As India marks the 150th birth anniversary of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the timeless novelist continues to illuminate the hopes, struggles and moral dilemmas of ordinary people 2026 is an auspicious year for West Bengal and for Bengal’s cultural, spiritual, educational legacy and her history of nationalism and for India. It …

The return of the Chola copper plates calls for a greater and deeper rejoicing. Its recovery connects us to a dynamic and powerful past, which can propel our future quests. (Image: Wikimedia Commons) Just as the return of the sacred Piprahwa Gem Relics, after 127 years, to India was an …

The Modi government’s relentless campaign against Naxalism has reshaped Bastar from a conflict zone into a symbol of restored peace On May 19, 2026, Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, that Bastar had become Naxal-free. It was a historic declaration indicating the closure of one of the …

From border neglect and strategic drift to opposing the Great Nicobar Project, the Congress continues to stand against initiatives that could redefine India’s geopolitical and maritime future The Congress party has a record of neglecting India’s strategic needs. Nehru’s infamous pampering of Krishna Menon and his neglect of India’s frontier, …

India’s resurgence, has to be driven by a deeper spirit of resilience and by a lasting commitment to preserving and rejuvenating her cultural symbols Somnath – the ‘Shrine Eternal’, as one of its foremost chroniclers, KM Munshi, has described it, symbolises civilisational resilience and resurgence. Munshi, who played one of …

For over 12 years these narrative peddlers have not been able to find or fix a pattern in PM Modi’s public comportment. (Moneycontrol) Political pundits have been working overtime to analyse the BJP tsunami that swept West Bengal. The shock of the magnitude of the BJP’s victory, for those who …

Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s call for unity, shaped by Doctorji’s guidance, emphasised organisation over reaction as the foundation of enduring national strength By April 1940, before he arrived in Nagpur, Dr Mookerjee had begun articulating his party’s—the Hindu Mahasabha’s—political creed, philosophy, and programme across the country, and emphasised the need …

The agitation against Ananda Math was not merely a dispute over literature. It represented a deeper clash over cultural nationalism, linguistic identity and the direction of India’s freedom movement The University of Calcutta, under Syama Prasad Mookerjee, had decided to commemorate “Sahitya Samrat” Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s centenary in a grand …

Political hesitation in 1937 fractured Bengal’s fragile unity, allowing communal narratives to dominate and reshape the province’s social fabric on the eve of independence In his extensively documented study “Bengal Electoral Politics and the Freedom Struggle: 1862-1947”, historian Gautam Chattopadhyay (1924-2006) points out that “as soon as election results were …

From education to politics, Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s journey reveals how symbols, institutions and missed coalitions shaped Bengal’s slide into polarised rule in the late 1930s As the commemoration of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s 125th birth anniversary was announced, the mind flitted to some crucial and defining episodes in his life. …

At its centenary, Indian communism appears ideologically exhausted, culturally disconnected and politically irrelevant, weighed down by historical betrayals and an inability to renew itself A leading Indian commentator, moving away from his habitual area of foreign policy and diplomacy, has argued that at 100, Indian communism has an unfinished business …

In a letter to F Ovchinnikov, written on April 8, 1910, iconic Russian author and philosopher, Leo Tolstoy, spoke of India, where “over 200 million people, highly gifted in both spiritual and physical strength, are under the rule of a totally alien small circle of peoples, who are immeasurably lower …

Tolstoy’s passion for India’s spiritual genius and Russia’s centuries-long engagement with Indian thought continue to frame how the Modi-Putin partnership evolves today In a letter to F Ovchinnikov, written on April 8, 1910, iconic Russian author and philosopher, Leo Tolstoy, spoke of India, where “over 200 million people, highly gifted …

Communists, while posturing on nationalism, have a history of vilifying freedom fighters, distorting Netaji Bose’s legacy, and aligning with divisive forces against India’s unity When comrades shed false tears on the insult to martyrs of the Indian freedom struggle, know that they are merely playing to the galleries. Ironically, for …