Tag: communalism

‘Treated us like criminals’: Masjid committee after Delhi authority razes mosque

A centuries-old mosque was razed in south Delhi’s Mehrauli area during an encroachment drive, with the Delhi High Court ordering a status-quo on the land. The Masjid Committee said they were not given prior notice and “treated like criminals” by the authorities. The Delhi High Court directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to maintain the… Read More ‘Treated us like criminals’: Masjid committee after Delhi authority razes mosque

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मध्यमार्ग का अवसान: दिलीप सिमियन (EPW, November 2014)

मध्यमार्ग का अवसान : दिलीप सिमियन  (Translated by Suman Keshari)The Broken Middle  1984 की हिंसात्मक घटनाओं को मुख्य रूप से सहमति की राजनीति और साझा भारतीय राष्ट्रवाद के आदर्श के विघटन के रूप में देखा जाना चाहिए। जब साम्प्रदायिक शत्रुताएँ समाज में व्यापक रूप से फैलती हैं, तो वे (प्रत्यक्षतः अथवा अवचेतन ढंग से) सामाजिक चेतना को छिजाते… Read More मध्यमार्ग का अवसान: दिलीप सिमियन (EPW, November 2014)

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Pratap Bhanu Mehta: What January 22 is, what it isn’t

There are moments in history that appear to drive wave after wave of people in a great torrent of catharsis, ecstasy, emotion and an elevated group mood that almost all conventional analysis, historical categories, moral measures and political prognosis seem beside the point. It would be foolish to deny that the pran pratishtha of Ram Lalla… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta: What January 22 is, what it isn’t

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Ayodhya event not about Ram, but coronates Hindutva as state religion

To accept that the spectacle about to be staged in Ayodhya can be extricated from politics is to sanctify the falsification of our living memory KAPIL KOMIREDDI There is no ritual that can sanitise the genesis of the temple that will be consecrated in Ayodhya on 22 January. It exists because the house of worship… Read More Ayodhya event not about Ram, but coronates Hindutva as state religion

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Sikhs are the proverbial bone stuck in the RSS’s gullet

HARTOSH SINGH BAL The transformation of the relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sikhs embodies the problems the community faces in a climate where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s worldview prevails in the country. The story begins with a photo the Bharatiya Janata Party would once display with great pride, of a turbaned Modi disguised as… Read More Sikhs are the proverbial bone stuck in the RSS’s gullet

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Too many taking sides in this conflict miss the true nature of Hamas – and Netanyahu

Jonathan Freedland Recall how counter-terrorist strategists had to rethink all that they knew when first confronted with suicide bombers. It’s hard to deter a terrorist who does not fear death. That’s true writ large for an organisation that has explicitly said it is “proud to sacrifice martyrs”. Not its own leaders, mind, many of whom live in… Read More Too many taking sides in this conflict miss the true nature of Hamas – and Netanyahu

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