The Sangh’s obsession with vocabulary is not innocent. The speech by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supremo Mohan Bhagwat on its foundation day (Dusshera) has now become an event, watched with interest. The speech itself has a long tradition within the organisation, which all its affiliated (anushangik) bodies look upon as a guiding light. This year … Continue reading Will Lynching in Bharat Be Called Vaddh? →
Guest Post : Fact finding team of Communist Party of India ( CPI) [पिछले सितम्बर की 25 तारीख़ को मध्य प्रदेश के शिवपुरी ज़िले के एक गाँव भावखेड़ी में दो बच्चों की नृशंस हत्या कर दी गयी थी। मीडिया में कारण यह आया था कि उन्हें खुले में शौच करते देख उसी गाँव व्यक्ति को गुस्सा आ … Continue reading शौचालय: एक हत्यारी कथा →
The Hindu Right is analogous to Right-wing regimes elsewhere. As Brazil’s Far Right rises, army man Ustra (who died in 2015), who tortured hundreds, is becoming a cult figure of a kind. Image Courtesy: Wikipedia The popularity of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, which present female role models before young readers, has proved rather phenomenal. … Continue reading India’s Answer to Brazil’s Ustra →
Ms. Amruta Fadanavis – wife of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadanavis – found herself at the centre of controversy two weeks back. Her birthday greetings to PM Modi – whom she wished ‘Father of Our Country @narendramodiji a very Happy Birthday -…’ – on her twitter evoked reaction from twitterati. Her ‘height of ignorance’, was … Continue reading New India – New Father of Nation? →
Jinnah propounded his two-nation theory in 1939—exactly two years after Savarkar presented it. Who could have been the best prime minister of independent India? Nehru or (Vallabhbhai) Patel? For more than last five years, we have been a witness to this manufactured debate—courtesy Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has tried all the tricks in its … Continue reading Humko Savarkarich Mangta →
Periyar : Image – Courtesy velivada.com क्या अभिव्यक्ति की स्वतंत्रता का अधिकार महज आस्थावानों के लिए ही लागू होता है ? कभी कभी साधारण से प्रश्न का उत्तर पाने के लिए भी अदालती हस्तक्षेप की जरूरत पड़ती है। मद्रास उच्च न्यायालय की – न्यायमूर्ति एस मनिकुमार और सुब्रहमण्यम प्रसाद की – द्विसदस्यीय डिवीजन बेंच को … Continue reading ‘ईश्वर नहीं है’ कहने का अधिकार →
Academics focus on secularism when secularisation can save the day. Image Courtesy : NDTV A simple query sometimes occasions judicial intervention: Does the right to freedom of expression apply merely to believers? On September 6, the Madras High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation filed by M Deivanayagam raising such a question. The petitioner wanted … Continue reading There is no God And You Can Say so →
Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. The word lynching conjures up images of a dark period in the history of the United States of America. Between 1877 and 1950, white supremacist gangs … Continue reading Lynchistan →
This is the third in the series titled Against Aachaaram: A Dossier from Malayalam on Kafila. Both excerpts have been chosen and translated by HARIKRISHNAN S. The prefatory note below is by J Devika. They are about the notions of purity of clothing harboured by the traditional caste elite in Kerala, which were revised by … Continue reading Against Aachaaram: When is Your Cloth Clean/Pure/ Both? →
Scientists have barely offered resistance to pseudoscience. This must change—IIT students show how. Surely India’s scientific community must be waking up to the realisation that their silence is detrimental to scientific development and allows many varieties of mischief to breed. In a rare show of gumption, students of the elite engineering institute, IIT Bombay, have slammed the … Continue reading A War For Scientists to Join →
