Indian politics, both sour and sweet

April 16 is the first day of the five-phase polling for India's 15th General Elections. To begin with, the youngest scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, Varun Gandhi, was jailed under the special National Security Act for his sectarian and provocative speeches in Uttar Pradesh. Given that this province is ruled currently by the Third Front constituent, the Bahujan Smaj Party, this arrest has suddenly turned Varun Gandhi into one of the most visible candidates in parliamentary elections and an emerging star in the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party.

Meanwhile, intelligence agencies have been reportedly hinting at a sudden increase in infiltration of militants from across the Kashmir Line of Control. This is said to be a result of well-coordinated efforts by various radical outfits now working together to disrupt India's general elections.

To top it all, there remains a recent incident now called the "shoegate" incident, in which a Sikh journalist hurled a shoe at Home Minister P C Chidambaram at a press conference last Wednesday. The journalist was protesting against the minister asking for more patience regarding final investigations into two senior Congress Party leaders who are prime suspects in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which had followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. What made it so explosive was that these two leaders had been fielded by the Congress Party as their candidates for two of New Delhi's seven parliamentary seats.