My letter published in The Telegraph

The death sentence against Saddam Hussein came at the end of a farcical trial (“Saddam walks to death with defiance”, Dec 31). The Bush administration and its allies had no right to execute Saddam simply because the coalition forces have done more harm to Iraq than the deposed dictator. For one, the invasion of Iraq was an unprovoked act of aggression that was justified with lies and carried out in defiance of international law. The imperialist forces killed thousands of innocent Iraqis in the name of “regime change”. More worryingly, Iraqi people are still being terrorized by the occupation forces. The imperialists must be resisted at any cost before more crimes and atrocities against humanity are committed in Iraq.
January 04, 2007

It is not the image of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee that helped the Left Front come to power
for the seventh time in a row in West Bengal. The real reason is the lack of an organized
opposition in the state. The so-called slogan of development and industrialization of the
previous government, headed by Bhattacharjee himself, has proved to be completely hollow. In the name of development, the government is forcefully occupying the land of poor farmers,
destroying their livelihood, while giving promoters and foreign firms absolute freedom to build
shopping malls, flats and multiplexes for the rich. Slum-dwellers and hawkers are being evicted
in the name of beautification and development. To talk about rehabilitation is blasphemy.
However, there is no real industrialization happening. Bhattacharjee has brought some
investment in the services sector, particularly in IT and retail. But nothing has been done for the
manufacturing sector. As a matter of fact, around 65,000 factories have closed down, resulting
in millions losing their jobs. Of around 7.5 million registered unemployed people in the state, the
so-called IT boom has been able to provide jobs for only 40,000 or thereabouts. Therefore, if
the people have voted for him, it was not for “Brand Buddha” but because they had no
alternative.

Monday, May 15, 2006