Clearly, India’s ‘strong leader’ is caught between his aspiration to emerge as national war hero and thus sweep the polls with a two-thirds majority on the one hand and be a trusted Trump buddy on the other. P. Raman The Wire had in these columns narrated how Narendra Modi had often lampooned his predecessor as ‘Maunmohan’ Singh… Read More How the Sudden Ceasefire Marred the Prime Minister’s PR Script
Disinformation spread to mainstream channels in what experts call deliberate ‘informational warfare’ Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correspondent As missiles and drones crisscrossed the night skies above India and Pakistan earlier this month, another invisible war was taking place. Not long after the Indian government announced Operation Sindoor, the military offensive against Pakistan triggered by a militant attack in Kashmir that… Read More How social media lies fuelled a rush to war between India and Pakistan
Our democratic and secular fabric has frayed, our economic progress has stalled. The gap between China and India is now so large that the phrase, ‘Chindia’, has dropped out of circulation Ramachandra Guha India and Pakistan were born at the same time, cut from the cloth of the same Empire. They inherited a common political,… Read More A wake-up call
The proceedings of the highest court sounded more like the chatter of uncles or an exchange between a headmaster and parents on whether a boy was well-behaved. It was understood that national interest trumps all rights, that a nation at war brooks no dissent, not even a nuanced articulation of the country’s stand… Positing nationalism… Read More The nationalism we forgot
The Ankit Junaid social harmony award for youth was started in September 2018, by Khudai Khidmatgar in memory of Hafiz Junaid and Ankit Saxena. Junaid was Killed brutally in a train two days before Eid while Ankit, killed in Delhi for loving a girl from different faith. The fellowship and award includes a Memento, a… Read More Brahmachari Sudhanand ji and Karan Rawat honoured with 6th Ankit Junaid social harmony award
NB: The pathos here is twofold, a transparent attempt to deceive; and an equally transparent ambition. The Pahalgam terrorist attack was a horrible and inhuman crime; and its perpetrators have not yet been arrested. However, the resultant outrage included expressions of communal hatred. These were referred to by none other than a bereaved person, the… Read More A Pathetic Apologist
The men disappearing along Arunachal Pradesh’s Chinese border Why would the PLA enter there? Why would they abduct Tapor? Did they chance upon him or were they waiting to ambush him? Was there something about Tapor that they did not know? Omkar Khandekar IN SEPTEMBER 2015, Tapor Pullom went hunting and never came back. A photo… Read More Saving Tapor Pullom
we may very gently suggest that if Mahmudabad used his analytical mind to issue such an incredibly subtle dog whistle that we need three police officers to tell us where the whistle was and who the dogs were, then it was very clearly a really terrible dog whistle. You might as well close the case… Read More Tell me why; and how to read a sentence
Punarchith (‘Re-Think’) is a collective that focuses on evolving alternative perspectives and activities related to education, environment, democracy, and society. It seeks pathways and perspectives that would lead to ideas and learning for an equitable and just society. Its foundational premise is to evolve and engage with ideas that are suitable for everyday life in… Read More Punarchith (Re-Think). Reflections on a decade-long journey
Ashoka University academic’s arrest shows how rapidly universities, once spaces for debate and discussion, are pushed towards restraint and silences. Deepanshu Mohan Wilhelm von Humboldt, a great liberal reformer and a humanist, once defined the university as “nothing other than the spiritual life of those human beings who are moved by external leisure or internal pressures… Read More Criminalising thought?
After the truth-shower 