Bharat Bhushan Union Home Minister Amit Shah pressed the “refresh” button on the Gujarat communal riots of 2002 in his campaign speeches in the state. In several public meetings – at Deesa (Banaskantha district), Mahuda (Kheda), Vagra (Bharuch) and Naroda (Ahmedabad) – Shah claimed that those responsible for the riots in 2002 had been “taught… Read More What ‘teaching a lesson’ in Gujarat means
Gandhi’s Last Fast: January 13-18, 1948 First posted March 30, 2012 This article is based on a lecture I prepared for university students, named Mahatma Gandhi’s Legacy. It includes the text of the Delhi Declaration on communal harmony, January 18, 1948. Citations are from Gandhi’s Collected Works Gandhi’s Last Fast: January 13-18, 1948 From September 1947,… Read More Another time, another mosque
By KATHRYN JOYCE Amid conservatives’ disappointed hopes for a “red wave” in the midterm elections, one of the biggest losses appeared, at first, to be the ideological movement of Christian nationalism. In Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano — who rejects the label “Christian nationalist” but perhaps best exemplifies it, with his campaign full of prophets, shofars and… Read More ‘Christian nationalism’ in American politics: the Republican hotline to Jesus
First posted August 27, 2016 Oh what a tangled web we weave / when first we practice to deceive: Sir Walter Scott The Supreme Court recently took up a PIL challenging a statement made by Rahul Gandhi alleging that the RSS killed Mahatma Gandhi. (Rahul Gandhi was then reported to have amended his statement, and the RSS demanded an apology. A comment sent… Read More The Supreme Court, Gandhi and the RSS
Seema Chishti What was lost in the Babri Masjid demolition, thirty years ago, and what remains IN 1992, I worked as a correspondent for Eyewitness, a monthly video newsmagazine owned by Hindustan Times TV. The senior journalist Karan Thapar was the show’s executive producer. Our team had been covering Uttar Pradesh regularly, and I had… Read More The Rubble
DHIRENDRA K JHA is a contributing writer at The Caravan November 1, 2022 NB: How things have changed since June 4, 2024. Mr Bhagwat, not to mention Messrs Naidu and Nitish, have been emboldened by the unforeseen successes of the opposition INDIA alliance. The two N’s are sneering at the opposition, which is ironic, because it is… Read More Bhagwat eclipsed
Pheroze L. Vincent Former students of the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya (SPV), the capital’s crib for children of liberal parents, have written to the management in protest against a scheduled visit by Union home minister Amit Shah to the school on Monday to commemorate Vallabhbhai Patel’s 147th birth anniversary. In an email to principal Anuradha Joshi… Read More Sardar Patel Vidyalaya alumni oppose Amit Shah visit
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
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
Mukul Kesavan The symmetry of the responses of the Pakistani and Indian high commissions to the recent communal violence in Leicester neatly illustrates the evolution of the Indian State under the Bharatiya Janata Party. This is the first paragraph of the Pakistani statement: “It is with great concern that the High Commission of Pakistan to… Read More Leicester calling
After the truth-shower 