The violence against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh is an ominous development. But it is also a reminder of one cardinal truth: All of South Asia is “tied together in a single garment of destiny,” to borrow Martin Luther King’s phrase from a different context. Violence in one place will spill over to another; freedom… Read More P. B. Mehta – Violence and communalism: South Asia’s disturbing commonality
HUNDREDS of migrant labourers left Kashmir on Monday morning, as two more killings on Sunday took the number of civilian deaths in attacks in the Valley this month to 11. While scores of them were huddled into secure accommodations by the J&K Police immediately after Sunday’s attack, the third on migrant workers in Kashmir in less than… Read More A labourer is anyway a burden on Earth, now he has to face bullets too: Voices of migrant workers in Kashmir
Historians of Nazi Germany have always been troubled with one central question: how could one of the most advanced, sophisticated countries of Europe descend into the depths of barbarism in such a short span of time, culminating in the murder of millions of people? Some historians, called the intentionalists, emphasized the importance of Hitler’s master plan… Read More Asim Ali – Collective surrender The story of New India is not being written by Narendra Modi alone
India’s security environment is precarious, its political future fragile, and its human sympathies dead. It will require a great act of statesmanship to overcome these challenges. The targeted terror attacks against minorities in Kashmir mark a dangerous but not entirely unanticipated turn. It is important to be clear that these are targeted killings. Sikhs and Hindus… Read More P. B. Mehta: What the attacks against minorities in Kashmir reveal
NB: To this forthright letter, I would like to add just one point. What exactly is the reasoning behind all this verbiage about DNA? Does it follow that people with ‘the same DNA’ must think alike, or love one another, or even belong to the same ‘Nation’? Sometimes even twins don’t have the same DNA.… Read More Javed Anand: On RSS reassurances to Muslims, deeds matter more than words
Feminist Dissent views with horror and dismay the betrayal of the people of Afghanistan and all those fighting fundamentalist movements everywhere. Before and since the August 15th 2021 takeover of the country by Taliban, we have watched news of protest marches and heard Afghan women speak out. We are in awe of their steadfast courage in the… Read More Feminist Dissent statement in solidarity with Afghan women and all those fighting fundamentalism: Fear is their weapon, Courage is yours
An upcoming conference in the USA, “Dismantling Global Hindutva”, organized by Indians in the USA, most of whom are legally “Hindus”, and supported by over 40 US universities, has provoked the ire of the Hindu Rashtravaadis there as well as in India. Conflating Hindutva with Hinduism is the first step. Based on this, the Hindu… Read More NIVEDITA MENON: If Hindutva is dismantled, whom will it harm?
First posted September 12, 2018 I will open this comment with an anecdote. Some months ago, whilst exercising in the gym I visit, the senior trainer was talking politics with someone. He is a friendly individual and I normally do not converse whilst exercising. He happens to be an admirer of Narendra Modi. On this… Read More Oxford University’s South Asian Studies Programme’s comments on Venkat Dhulipala
Allah Baksh versus Savarkar Soon after the assassination of the legendary Allah Baksh on May 14, 1943, a young Sikh in Lahore wrote an elementary biography of the murdered leader. The first part of the title of the book by Jagat Singh Bright was “India’s Nationalist No 1”. Today, 60 years after the killing, India… Read More Allah Baksh’s 60th death anniversary: May 14; 2021. By Anil Nauriya
There was something incongruous about the moment when I read the news on April 8 that the district court in Varanasi had directed the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a study of the Gyanvapi Mosque. This day also happened to be Kumar Gandharva’s birth anniversary. It was hard to resist playing his composition in… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta – Weaponising faith: The Gyanvapi Mosque-Kashi Vishwanath dispute
After the truth-shower 