On the road to Liberty

Political ideologies are simple tools by which people decide on the general direction they think society ought to take. In a true democracy, different political ideals have to compete to win the support of the people. The authors of the Indian Constitution had specifically debated and rejected the idea of binding the country to socialism. Yet, the Preamble to the Constitution was amended in 1976, and the election law in 1989, requiring all political parties to affirm to the Constitution, and to socialism. Now, the Supreme Court has acknowledged that there are valid questions on the issue of socialism, though academic, at this point in time. So it is a time to form a Party, and part with socialism. Let us be liberal, and play the tune of freedom! This article of mine, " A time to Party! ", was published in Pragati, a national interest magazine, in its August 2010 issues. Recently, the Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) that questioned the validity of t...

One reason why politicians have fallen in public esteem is because they are not seen to be operating in an open market, I argue in this article, " Market reform in politics ", published in the Mint, on 22 July 2008. The run-up to the trust vote has been as exciting as a Twenty20 (T20) game of cricket. Fortune is fluctuating every hour. It is a cliff-hanger! But rather than enjoy the political game, commentators are lamenting that high principles of parliamentary democracy have degenerated to lowly bazaar bargaining. It’s time our politicians took a leaf out of the T20 experience and created a legitimate market for politics. Indian Premier League’s success was not in the T20 format. Beginning with the private ownership of teams to auctioning of the players, branding and marketing, cricket was commercialized as never before. It produced quality entertainment for the paying public and unearthed new talent. In contrast to cricket, parliamentary discourse is handicapped by accusa...