EDITOR'S COLUMN

This is with the deepest sense of loss. I am writing to you that, our dearest Madhav Vithal Kamath, known popularly as MV Kamath is no more. He breathed his last in sleep on 9th Oct. at 7.30 in the morning. He was 93 years and 32 days to be precise, as he bade good bye to this sorry world. Yes all of us have to go someday, so he too has followed the inevitable. But it is only given to some to leave one's footprints on the Indian Journalism landscape, which he strode like a colossus. For us at Issues & Concerns, it is a huge vacuum difficult to fill. He stood with is like a rock for all the 175 issues that we have just completed. We will hugely miss him for his support and guidance. We have attempted to pay our tribute to the departed soul on our back cover for the respect he commanded.

Reverting to the month that went by, it is but significant that we crossed another milestone. Yes we crossed our 14th milestone last month. This month is the beginning of 15th year. So this year end, come October we shall, God willing, celebrate our Crystal Jubilee, as somebody called the 15th years' completion.

The month that went by had the festival of lights, representing victory over evil. Sadly the unprecedented deluge that overtook Kashmir, caused huge displacement of people. The rehabilitation cost is estimated at over 40,000 crores. Army reportedly played pivotal role in being the Good Samaritan. Modi led government played a proactive role in trying to mitigate the magnitude of the tragedy.

Elections to two states of Maharashtra and Haryana raised varied expectations. High on Loksabha performance, Modi led BJP thought that it would walk away with the majority to form the government on its own.

In the event, they were partly successful, although by-elections in different states were mostly negative to the ruling party at the Centre. For the first time, BJP piggy backed on Modi wave ran away with a majority at 47 seats in the Haryana house of 88. It was a magnificent show, especially when in the previous assembly, it was in single digit. However in Maharashtra, the traditional friends of 25 years turned foe in insisting for the larger piece of the cake. BJP and ShivSena went separate just before the filing of nomination, ShivSena, on its part, being a regional bully, did not want to concede to the national party, BJP, bigger area to contest. Having won hands down in the March Loksabha elections, BJP had demanded more seats than what they contested five years earlier. But the Uddhan Thackray’s over-confident ego did not let him agree for adjustment. He became vituperative, to say the least, in his attack on BJP. There was simply no need to be so boorish. The other allys – Congress & NCP – too broke off, due to differences in seat sharing. So it was all against all else. It was free for all. Everybody used superlatives against the other, except Shivsena, which went a notch below the rest, in bad-mouthing its opponent.

But, probably, Indian political scene is going through an incredible evolution.  BJP is coming to a serious national reckoning and emerging as the only player in national politics. All other parties are being pushed to the precipice of irrelevance. How good, this is going to be, for the country, only the next 5 years shall tell. Until then, the juggernaut will go on. BJP is already in the driver seat in Maharashtra. ShivSena has come round to accept the terms of BJP, because of the sudden support of NCP, of course to protect itself from possible corruption charges against them.

The Nobel peace prize to Kailash Sathyarthi & Malala Yousufzai has brought the child rights issue to the fore. In Focus, we have decided to take up child labour for the seriousness it deserved. Hope our readers will find it interesting. 

Kindly revert with your feedback. We do value them.                     

J.SHRIYAN