Lock Step

The Modi government’s dangerous politicisation of the Indian Army SUSHANT SINGH The scenes were unusual, the response extraordinary. At around 2 pm on 24 June, an army column arrested 12 members of a Meitei separatist group, the Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup, in Itham, a village in Manipur’s Imphal East district. Among them was Moirangthem Tamba,… Read More Lock Step

Govt goes into pantomime mode to assuage foreign critics

Bharat Bhushan From Washington DC and Cairo to Paris and Abu Dhabi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the season’s flavour. However, the recurrent charge that his government is antithetical to India’s religious minorities hobbles his stride across the world stage. On the day he was guest of honour at France’s Bastille Day Parade, its premier… Read More Govt goes into pantomime mode to assuage foreign critics

Witch-hunt against Tejaswini Desai highlights dangers of being a teacher in India today

Apoorvanand What happened to Professor Tejaswini Desai of Kolhapur can happen to anyone in the teaching community. It tells you of the perils of being a teacher in India of our times. Teachers can no longer assume that the class is over after the stipulated period of 55 or 60 minutes. Whatever transpired in the… Read More Witch-hunt against Tejaswini Desai highlights dangers of being a teacher in India today

The Philosophy of Number

Dilip Simeon First posted on March 24, 2015 NB: This paper appeared in a volume entitled Communalism in Post-colonial India Changing Contours; by Mujibur Rehman (ed; 2015). I discuss why our understanding of communal politics is constrained from the outset by the faulty concepts we use, which only serve to re-inforce communal ideologies. DS The Philosophy of Number [1]… Read More The Philosophy of Number

Not George Soros agent, I am a practising Hindu woman against Hindu nationalism

My Jewish husband and I are being used as cannon fodder in BJP’s attempts to distract from Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Manipur. But there’s another reason I am being targeted. Sunita Viswanath On 28 June, I woke up to the news that my name was plastered across the Indian press. Many media outlets including Hindustan Times, Zee… Read More Not George Soros agent, I am a practising Hindu woman against Hindu nationalism

Modi preaching peace abroad as Manipur burns reinforces historical alienation of the North East

NB: Is India an empire? The British Raj certainly was, and the RSS/BJP ideologues who constantly denouce the Macaulay tradition in education; don’t seem to mind the continuance of colonial police codes and the divide and rule method of governance. Do they imagine that a combination of communal ideology and colonial policing will keep them… Read More Modi preaching peace abroad as Manipur burns reinforces historical alienation of the North East

White House condemns harassment of journalist who questioned PM Modi

Last week, the Wall Street Journal’s Sabrina Siddiqui faced trolling after she asked Narendra Modi about discrimination against minorities in India. The White House on Monday said the online harassment of journalist Sabrina Siddiqui, who asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi a question at a press conference last week, was completely unacceptable. On June 23, Modi had taken… Read More White House condemns harassment of journalist who questioned PM Modi

‘Adipurush’ speaks the language of Hindutva supporters. Why are they opposing the movie?

Hindu society must think about its own role in the creation of this Hindutva edition of Ramkatha. The electoral and behaviour of a large section of the community has led its leaders and cultural representatives to believe that its sensibilities have been so debased that it will have to accept Adipurush as its Ramayana. Adipurush has presented Hindu society… Read More ‘Adipurush’ speaks the language of Hindutva supporters. Why are they opposing the movie?