| Untitled Document | Untitled Document | CURRENT ISSUE JANUARY 03, 2005 | | | | IMAGES |  | | | | 2004 The Year in Pictures | | | | |  |  | Dual Power
It was Sonia Shining as the BJP plunged into darkness after the Congress-led coalition raced past the NDA in the May general elections. Sonia shone even more when she renounced prime ministership and nominated Manmohan Singh, the reluctant politician, to the post. | | | |  | Hope and Hype
Two bitter rivals made another attempt to usher in peace but, as always, the Kashmir issue loomed over the series of confidence building measures like Damocles' sword. People to people contacts increased like never before, and it was public sentiment on both sides that remained the best hope for a lasting solution. | | | |  |  | When Right Went Wrong
An electoral defeat saw the BJP in disarray. A leadership crisis continued even after M. Venkaiah Naidu made way for L.K. Advani at the helm. Uma Bharati's defiance and a confusion of ideology threatened to take the party backward in time. | | |  | Second Chance
Second Chance George W. Bush got a vote share of 51 per cent to John Kerry's 48 per cent in the US presidential election. The victory margin shows how deeply America is divided over the issue of national security. | | | |  | Brigand's End
The statistics on K.M. Veerappan speak for themselves: he killed 124 people, including police and forest officials, and 200 elephants for their tusks. When he was finally killed on October 18, he carried a reward of Rs 5.5 crore on his head. | | | |  | Saint or Sinner?
The Shankaracharya of Kanchi, the highest guru of Hinduism, was the central character in a murder plot that stunned the nation. Even as he languished in jail, the clash between the sacred and the political threatened to rival anything in mythology. | | |  "It (the issue of tainted Union ministers) will not have any effect on anything." SHIBU SOREN, Union coal minister | Double Standards
Shibu Soren, the tribal poster boy of the UPA Government, was forced to resign from the Union Cabinet after he turned absconder in a 1975 massacre case. He is back in the Cabinet, keeping the issue of tainted ministers alive. | | |  |  | Trial and Error
From the gilded palace to a spider hole to a nondescript trial room in Baghdad, Saddam Hussein trod the path of most dictators. For Iraqis, however, the bloodbath continues. Even as they get ready for elections in 2005, bombs rain in Karbala, insurgents fight the US forces in Fallujah and fathers carry their wounded sons to hospitals. | | |  "Great responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies. We will face these threats and defeat them." GEORGE BUSH, US President | Whither Peace?
Violence continued to promise peace. Security forces suppressed protests sparked off in Imphal by the killing of a Manipuri woman (above). Images of the torture of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison proved a setback for the Bush Administration. | | Next Index | | |
