Modi, Obama and a Statue

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

It was a sun-washed morning in September last that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had arrived at White House in Washington, as a sort of oddball ("Bollywood star", as President Obama reminded him this week in Delhi), and far from a statesman of stature. The State Department thought he was not worth a state dinner. But Modi brushed the insult aside.Nobody knows what was in him that impressed Obama.

Why Obama Coming ?

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is no mean an achievement to get US President Barack Obama as chief guest at the Republic Day parade next Monday. The parade, with its procession of tableaux representing features of states and region, is a colourful tribute to India’s cultural diversity, which, in its turn, is the centerpiece of the Constitution which was born on this day.

Rahul has time on his side

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

India's grand old party, the Congress, may blow an impressive 130 candles on its birthday cake this year. But it is battered like never before by electoral reverses, defections, policy muddle, and, more importantly, a crisis of leadership. Sonia Gandhi, the present president, steered the party well as it managed, under her stewardship, to move from opposition to the treasury benches and stay there for a decade. But it is clearly end of the line for her as neither her health nor her electoral people seem ready for a last burst of fire. The Congress being an unabashedly dynastic party, when Congress Working Committee (CWC) meets Tuesday, it is likely to bring to the fore its anxiety to get Rahul Gandhi, the fifth generation dynast, as its new president. Once the party elders crown him, getting it approved by delegates of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) at its next session in March is no sweat.

2015: Test of Modi's management skills and luck

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

To those who have a casual interest in astrology which, I emphasize, is not a science, 2014 was a significant year. It was marked by transition of the Saturn, supposedly the most malefic of all the planets, from the Scorpio sign to Sagittarius. In the two-and-a-half years of the Saturn's residence in a zodiacal sign, the remote and 'cold' planet supposedly causes life-changing happenings of those born under the signs immediately before and after its extant address. Astrologers give much importance to this seven-and-a-half-years period (2.5X3), popularly known in India as saade saati, which, it is generally believed, can be one of 'creative destruction', or just destruction, depending on their clients' native chart.