In Pic :Silenced Zia-ul-Haq . Murder charges and clashes with cops are nothing new for Raja Bhaiya. But his alleged role in the murder of a police officer could derail his charmed life. FEW PEOPLE are able to maintain a life in politics coterminous with a life in crime. Raja Bhaiya, a strongman in Uttar Pradesh, has done exactly that for two decades. But comeuppance is the staple of the men of […]

In Pic :earning curve Akhilesh Yadav still has a long way to go before stepping out of his father Mulayam’s shadow Hope sprang eternal when Akhilesh Yadav took over as UP’s youngest CM. Virendra Nath Bhatt and Brijesh Pandey chronicle how things have gone awry 10 months on. AFTER GETTING a glowing report card of 100 out of 100 from his father and Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on the […]

In Pic :Prisoned for life? A sequence of pictures showing Amarmani Tripathi stepping out of the Gorakpur Jail and getting into his car. Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav had promised a regime without criminals. Three months later, some of the most dreaded ganglords in the state are strolling in and out of prison as they wish. Ashish Khetan exposes a disturbing trend. MY PHOTOGRAPHER and I have been waiting in a taxi […]

At a time when Akhilesh Yadav led-government in Uttar Pradesh is embroiled in charges of mismanagement, corruption and power struggle, one can’t help but remember Yadav’s predecessor. A lot of people may hate Mayawati for various reasons. Yet there could be no denying that there were still ample reasons why one would love the 57-year old heiress of the political empire founded by her mentor Kanshi Ram, who gave that […]