All stories by Mahesh Vijapurkar
RIP Aroon Tikekar: The thinker's editor
Rediff.com19 Jan 2016Mahesh Vijapurkar pays tribute to Aroon Tikekar, journalist, historian, author and an important intellectual voice of Mumbai, who passed into the ages on Tuesday.
RIP Arun Tikekar: The thinker's editor
Rediff.com19 Jan 2016If only Uddhav had held his tongue, and Saamna its acerbity
Rediff.com29 Oct 2014It is some consolation that the BJP top brass which had kept the Sena on the ice has now said that it would be happy to have the former partner in the government. What it did not say openly is that it would be on the BJP's terms, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Pawar play to keep NCP out of trouble, Sena out of govt
Rediff.com19 Oct 2014The NCP has seen the largest flow from its ranks to the other parties, more towards the BJP before the elections, even up to the last minute. The Sena and BJP together could, in power, become even bigger magnets. Disillusionment with the NCP leadership has been growing, which may have forced its hand, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Will Maharashtra see the end of the coalition era?
Rediff.com14 Oct 2014The vituperative campaign against the BJP by the Shiv Sena does not make for an easy post-poll tie-up should either of the two be forced to come together to cobble the numbers. Either must get a clear 145 seats to avoid a forced remarriage to the same political spouse. Any one going with Congress or the NCP only means the platter serves up a goulash, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Will Maharashtra see the end of the coalition era?
Rediff.com14 Oct 2014The vituperative campaign against the BJP by the Shiv Sena does not make for an easy post-poll tie-up should either of the two be forced to come together to cobble the numbers. Either must get a clear 145 seats to avoid a forced remarriage to the same political spouse. Any one going with Congress or the NCP only means the platter serves up a goulash, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Affidavits on politicians' wealth must be challenged
Rediff.com1 Oct 2014The question we must ask is how do politicians get that wealth disclosed in the affidavits, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Greed for power behind Maharashtra break-ups
Rediff.com26 Sep 2014When political parties opt for alliances, it is to win an election, and if post-poll, to come to power by cobbling together the numbers to secure a majority. This has been a striking feature of Indian politics, throwing up such screens as 'coalition dharma' to hide all ills, including corruption, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
A House of the People? Or Chamber of Princes?
Rediff.com17 Sep 2014No wonder Parliament has some 130 MPs out of the 545 hailing from political families. This class threaten to make the Lok Sabha, which the People's House, into a sort of Chamber of Princes which we once had before Independence, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Modi should address teachers not students
Rediff.com4 Sep 2014Why does Modi want to speak to the students while his audience should be teachers and parents, not necessarily in that order. And September 5 is not Children's Day but Teachers' Day, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
To the BMC, CCTVs are anti-opacity
Rediff.com25 Aug 2014Given that Mumbai civic body deals with the lives of the people at the cutting edge, the better way would have been to agree to have giant television screens put up outside the civic headquarters to relay the proceedings live so the people are kept in the loop. It eliminates to an extent the distance between the people and their civic keepers but perhaps it is farfetched now, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
This dahi handi, the law was invisible
Rediff.com22 Aug 2014When the high court delivered the stringent norms, which in no way eliminated the fun of the proceedings but made it safer, by requiring proper safety measures, there was an undercurrent of defiance. Sensing the adverse implications of loss of a mass contact platform, the government persuaded itself to seek a review, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Why this hullabaloo about English in the UPSC test?
Rediff.com7 Aug 2014What we need to do straightaway is to get our act together and educate children better than merely award degrees. Since English cannot be thrown away, it would be better to learn it well. The crux lies there. Lowering standards of UPSC tests is no use, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Railways want to break even, commuters' economics be damned
Rediff.com23 Jun 2014If the Indian Railways thinks it can get away with this sassy attitude, it is because it is, in a sense, a monopolist in the business of transporting people. The distances one has to cover, say from Thane or Virar to Mumbai is impossible by road provides railways the arrogance, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Changing the government culture of shabbiness
Rediff.com12 Jun 2014Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered a clean-up of all central government offices. Mahesh Vijapurkar laments the pervading culture of shabbiness in government offices around the country.
Pankaja looks set to take over Munde's mantle
Rediff.com4 Jun 2014Pankaja Munde, who is the MLA from Parli, led the campaign for Gopinath Munde during the Lok Sabha elections against the single-minded, 'undo the Mundes' campaign by the Pawars and the Nationalist Congress Party. She is not set to take over his mantle, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Judge Smriti Irani by performance, not qualification
Rediff.com28 May 2014One can understand that all MPs are equal in that sense and are endowed with varied talents but that does not automatically qualify them to run ministries. Some are adept at meeting challenges and some simply are not, and remain ornaments. By seeking pro-rata quotas, the very purpose of a forming a ministry of talent is lost, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Will Rahul lead the opposition or be its backbencher?
Rediff.com13 May 2014The one simple fact is that a government can be remote controlled but not an opposition. It needs to be kept on its toes, all the time enthusing its ranks to believe that it would win back the government in time. Would Rahul Gandhi be up to this challenge and provide proof that he does have the stuff, asks Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Why the Modi-Afroze Fatta photo cannot be ignored
Rediff.com2 May 2014Modi and Rahul's Gandhi's case cannot be dismissed casually. Both are high visibility persons, subject to intense scrutiny, and above all, under heavy protection. So anyone meeting them is properly vetted, says Mahesh Vijapurkar
If AAP had continued governing Delhi...
Rediff.com16 Apr 2014The media wittingly or otherwise has been a key player in stymying the AAP. It is not so much the rivals, but the media, mostly the television and from its cues, large sections of the print segment, who got the trophy. The political parties, especially BJP and Congress, can now laugh in their sleeves, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.