Secularism's Old Soldier

After reading A Maverick in Politics 1991-2024 (Juggernaut), my response was that this is a book written by a brilliant mind. These are not the memoirs of a maverick but a brilliant ideologue caught in a time capsule. It encapsulates the tragedy of the author's life and career as he so honestly acknowledges: 'What remains are the memories and fantasies of yesteryear. …..Coping with failure was more personal. …I just never thought the Gandhi family that had brought me into politics would bowl me out too. Do I regret having quit the Foreign Service midstream to take the plunge into politics? Not for one second. I took my decision consciously, never looking back, knowing that it might end in disaster, not triumph….No, I regret nothing'.
Unlike most who are 'born' into politics and do not switch from civil service to a completely different milieu, Mani, as we affectionately call him, refused after moving to politics, to change with the times, or accept that India had changed. He liked his time capsule and unlike Dr. Who, of BBC fame [a British science fiction programme produced by the BBC], refused to emerge from it. The consequences were clear and revealing and frequently tragic.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

India Today

2 hours ago

• India Today

Rahul Gandhi accuses poll body for 'deleting evidence', calls polls 'fixed match'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the Election Commission (EC) of "deleting evidence" instead of giving answers, after the poll body directed its officers to destroy CCTV, webcast, and video footage of elections 45 days after polling, if the results are not challenged in a post on X, Gandhi said, 'Voter list? Will not give a machine-readable format. CCTV footage? Hidden by changing the law. Election photos and videos? Now they will be deleted in 45 days, not 1 year. The one who was supposed to provide answers – is the one deleting the evidence.'advertisementHe added, 'It is clear that the match is fixed. And a fixed election is poison for democracy.' The Congress leader's statement came after the EC instructed its state poll officers to destroy all such data after 45 days unless a legal challenge to the result is filed. Gandhi has been demanding voter lists, polling data, and video footage, particularly in connection with alleged irregularities in the Maharashtra Assembly a letter dated May 30 to state Chief Electoral Officers, the EC said it had been using photography, videography, CCTV, and webcasting to record various stages of the election process. These recordings are not required by electoral law but serve as internal management the EC said that it has now reviewed the practice due to the "recent misuse of this content by non-contestants to spread misinformation and malicious narratives on social media by selective and out-of-context use of such content, which will not lead to any legal outcome."advertisement"Sharing of the footage, which would enable easy identification of the electors by any group or an individual, would leave both the elector who has voted and the elector who has not voted vulnerable to pressure, discrimination and intimidation by anti-social elements," Election Commission sources EC also said that making public CCTV footage from polling booths would violate the legal provisions of the Representation of the People Act and the directions of the Supreme Court of December last year, the government tweaked an election rule to prevent public inspection of certain electronic documents such as CCTV cameras and webcasting footage as well as video recordings of candidates to prevent their to the new instructions, if no election petition is filed within 45 days, the footage and images can be destroyed. An election petition must be filed in the relevant high court within 45 days of result clarified that if a petition is filed, the data is preserved and made available to the court when InMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Rahul Gandhi

The Hindu

3 hours ago

• The Hindu

'Match is fixed': Rahul Gandhi alleges Election Commission 'deleting evidence' instead of giving answers

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday (June 21, 2025) accused the Election Commission of India of "deleting evidence" when it was required to "provide answers" after the poll body instructed its officers to destroy CCTV, webcasting and video footage of the elections after 45 days. "Voter list? Will not give machine-readable format. CCTV footage? Hidden by changing the law. Election photos and videos? Now they will be deleted in 45 days, not 1 year. The one who was supposed to provide answers - is the one deleting the evidence," Mr. Gandhi alleged in a post on X. "It is clear that the match is fixed. And a fixed election is poison for democracy," the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha posted in Hindi. Mr. Gandhi has been demanding voter lists, poll data and video footage from the election commission, alleging irregularities in Maharashtra assembly elections. The Congress leader's reaction came after the poll body instructed its state poll officers to destroy CCTV, webcasting and video footage of the election process after 45 days if the verdict is not challenged in courts within that period, saying it feared the use of its electronic data to create "malicious narratives". In a letter to state Chief Electoral officers on May 30, the EC said it has issued instructions for recording various stages of the election process through multiple recording devices -- photography, videography, CCTV, and webcasting during the election process. While electoral laws do not mandate such recordings, the commission uses them as an internal management tool during various stages of the electoral process. "However, the recent misuse of this content by non-contestants for spreading misinformation and malicious narratives on social media by selective and out-of-context use of such content, which will not lead to any legal outcome, has prompted a review," it said. It has now told its state poll chiefs that the CCTV data, webcasting data and photography of election processes at various stages will be preserved for 45 days. "If no election petition is filed in respect of a particular constituency, then the said data may be destroyed," it instructed. Any person can file an "election petition" challenging the poll verdict in the concerned high court within 45 days.

Business Standard

4 hours ago

• Business Standard

PM Modi has mastered 'art of slogans', not solutions: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, said Modi has "no new ideas" and has "surrendered" Press Trust of India New Delhi Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mastered the "art of slogans" but offers no solutions, and claimed that India's manufacturing was at a record low despite the 'Make in India' initiative. "'Make in India' promised a factory boom. So why is manufacturing at record lows, youth unemployment at record highs, and why have imports from China more than doubled? "Modi ji has mastered the art of slogans, not solutions. Since 2014, manufacturing has fallen to 14 per cent of our economy," he said in a post on X. Gandhi, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, said Modi has "no new ideas" and has "surrendered". "Even the much-hyped PLI scheme is now being quietly rolled back," he alleged. Gandhi said India needs a fundamental shift, one that empowers lakhs of producers through honest reforms and financial support. "We must stop being a market for others. If we don't build here, we'll keep buying from those who do. The clock is ticking," he said. Gandhi met mobile repair technicians at Nehru Place, Delhi and attached a video of the conversation to the post. "In Nehru Place, New Delhi, I met Shivam and Saif - bright, skilled, full of promise - yet denied the opportunity to fulfil it. Noting that there is a difference between 'Made in India' and 'Assembled in India', he said: "The truth is stark: we assemble, we import, but we don't build. China profits." "China is the world's electronic market. There is no other electronic market anywhere. Assembly as many iPhones as you want, all you are doing is giving money to the big oligopolies of India. Start making iPhones, it's a completely different ball game," he said in the video. The former Congress chief said to manufacture parts, whether it is a motherboard or "small pieces", you need a certain level of machining, a certain level of quality, a certain level of understanding of tolerances of working with small components. "That is a learnt skill. That is not something you can get in just two minutes. Until you start respecting the idea of physical labour, the man who is doing that we have no respect for that guy on the street who is sitting there, selling his things, for hours together... "And, at the centre of it, and people don't like it when I say it, and at the centre of it is the idea of caste. We need to make this transparent. We need to show exactly how Indian society distributes power, exactly how Indian society distributes respect," Gandhi observed. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have raised the issue of conducting a nationwide caste census to ascertain if various castes in society have a proportionate "share" of power. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)