Mrinal Pande Writers are incurable fabulists. But lying sleepless in the dark encourages one to mull over the inflexible image of Hindutva, which is today less of a religion and more of a war cry against all non-Hindus. As elections in crucial states draw close and electoral rallies become vast, frenzied affairs, Hindutva is placed… Read More What today’s peddlers of Hindutva don’t understand about Hinduism
Over the decades, after much reflection and repair, from both within and outside the judiciary, those dark days have been seemingly left behind. But what worried us then has now re-emerged to torment us again. The present move — of attempting to undermine and discredit the judiciary, as seen in the comments — is part… Read More The attack on the last bastion: Justice A. P. Shah
Fears are growing that Iran is preparing to execute scores more protesters after authorities hanged a 23-year-old man from a crane, in a public killing carried out less than a month after he was arrested and following a secretive trial. Majidreza Rahnavard was sentenced to death by a court in the city of Mashhad, a… Read More Scores of executions feared in Iran as 23-year-old hanged in public killing
Deeply researched and lucidly written, Gandhi’s Assassin does a good job in its portraiture of Nathuram Godse and in reporting details of the plot to kill MK Gandhi NB: The murder of Gandhiji has been immersed in ideological sophistry ever since 1948. Thousands of Sangh Parivar allies celebrate his assassination on the one hand (especially… Read More Gandhi’s Assassin. By Dhirendra K Jha
First posted April 25, 2018 In 1928, Hitler remarked, approvingly, that white settlers in America had “gunned down the millions of redskins to a few hundred thousand.” When he spoke of Lebensraum, the German drive for “living space” in Eastern Europe, he often had America in mind. History teaches, but has no pupils,” the Marxist philosopher… Read More Alex Ross: How American Racism Influenced Hitler -The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
First posted September 23, 2019 NB: Thank you Ayush. You are a brave and conscientious boy. Many of us are proud of you – DS Ye kisne kahaa aapse aandhi ke saath hun // Main Godse ke daur me Gandhi ke saath hun If the Danish child who swam against the adult tide to speak the truth about… Read More Ayush Chaturvedi: Main Gandhi ke saath hun / Samar Halarnkar: A search for Hindus who will stand with Gandhi
In 1926, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) finance minister Rudolf Hilferding published an article in Die Gesellschaft which considered the significance of industrialist Paul Silverberg’s speech to the Dresden meeting of the country’s leading business association—the Reichsverband.1 Silverberg was the first industrialist to suggest that German capital could reconcile itself to the Weimar Republic instead of seeking… Read More Weimar Themes. By Jairus Banaji
The Thin Edge | Nadav Lapid’s pushback against propaganda Ruchir Joshi As you start to watch Ahed’s Knee (available on MUBI), you quickly understand why Nadav Lapid is regarded as one of the most exciting new voices in world cinema. Within the first few minutes, you are immersed in a pulsatingly fresh visual language. As the film… Read More Virtuous rage
First posted December 05, 2017 Pratap Bhanu Mehta The 25th anniversary of that fateful day in Ayodhya when the Babri Masjid was demolished brings a sense of foreboding. The psychological and historical significance of that day is complex. But when all is said and done, it has to be admitted that the worst of our… Read More Events of December 6, 1992 assaulted both secularism and Hinduism
Richard Wolin As a political thinker, the German philosopher Carl Schmitt was enamored of symbols and myths. His biographer has shown that during the 1930s Schmitt was convinced that providing National Socialism with a rational justification was self-contradictory and self-defeating. The alternative that was conceived by Schmitt, a conservative who was an eminent member of… Read More The Cult of Carl Schmitt
After the truth-shower 