This is an era of yatras. From corruption to politics, there is no dearth of issues. Amidst this hype and hoopla it seems Gandhi’s Talisman has lost its significance. Where is that weakest person of our society? The Ekta Parishad’s P.V Rajgopal in conversation with Shashi Shekhar a correspondent of Chauthi Duniya.

Gujarat’s IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt was arrested for his statement against Narendra Modi in context to 2002 riots. Many raised their hands across the country in his support. Eminent film maker Mahesh Bhatt also opposed the arrest of Sanjeev Bhatt.

Akhilesh Yadav is one of the very few young leaders of UP as also the upcoming face of Samajwadi Party being the son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the patriarch of the party. He was interviewed on a whole range of issues, the excerpts of which are as follows:

Q-In Bihar Assembly election leaders are making scathing attacks on each other. It seems like war of words.  The kind language used in election rally reminds us of Varun Gandhi’s speech. What are the supervisors of election commission doing?  Why don’t you initiate judicial  proceedings? A-These kind of incidents are quite common in elections. Around [...]

Q: What would be the main issue of these elections? Will the people again vote for a change of guard? A: Indubitably, they want a change. They have been a victim of unbridled corruption and a highly oppressive bureaucracy. They have seen the double speak of Nitish and his steam rolling of public sentiments and [...]

During the government of Chandrashekhar many important decisions took place. What was the design of his government in his mind. How much work was he able to do and what remained undone?

In the arena of politics his priority was to solve the Ayodhya dispute and have elections in Punjab. And fortunately he made it possible. In the economic front he wanted to give employment to youth and to beautify the wasteland. I remember once the chairman of worldbank Makenmara came to India to meet Chandrashekhar. Makemara was blabbering about Capital, money and power. After listening to him Chandrashekhar said no doubt we need you but you also need us,its our mutual interdependence.He further said India is the only country where you get money and loan at the right time. In other countries there is much more deceit in every nook and corner. Interestingly it had great impact for the first time and we got loan from IMF without the visit of finance Minister.

Trinamul showed a tremendous victory in West Bengal. Muslims supported you and stood by you. What do you think why they abandoned the left and stood by you? CPM used the Muslims as a vote bank for as many as 34 years. Now they have known that CPM’s words don’t come to action. The party [...]