The watchdog must reclaim its autonomy and backbone to safeguard democracy’s “soft guardrails”. VAISHNA ROY Newt Gingrich, the Republican politician from the US mostly credited with beginning the right-wing dominance of the House of Representatives, once told his partymen to stop using “Boy Scout words”. “You are fighting a war,” he said. “It is a… Read More The fall of the Election Commission
My voting life began in a republic deformed by the Emergency and Mrs Gandhi’s experiments in communalism. Her party’s complicity in the pogrom of Sikhs created precedents that changed the republic forever Mukul Kesavan I’ve lived continuously in the New Delhi parliamentary constituency for the last sixty years. My parents were employed by the government… Read More Election memories
NB: The Iranian regime is a tyrannical theocracy, which permits no criticism, no deviation from so-called divinely sanctioned modes of behaviour. To punish people with flogging and imprisonment for speaking truth about corruption is itself a criminal act. It should never be forgotten that the regime’s leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa for the execution… Read More Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging
Election rhetoric must remain within the limits of civilised discourse. The pursuit of political power cannot be without ethical markers, for that will take us on a dangerous road of national and social fragmentation. I write this with a sense of deep concern about our country, whose ability to accommodate incredible diversity and sustain a… Read More Poll rhetoric threatens India’s plurality
Communal polarisation is all that the BJP has in its arsenal to deter the voters from voting on the basis of caste, community, and the reputation of the local candidate Bharat Bhushan Suddenly in the run-up to the second round of voting, the Congress with hardly any prospect of forming the next government is being… Read More BJP’s distorted and polarising narratives will continue
Bharat Bhushan Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Opposition leaders of displaying a “Mughal mindset” when videos surfaced of Lalu Yadav, Tejashvi, and Rahul Gandhi bonding over cooking mutton. Not only did he accuse them of deviating from Hindu dharma in the auspicious month of Sawan, but he also alleged that the display of bonhomie was deliberate. The videos,… Read More Food, community and elections
NB: Those of us who see the events of the late 1940’s in black and white terms ought to study the complexity of historical events as well as of the views of the actors in those events. Some may be surprised to read B. R. Ambedkar’s views on the transfer of population on a communal… Read More Jogendranath Mandal hoped for Dalit-Muslim unity in Pakistan. He’s remembered as a ‘villain’
NB: Anyone concerned about the intellectual health of their country should recall what Mao’s regime did to China’s academic life under the so-called Cultural Revolution in the late 1960’s. This was Mao Zedong’s motivated assault on academics, intellectuals and on his critics in the Communist Party leadership. Professor Frank Dikotter’s research study of this momentous… Read More Where Are the ‘Don Quixotes’ of Indian Academia?
GAZA casualties live statistics United Nations Documentation on the Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem Settler Extremists plan to defiantly settle in Gaza Israeli settlers in the illegally occupied territories continue to wreak havoc on the Palestinian residents, stealing their land, demolishing their homes, assaulting them on a daily basis, and stealing their live-stock.… Read More Israeli settler extremists plan to defiantly settle in Gaza
Despite the prevailing climate of hostility and intolerance, a significant segment of Kashmir’s majority population remains committed to standing in solidarity with Kashmiri Pandits. Driven by compassion, justice, and humanity, these individuals acknowledge the injustices and suffering faced by their minority counterparts and seek to be allies in their pursuit of justice, dignity, and peace.… Read More Sanjay Tickoo on the threat to Kashmiri Pandits: An analysis from ground zero
After the truth-shower 