They represented two foundational but antagonistic visions of “what we as a society, what we as a state should embody” ( Review of ‘Radical Equality: Ambedkar, Gandhi, and The Risk of Democracy’ By Aishwary Kumar Navayana, Rs 599) In the early 1990s D.R. Nagaraj published The Flaming Feet, a compilation of his essays in which he … Continue reading Lessons from Ambedkar and Gandhi to take forward →
From Nehru to Patel and Ambedkar, the saffron party has appropriated freedom-fighters or tarnished legacies. Gandhi, however, poses a different problem. Death ends all enmity’ (Marnanti Vairani) goes a maxim in Hinduism. The story also goes that when Ravana was on death bed, Ram had even asked Laxman to go to him and learn something which no … Continue reading Gandhi and the Hindutva Right →
(Dr. Ambedkar in the eyes of his contemporaries) I became interested in Dr. Ambedkar in 1943 when I was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia, and setup my operational Headquarters in Delhi. He was the Labour Member of Viceroy’s Council. He was fighting for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and fair conditions of life. He clearly understood that[Read More...]
The ethic that dehumanises dalits continues 72 years after the country’s Independence. What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is … Continue reading A Crime of ‘Pure’Indifference →
Dear Prime Minister, nothing about Jammu & Kashmir is as your party sees it Economist and activist Jean Dreze, who has co-authored books with Nobel laureates, such as Amartya Sen and Angus Deaton, was in the headlines for a placard he carried to a protest rally in Delhi earlier this week. His placard challenged the … Continue reading Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s Role: Official Myths on J&K Busted →
Is tweaking of Babasaheb’s iconic slogan — Educate, Organise, Agitate — by the Gujarat government part of a pan-India phenomenon in the saffron camp? Does anyone still remember the ‘re-editing’ of Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi during National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-I period when demands were raised that it should to be scrapped and the original collected works should to … Continue reading Towards a ‘Suitable’ Ambedkar →
Guest Post by Gargi Chakravartty BOOK REVIEW Hindutva’s Second Coming by Subhash Gatade; published by Media House, Delhi; 2019; pages: 272; Rs 395 (US $ 18). The return of Modi to power with a huge margin in this 2019 election is a clear verdict for the Hindutva plank. Why and how it happened leave us, the secular billions, to … Continue reading Return of Hindutva: A Challenge for Secularism →
Caste discrimination, even while faced with a calamity, is a clear outcome of the brahminical ideology of purity and pollution that has permeated deep into Indian society. Image Courtesy: Al Jazeera “[U]ntouchability, is a kind of disease of the Hindus…it is a mental twist…. I do not know how my friend is going to untwist … Continue reading Cyclone Fani: Prejudice in Times of Natural Disasters →
Guest post by C.K. RAJU It was B. R. Ambedkar who first publicised the 22 Mahar names inscribed on the pillar commemorating the battle of Bhima-Koregaon. Ambedkar, a Mahar himself, had experienced great indignities, and everyone appreciates his quest for a symbol of dalit achievement. Much has been written since on Bhima-Koregaon, but one question … Continue reading Celebrating Dalit Achievements: C. K. Raju →
Guest Post by New Socialist Initiative New Socialist Initiative Condemns Hindutva Engineered and Inspired Atrocities on Dalits Hardly a day passes without headline news of some or another atrocity on Dalits. On 24 May, a Dalit man in the Ahmedabad district was beaten and his house attacked by a gang of socalled ‘upper’ caste men … Continue reading Statement on Atrocities on Dalits : New Socialist Initiative
