Inexorable serving spirit
In his moving reminiscences of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, popular Bengali writer, late Chittaranjan Maity, brought to light an interesting episode during the first general elections. A respected headmaster, who was a popular Gandhian and lived a frugal life, was zeroed in as a candidate for the Jana Sangh. Syama …
When a photograph is enough to suggest the deepening and strengthening of Indian democracy
On the day Yogi Adityanath took oath along with his Cabinet colleagues, a particular photograph went viral on social media. The photograph which caught the imagination of India showed, in profile, five BJP leaders in a row on the stage attending the oath-taking ceremony. They were Nitin Gadkari, Amit Shah, …
Complicit in genocide
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s diabolic laughter and his satanic stance against the depiction of ‘The Kashmir Files’ speaks for and represents those cartels and conglomerates who have been at the forefront of denying the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits for the last three odd decades. Kejriwal and those he speaks …
Rampurhat massacre: West Bengal’s long, violent night without end
Ten children and two women — by conservative estimates — were bombed and burnt alive in retributive political violence in West Bengal’s Rampurhat, situated in the district of Birbhum. The dead belonged to a family whose men were local leaders of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, the attackers too belonged …
Films like Kashmir Files need to be promoted to shine light on our dark past
After independence, over the last seven decades a number of narratives have faced with suppression or annihilation from our collective memory. The story of how the Kashmiri Pandits were driven away through a genocidal movement and turned into refugees in their own country was continuously sought to be downplayed by …
A tale of two parties: How BJP’s win saw peace and amity, but Mamata’s victory led to violence and anarchy
It is about 96 hours that the Assembly election results were declared, giving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a decisive mandate in four states and yet not a single incident of political violence, harassment of political opponent, political killing and retribution has been reported from any of these election-going states. …
‘Amrit kaal’ consciousness
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the mantra of ‘Amrit Kaal’, a quarter century period in which India must strive to assume the status of a global power, recognised for her ability to do things differently. Amrit Kaal stretches from the 75th year of India’s independence to the centenary of …
Long pursuit of ‘freedom’
The Jana Sangh argued that while Nehru denounced colonialism all across the world, he did little to adopt a firm stand against these vestiges of colonialism in India and that by banning Indian citizens from entering these territories for liberation Nehru’s government had affronted Indian public opinion. Terming Nehru’s policy …
Sitting on the fence
In the middle of 1946, Mahatma Gandhi wrote to the Portuguese Governor General of Goa that ‘in free India Goa could not be allowed to exist as a separate entity in opposition to the laws of the free-state.’ In June 1946, Ram Manohar Lohia had offered Satyagraha in solidarity with …
Opposing neo-mercenaries
Revolutionaries in the past had countered the negative narrative around India by presenting its true picture before the world; the same needs to be done today “It is necessary and desirable that you should make the most of your stay in Europe and learn as much as possible. At the …
Congress: the new fringe
INC’s increasing endorsement of ‘extremist’ parties marks a shift in its politics where ‘national interest’ is now accorded secondary status That the Congress is increasingly veering to the fringe is becoming clear with each passing day. One had expected that with the gradual retirement, side-lining or ageing of the original …
Prophet of Indian freedom
As one of the pioneers of nationalist movement, Vivekananda set the stage for India’s freedom half a century before it actually materialised Swami Vivekananda’s message at the World Parliament of Religion made Indians realise their capacities and sowed in them the yearning for freedom. A leading socio-political historian of his …
Counter revolutionaries
After having ignored India’s cultural symbols for over five decades, communist parties are now up to denouncing PM’s efforts to revive the same. Among the many principal by-products of the effects of the Narendra Modi regime and its attempts at a comprehensive overhauling of the India narrative and its debunking …
How Mamata Banerjee has outdone the Left in muffling democratic voices in West Bengal
The Trinamool regime is very much reminiscent of the communist rule; only the scale, the sophistication with a light democratic veneer, is much higher than what the Left did in its heydays. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee nominated her loyalist and cabinet minister Firhad Hakim as the Mayor of …