The Right Perspective

(A version of this article appeared in the Pioneer 's Oped, on August 4, 2016 l) Ramchandra Guha’s penchant for ignoring and twisting the facts at piddling ease and indulging in partisan opinion making renders him as what Arun Shourie once called ‘Eminent Historians’.   A part-time historian, part-time media personality has opinions on everything under the Sun – from cricket to politics and everything in between, including of course, history.   And Guha is everywhere – from the confines of a posh TV studio to seminar halls to newspapers.   But this is where his eminence ends.   When the facts become dispensable and opinions aplenty, a Ramchandra Guha is born.   In the thick of the controversy surrounding the renaming of Delhi’s Auranghzeb Road to Abdul Kalam Road, Guha presented this gem in his column in the Hindustan Times: “Why not have a road named after the greatest modern scientists of India, CV Raman?” The way backward and a way forward, b...

Ruby Rai, Bihar's Fake Topper Arrested Who doesn't like to be famous and be interviewed by the press, TV channels, etc?  When the TV camera arrived at house of Miss. Ruby Roy, a 17-year old teenager, she probably was thrilled.  Little did she know that this little chat with the TV channel will change her life.  After being declared the topper in Political Science stream in the entire state of Bihar in the recently concluded exams, the TV camera called knocking at her door.  But in her now famous TV interview she failed to answer some of the basic questions about the subject stream she had aced.  For example, Political Science, she said teaches cooking.  This two minutes of fame meant that her results, along with many others', were invalidated.  It exposed a deep-rooted corruption in education in Bihar which resulted in many, including Miss Roy being charged of criminal offenses and arrested. That's a quick turnaround in the life of a 17-year o...

The recent news coming out of India concerning proposed crackdownon social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter has been extremelydisturbing.   In a recent statement, SriKapil Sibal, the federal communications minister belonging the Congress party threatenedstrict action against these social networking sites to ensure that ‘blasphemousmaterial’ did not get on the internet.   India vows crackdown on offensive internet content The mere thought that a big brother government may belooking over the internet monitoring its content is a clear indication that ithas some ulterior motives.   Mr. Sibal,who is famous for his unconcealed sycophancy towards to the family of SoniaGandhi, sprang into action when some ‘offensive’ photos of his boss appeared onthese social networking sites.   People should take this threat seriously as the Congress partyhas a long history of suppressive dictatorial rule in India .   Deep physical wounds of emergency of the 70...