THE Indian media for which the WTO meeting at Bali was of no more than passing interest made out on December 7 that India had achieved a great victory at that meeting. Even The Hindu’s headline read: “India’s Stand Prevails at Bali”. The media were merely echoing the view of the Indian government whose commerce minister even took pride in the fact that it was the Indian draft that was put up for endorsement to the member countries. The truth regrettably is exactly the opposite.

THE elections to the five state assemblies have given a clear verdict. The unambiguous message is the outright rejection of the Congress in four states. Only the small state of Mizoram in the North East is an exception where the Congress retained its majority.

In Rajasthan and Delhi, where there were Congress governments, they have been routed in a manner never before. In Rajasthan, the Congress managed to get only 21 seats which is just over 10 per cent of the total seats. In Delhi, it has got an abysmal eight seats which translated into only 11 per cent of the total seats.

EVEN as the Congress led UPA-2 government was trying to come to terms with its humiliating defeat in Delhi assembly polls at the hands of the Aam Aadmi Party, the national capital had another glimpse of the power of the common man, just a few days later. Lakhs of workers, common men and women, thronged the Parliament Street from all over the country on December 12 to warn the government and the party leading it that it would have to face the same fate in the ensuing elections to the parliament, unless concrete measures were taken on their demands.

THE Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) has condemned the recent incident of moral policing of the art exhibition by Balbir Krishan at the Muse Gallery, Marriot Hotel, in Hyderabad on December 1, 2013.

This was how the gallery director was quoted in The Times of India ---

Archana Prasad