BJP

Truth Behind India’s Hierarchies of Pain

Perhaps celebrities know that talking about the plight of an animal—who died in a state not ruled by the ruling dispensation at the Centre—is a safe bet Migrants wait for a means of transport to travel to their native places during the fourth phase of the ongoing COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, at Kundali Industrial Area in … Continue reading Truth Behind India’s Hierarchies of Pain →

Operation Eklavya in Action at Premier Institutes

India is neglecting caste-based discrimination in higher educational institutions at its own peril. It was exactly 13 years back that the Thorat Committee, constituted in September 2006 to enquire into allegations of differential treatment of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students at the premier medical institute, AIIMS—was released. The first of its kind in independent … Continue reading Operation Eklavya in Action at Premier Institutes →

Why Activists Want Prisons Decongested

The Supreme Court also wants to reduce the Covid-19 risks posed by overcrowded jails, but there is little progress so far. Late in March, Sirous Asgari, a materials science and engineering professor from Iran, who is at present detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had warned about the “inhumane” conditions at … Continue reading Why Activists Want Prisons Decongested →

Understanding the Rise of the BJP

Guest Post by PARVIN SULTANA (Review of HINDUTVA: EXPLORING THE IDEA OF HINDU; NATIONALISM, Jyotirmaya Sharma ( Context 2019); M.S. GOLWALKAR, THE RSS AND INDIA, Jyotirmaya Sharma (Context, 2019) ; DECODING THE RSS: ITS TRADITIONS AND POLITICS Raosaheb Kasbe (Leftword Books, 2019) , RAJIV GANDHI TO NARENDRA MODI: BROKEN POLITY, FLICKERING REFORMS Parsa Venkateshwar Rao … Continue reading Understanding the Rise of the BJP →

Not Just Doreswamy, India’s Idea of Independence is Being Debased

Trivialisation of the freedom struggle is in the Hindutva gene, which seeks a theocracy, not an independent republic. “Though this be madness yet there is method in it.” Hamlet, William Shakespeare. The saffron brigade’s ever-readiness to stigmatise people holding differing opinions and dissenting voices reached a new low recently. Perhaps it was the saddest day … Continue reading Not Just Doreswamy, India’s Idea of Independence is Being Debased →

Jantar Mantar Declaration Against CAA, NRC and NPR

Guest Post : Jantar Mantar Declaration of 1 March 2020 Against CAA, NRC and NPR Adopted  at the Convention of writers, artists, cultural activists, scientists and various associations such as Indian Cultural Forum, Janwadi Lekhak Sangh, Progressive Writers Association , Jan Sanskriti Manch, Dalit Lekhak Sangh, New Socialist Initiative, Jana Natya Manch, Delhi Science Forum, … Continue reading Jantar Mantar Declaration Against CAA, NRC and NPR →

The Violence in Delhi, Politics and ‘Heroism of the Ordinary’

  What is there to say? What can one say that has not already been said umpteen times before – during earlier rounds of communal violence elsewhere – and in Delhi this time? The political class, true to its character, has revealed as it has so many times in the past, that when it comes … Continue reading The Violence in Delhi, Politics and ‘Heroism of the Ordinary’ →

Towards BJP’s Hindutva Lite Template

BJP’s Delhi campaign was not divisive by sanyog or coincidence. That is its prayog or experiment. Which it will take to other elections. Kitney aadmi thhe—how many were there? A meme based on this famous monologue from the highly successful film, Sholay (Embers), from the early seventies, started trending when “David” Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi … Continue reading Towards BJP’s Hindutva Lite Template →

Gandhi and the Hindutva Right

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 →

Goodbye, Tipu Sultan

The Sangh Parivar has supported Tipu when it needed to. Ghatam Bhindyat, Patam Chhindyat, Kuryat Rasbharohanam Yenken Prakaren, Prasidho Purusho Bhavet (Break earthen pots, tear clothes, ride a donkey: Men try to achieve popularity by any means.) It was 2006 and DH Shankarmurthy, a nondescript swayamsevak, was handling the higher education ministry in the HD … Continue reading Goodbye, Tipu Sultan →