving India’s First Republic. Reclaiming the Republic means saving its institutions because Republics do not comprise of individuals but institutions. There are several of them that have been built into the Constitution as well as structured from outside. These include office of the President of India, the Council of Ministers, Parliament, CAG, UPSC, Minority Commission and the Election Commission.

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Governance: Con Man’s image makeover

The conman is working out strategies to convert a sure-shot defeat into victory. A gambler who wanted to be a billionaire by 40 and retire at 45—he made his fortune and still had nothing much to do a few years later when he lost everything. It was during this phase when he wrote or commissioned a number of books and videos. These included books like ‘Jignesh Shah: Why This Persecution’ and over two dozen videos on YouTube like ‘Saga of injustice against Jignesh Shah’, ‘360 Degree Ecosystem’ and ‘ODIN by Jignesh Shah’.

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