Monday, August 17, 1998
From the heart
Independence Day is an occasion for the political leadership to take stock of the situation and draw up a blueprint for the future. This year the day assumed greater importance as it happened to mark the culmination of the golden jubilee of Indian Independence.
The father of all boasts
Finance minister Yashwant Sinha has grandly proclaimed that he is the `father' of disinvestment, having first spoken of it in the 1991-92 Budget in his first innings. He is welcome to the credit, such as it is. The term "disinvestment" symbolises the woolly-headedness and risk-averseness that marks Indian politicians' approach to privatisation.
It didn't begin last May
One often hears that the present government, by its decision to conduct nuclear tests, has caused the Kashmir issue to be internationalised and thus "scored a goal against itself". This criticism ignores the fact that the US and its allies always had a "finger in the Kashmir pie".
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