Mukul Kesavan – Kumbh vs Corona The logic of Hindu nationalism / Milind Murugkar: The political project of Hindutva is up against many contradictions

The government’s willingness to hold the Kumbh Mela in the middle of the worst health emergency in a hundred years and its unwillingness to curtail it despite a tsunami of second wave Covid infections raise an interesting question. Is Narendra Modi a rational actor on his own terms? Rational, here, doesn’t mean ‘secular’ or ‘progressive’.… Read More Mukul Kesavan – Kumbh vs Corona The logic of Hindu nationalism / Milind Murugkar: The political project of Hindutva is up against many contradictions

Nine Things BJP Leaders Said Recently About the Pandemic / Sakshi Joshi: Oxygen tanker ड्राइवर ने खोल दी पोल, किसानों के ख़िलाफ़ दुष्प्रचार

Nine Things BJP Leaders Said Recently About the Pandemic – But Shouldn’t Have #COVID19​ #CovidIndia​ #COVIDEmergency2021​It has been 414 days since the World Health Organisation (WHO) first declared COVID-19 infections to be a pandemic and 389 days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the country that “21 days” of lockdown was all that was needed… Read More Nine Things BJP Leaders Said Recently About the Pandemic / Sakshi Joshi: Oxygen tanker ड्राइवर ने खोल दी पोल, किसानों के ख़िलाफ़ दुष्प्रचार

Apoorvanand: Government attempts to equate a belligerent state with a desperate citizenry / Ramachandra Guha: 'Modi's Leadership Main Reason for COVID Mishandling, He's a Megalomaniac'

Why did the government not call an all-party meeting or convene Parliament to seek advice and cooperation from the entire political class when the pandemic was knocking on our doors? How is the Opposition expected to contribute in this battle? All the resources are concentrated in the hands of the Centre in the name of disaster management.… Read More Apoorvanand: Government attempts to equate a belligerent state with a desperate citizenry / Ramachandra Guha: 'Modi's Leadership Main Reason for COVID Mishandling, He's a Megalomaniac'

How India Allowed the Virus to Overwhelm It. By Ramanan Laxminarayan

Complacency and lack of preparation by the Indian government pushed the country into an unprecedented crisis. A lethal, fast-paced second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has brought India’s health care systems to the verge of collapse and is putting millions of lives and livelihoods at risk. On Sunday and Monday, the country recorded more than… Read More How India Allowed the Virus to Overwhelm It. By Ramanan Laxminarayan

Book review – Shadow lengthens: The ‘Gujarat Model’ has gone national

I have been reading a new book on the Gujarat riots of 2002 titled Undercover: My Journey Into the Darkness of Hindutva. It is written by Ashish Khetan, who did some excellent reporting on the aftermath of the riots, particularly on the process by which the perpetrators went unpunished. Undercover is an important resource for scholars seeking to… Read More Book review – Shadow lengthens: The ‘Gujarat Model’ has gone national

Geeta Pandey: Coronavirus overwhelms India's most populous state

With 240 million people, Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state. Home to every sixth Indian, if it was a separate country, it would be the fifth largest by population in the world, just behind China, India, US and Indonesia – and bigger than Pakistan and Brazil. The state is also politically India’s most important… Read More Geeta Pandey: Coronavirus overwhelms India's most populous state

Anand K. Sahay: The idea behind capturing power in any kind of way: fair or foul

NB: This article is a clear-headed analysis of the crucial change wrought in the Indian polity by the current government. Sahay is also forthright about the axial role of the RSS, the patron-in-chief of the BJP. For all their talk of moral purity and ‘maryada‘ it clear that this band of ideological fanatics has only one aim… Read More Anand K. Sahay: The idea behind capturing power in any kind of way: fair or foul

As the dead pile up in Gujarat, the state’s media is on a warpath with the government over Covid-19 // Soutik Biswas: How India failed to prevent a deadly second wave

On Tuesday, as the second wave of Covid-19 continued surging across India, Gujarat reported 6,690 new cases and 67 deaths across the state – the highest single-day tallies since the start of the pandemic last year. These official figures are grim in themselves, but the reality on the ground is much, much worse, video footage, news… Read More As the dead pile up in Gujarat, the state’s media is on a warpath with the government over Covid-19 // Soutik Biswas: How India failed to prevent a deadly second wave

NAPM – Condemn Arbitrary Raids on Activists’ Homes in AP and Telangana

National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) condemns in the strongest possible terms the high-handed manner of ‘raids’ by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) at the homes of over 16 activists of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, acting on dubious FIRs registered a couple of months back. We express our solidarity with all these activists and advocates… Read More NAPM – Condemn Arbitrary Raids on Activists’ Homes in AP and Telangana