"Where do we go from here? The prospects unfortunately look grim. The Congress has shown in the short time it has been in power that it has learned little from the past years of its exile from power. The party is up to its usual tricks: attempting to destabilize elected state governments, appointing party favourites to plum posts in the name of "desaffronisation", and behaving in a generally autocratic manner."

"There are other questions that are still unanswered. Including the reasons for this war against Iraq. Was it for oil? Or to search for weapons of mass destructions? Or to liberate the poor “Iraqis” who have been starved nearly to death by the same “enlightened” world that wants to “free” them? Or to destroy some nebulous Islamist terrorist cell? Shouldn’t we just be honest and call it what it is: just a new chapter in the six-hundred-year old history of Western imperialism? "

First, the charge that BJP chose APJ Abdul Kalam only because he is a Muslim. Never mind that he has a long record of serving the nation as the leader of the missile programme, has served as the Prime Minister's security advisor under the current dispensation, and has chosen to teach the young after his retirement. Of course, had he been Hindu, he would have been branded an RSS-wallah for his fondness for quoting from ancient Hindu texts...

"What I am about to write now will be immediately open to charges of "communalism," and yet it must be said. Not for the sake of political games that all the parties are playing, not for the sake of creating more disturbances and riots. But simply for the longer-term benefit of the entire nation: Secularism is one of the greatest principles enshrined in our constitution. It enables a citizen to follow his/her conscience, enables us to pray, believe and live as our own intellect and faith directs us. Yet on a social and political level, secularism is practised more as a convenient method of wooing minority votes. "

"I wonder if the "Chand-Asokas" of our own times will ever be able to make a similar transition. For the Mauryan Asoka, the transition began as he walked through the battle field, watching the rotting corpses, burning pyres and grieving families. I wonder if Bush or Bin-Laden will ever dare to walk the battlefields to count the dead or see the destruction they have brought upon innocents."

Speaking on Tehelka, Sunny Singh says, '...press will not regulate itself, simply because there is too much money to be made by transgressing ethical/moral boundaries.' Living amongst the Delhi journalist circles, Sunny Singh brings out some facts about the Tehelka outrage!

Most days when you switch on the TV, you find politicians bickering away at each other. So you can imagine my surprise when I found politicians of various parties in complete harmony, agreeing with each other, supporting each other's arguments, presenting a picture of complete bonhomie...

"Freedom is priceless." And while, on August 15th, this old adage is ringing resonantly in the air, Sunny's article makes us question the true price of freedom and rethink of the men who put their lives on the line so we could see the light of this day: the "unsung heros".