First posted Hiroshima Day, August 6, 2014 NB: This article was written for an edited volume on contemporary terrorism, more specifically, terror in the name of Hindutva. I disagree with the habit of approaching terrorism with a prefix, but nevertheless wrote it, in order precisely to make my point more explicitly. It was completed more than… Read More A matter of time
First posted January 18, 2017 Venu Madhav Govindu & Deepak Malghan In November 1933, following his fast against a separate electorate on caste lines and the subsequent political settlement known as the Poona Pact, (Mohandas Karamchand) Gandhi embarked on a year-long nationwide campaign against untouchability. Thanks to his extensive travels across the country, he got… Read More Defying capitalism and socialism, Kumarappa and Gandhi had imagined a decentralised Indian economy
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
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
First posted October 1, 2012 Even though India’s British rulers considered him a dangerous anarchist and repeatedly put him in jail, Gandhi always proclaimed his friendship for the British people. When he was in London for the Round Table Conference in 1931, he decided to visit the mill areas of Lancashire. He was warned by the police not… Read More Gandhi visits the poor people of England in 1931
Dilip Simeon First posted April 11, 2017 Lecture presented at the Champaran Satyagrah centenary celebrations, Patna, April 10, 2017 A pdf of the lecture is available here. A fuller argument on satyagrah and nihilism may be read here The timing of death, like the ending of a story, gives a changed meaning to what preceded it: Mary Catherine Bateson Nihilism doesn’t stand… Read More The search for new time: Ahimsa in an age of permanent war
The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 brought the miseries of the region’s peasants to official notice. A volume of 165 testimonies of peasants translated into English is revealing of their wretched lives, but many aspects of the struggle remain unexplored and there remain gaps in our understanding. MOHAMMAD SAJJAD Thumb Printed: Champaran Indigo Peasants Speak to… Read More Book review: Chronicles of the Champaran Satyagraha
DHIRENDRA K JHA NB: Here is more archival evidence from 1947, on the RSS’ intentions. Historians of those events need to pay close attention to this material. DS In the 74 years since the assassination of MK Gandhi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has tried hard to obfuscate its links with the assassin, Nathuram Vinayak Godse.… Read More Lies, damned lies and Vinay Sitapati on Godse
There are still people who admire Nathuram Godse for shooting an unarmed old man at point blank range in a prayer meeting.. After all, modern society is awash with extremist beliefs, including support for suicide bombers and vigilante violence. Extremism has taken centre-stage in the guise of communal ideology and prejudices. People in high office believe… Read More The Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Inquiry Commission Report (1969)
Against The Dying of The Light: Bharat Ratna Frontier Gandhi, Badshah Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988). This note is being circulated for the attention of the Presidential candidates in the forthcoming elections for the offices of President and Vice President of India and the electoral college in this election. Recently, taking advantage of Covid lockdowns,… Read More Anil Nauriya, Against The Dying of The Light: Frontier Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988)
After the truth-shower 