Mahua Moitra asks why convicted rapists and murderers in the Bilkis Bano case were granted parole prior to remission of their sentences

NB: This is justice under the BJP/RSS Modi regime, brutal, shameless, and blatantly partisan. If you complain, you will be labelled anti-national. The impunity enjoyed by criminals is the most glaring example of the approach that might is right. It was said of the Sophists of ancient Greece that they ‘taught, rather publicly, the view… Read More Mahua Moitra asks why convicted rapists and murderers in the Bilkis Bano case were granted parole prior to remission of their sentences

Dilip

Her rapists were sentenced to life in prison. Now they’re free, and she’s in hiding

Standing in a row outside the gates of Godhra remand center in Gujarat, western India, the 11 middle-aged men could have been mistaken for visiting dignitaries receiving sweets and blessings from local admirers. In reality, they were part of a 2002 Hindu mob who had just been released after serving 14 years of life sentences for one… Read More Her rapists were sentenced to life in prison. Now they’re free, and she’s in hiding

Dilip

Russia’s genocidal propaganda must not be passed off as freedom of speech

Peter Pomerantsev I was in gorgeous, courageous Kyiv on Monday when the latest Russian missile shower hit Ukraine, murdering civilians and knocking out heat and light on the cusp of winter. Kyivans took it calmly. My meeting smoothly transferred from a cafe to the metro, where we chain-drank coffee and carried on under the sirens… Read More Russia’s genocidal propaganda must not be passed off as freedom of speech

Dilip

Press mute for Indian Muslims: Gujarat flogging shows up ‘secular’ silence of Indian politics

SHEKHAR GUPTA Who speaks for India’s Muslims now? Who can, or is even trying to fill the Mulayam Singh Yadav-sized hole there? The answer is none. The BJP’s rivals want the votes of Muslims, but are frightened of being seen as their leaders. For clarity, this week’s National Interest isn’t yet another obituary, tribute or… Read More Press mute for Indian Muslims: Gujarat flogging shows up ‘secular’ silence of Indian politics

Dilip

Xi Jinping and China’s party congress: no end in sight

People all seek to know what they do not know yet;they ought rather seek to know what they know already: Zhuang Zhou (369-286 BC) Food, not PCR tests … Reform, not the Cultural Revolution … We want to be citizens, not slaves.” And alongside that, most astonishingly, a call to overthrow Xi Jinping. The man who dared to unveil… Read More Xi Jinping and China’s party congress: no end in sight

Dilip

Truss is frantically blowing on the embers of neoliberalism. But it is a funeral pyre

Andy Beckett Neoliberalism, the belief that free markets, low taxes and a state with little or no interest in equality will produce the best economic and social outcomes, has fallen out of fashion even among the business elite and their chroniclers. In the Financial Times this week, the columnist Rana Foroohar argued that the west… Read More Truss is frantically blowing on the embers of neoliberalism. But it is a funeral pyre

Dilip