Too many Indians are happy to dismiss news of the gathering darkness, shrug at falsehood and bigotry, and be narcoticised into believing all is well. On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government sent tax raiders, escorted by police with automatic weapons, to the offices of a feisty news channel, Bharat Samachar, and India’s… Read More Samar Halarnkar: The lights begin to wink out in India’s democracy
New Delhi: A group of former civil servants has written an open letter condemning the ‘complete breakdown’ of governance and blatant violation of the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh, saying the Yogi Adityanath government has “ushered in a model of governance which swerves further and further away from the values of the constitution and… Read More Former Civil Servants Bemoan 'Complete Breakdown' of Governance in Uttar Pradesh
“If justice perishes, human life on earth has lost its meaning” – Immanuel Kant “Once crime was as solitary as a cry of protest; now it is as universal as science. Yesterday it was put on trial; today it determines the law” – Albert Camus The death of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy in judicial custody Monday brings… Read More "I will probably die" – Express Editorial on Stan Swamy // A Requiem for Father Stan Swamy: Justice of the Supreme Court (Retd) Madan Lokur
Father Stan Swamy dies in state custody at 84 The Judiciary is the Defence of the Innocent. Or so we thought. Fr. Stan Swamy is dead. The bail which was his right was denied to him. Despite his age – 84 years and being afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease Who (and/or what) killed this Great Soul, is… Read More The Judiciary is the Defence of the Innocent. Or so we thought…
NB: This is an instructive article: members of the establishment who retain the slightest capacity to think rationally beyond their career interests, should read it carefully. I have argued elsewhere that ideologies have an inbuilt tendency toward implosion: the process whereby prevailing doctrines of political hegemony fail to maintain the minimal coherence required for self-perpetuation, and… Read More Peter Ronald deSouza: The Intrinsic Limits of Hindutva as an Ideology of the Indian State
First posted September 12, 2018 I will open this comment with an anecdote. Some months ago, whilst exercising in the gym I visit, the senior trainer was talking politics with someone. He is a friendly individual and I normally do not converse whilst exercising. He happens to be an admirer of Narendra Modi. On this… Read More Oxford University’s South Asian Studies Programme’s comments on Venkat Dhulipala
Appalling. That’s the only way to describe the manner in which the proceedings against Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal and Asif Iqbal Tanha have been conducted and are being conducted by the police and prosecution till now. In the process, the underbelly of our criminal justice system stands exposed in some respects, and it’s a pretty… Read More Five Questions on the Shameful Proceedings Against Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Asif Iqbal. By Madan B. Lokur, former judge of the Supreme Court
In a strongly-worded statement, more than 170 Gujarat cultural personalities, activists and academics have strongly protested against “threats” issued against Gujarati writers in the Gujarat Sahitya Academi journal “Shabdsrushti” through an anonymous writeup under the titled “No, This Is Not a Poem, It Is Misuse of a ‘Poem’ for Anarchy…” Supposedly an editorial, published, ironically on page… Read More Sahitya Akademi's so-called editorial 'death knell' for Gujarati writers' free expression / Litterateurs demand withdrawal of Gujarat Sahitya Akademi editorial
NB: Some weeks ago, the RSS’ student front the ABVP got a Kerala professor suspended for calling the RSS a proto-fascist organisation. Actually the progenitors of Hindutva were eager admirers of Nazism and Fascism. Here is the research article on Hindutva’s fascist connection from the 1930’s. Also relevant is Desraj Goyals seminal book on the RSS Some information for Israelis… Read More Bharat Bhushan: It suits the RSS to allow BJP to encourage defections from other parties
A survivor of the 1988 massacre says he is ready to testify before the UN about the role of Iran’s leaders in the extrajudicial killings I was only 17 in the autumn of 1981 when I was arrested in Tehran for supporting and selling the publication of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a… Read More Mostafa Naderi: Iran’s leaders ‘are responsible’ for executing 30,000 political prisoners
