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Khaas Aadmi Party

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The AAP's bluff of representing the ordinary citizen must be called. In time. A rvind Kejriwal and other prominent faces of the Jan Lokpal (JLP) movement that caught the imagination of the nation in 2011 did the right thing in July-August 2012 by deciding to launch a political party of their own. First, under the present system, whatever laws a group of activists thinks the people of the country need can be made only by getting into the legislature. Second, the mistake of the Jayaprakash Narayan-led movement of the 1970s could not be repeated; those who led the movement should not have passed on the baton to older politicians. Political observers, however, began raising some valid questions right after the announcement of the intention. How could a band of people, howsoever well-meaning, who had a single-point agenda of getting rid of corruption by instituting an all-powerful lokpal (ombudsman), and who were apparently ignorant of other facets of governance, run a party that

Modi's India: From Boom To Doom

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Those who want him in haste will regret their wish in leisure [This view was revised subsequently following further study of the  Gujarat model; view the author's comments at the end of the article.] It's now an undeniable fact that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi favours a handful of industrialists at the expense of other bidders. By making business smooth for them, the areas where they operate shine in the short-term. Then complaints of unfair competition start pouring in.  Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2013 This can no longer be pooh-poohed as a politically motivated speculation. How Modi bent the rules for a handful of cronies is now a part of the report by the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India on Gujarat. "Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) was responsible for deviating from the agreed terms of recovery of gas transportation charges from the specified entry point of the company's pipeline network and this led to passing of un