Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Xi Jinping Visit and Some Relevant Facts

  22 September 2014, by Barun Das Gupta

  COMMENTARY
  During the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India, a series of agreements—aimed at enhan-cing Chinese cooperation with India—have been signed. However, while a detailed assessment of the visit will take some time, the following relevant facts need to be borne in mind.
  1. The fact that the Chinese President was staying in India as a guest, did not deter the PLA from escalating the level of confrontation with the Indian Army in Ladakh, especially at Chumar.
  2. Beijing (…)

• Which side are you, Mr Rajnath Singh?: An open letter to the Union Home Minister

  22 September 2014, by Shamsul Islam

  Rajnath Singhji,
  While talking to The Indian Express (New Delhi, August 24, 1914) you described yourself as a “Swayamsewak of the RSS”. As the Home Minister of the country you must have taken oath to uphold the Indian Constitution which is based on the principles of democracy, secularism, federalism, socialism and justice. However, there is going to be a serious conflict of interests between the above-mentioned fundamental principles of the Indian polity and your membership of the RSS. As (…)

• Sacked by Rajiv, A.P. Venkateshwaran remained a Legend: Remembering a no-nonsense tradition of wit

  22 September 2014, by T J S George

  TRIBUTE
  Retired Foreign Secretary A.P. Ventakesh-waran’s passing a few days ago attracted widespread attention. The main reason was that it recalled Rajiv Gandhi’s arrogant way of belittling others. His public scolding of Andhra’s Congress Chief Minister T. Anjiah offended all Telugu people. His public denigration of Karnataka’s respected Congress Chief Minister Veerendra Patil annoyed all Kannadigas. His seemingly casual announcement of Venkateshwaran’s removal provoked the Indian Foreign (…)

• Obama Launches His War, Finally

  22 September 2014, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The United States President, Barack Obama, unveiled in a major speech on September 10 his strategy to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The strategy has no timeline and, quintessentially, the US will pit Muslims against Muslims in a grim war through the deployment of ‘smart power’, which would ensure that American casualties are avoided. From all appearance, it will also be a self-financing war funded by the petrodollar Gulf Arab states of the Middle East. (…)

• Pandits hit Politics in Kashmir

  22 September 2014, by Kuldip Nayar

  Kashmiri Pandits, like Punjabi Hindus, have no homeland to return. Both want to go back. But the militancy that ousted them is still strong. On the top it is the local population which has been contaminated by the fundamentalists.
  Some Pandits who have returned are unhappy. They find that the atmosphere of secularism is, by and large, a memory of the past. They have the feeling of being strangers at places where they and their forefathers lived happily.
  Religious bias has built walls (…)

• Blindman’s Buff

  22 September 2014, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  While the national and international focus is naturally rivetted upon the uncertain future of the Charan Singh Government, the significant point is that every one of the major political groupings is also faced today with the prospect of serious instability and is not sure about the way it would go by the time Parliament reopens. This by itself is a measure of the dimension of the present political crisis.
  The Janata Party has been trying hard to put on a brave face (…)

• Rule by the Majority

  22 September 2014, by Mukul Dube

  Where is India, now that the BJP has been in power in Delhi for a period? Bharat Bhushan, writing in the Business Standard, uses the excellent expression “ambient intolerance” to describe our present situation. The Hindutva agenda—together with all that underlies it—is rapidly permeating the very air we breathe. (http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/bharat-bhushan-ambient-intolerance-goes-up-114072901247_ 1.html)
  He writes elsewhere that the PM, N.D. Modi, made a gift to the (…)

• The Difficulty of being a Hindu

  22 September 2014

  by Baisali Mohanty
  “Hindustan is a Hindu nation... Hindutva is the identity of our nation and it (Hinduism) incorporates others (religions) in itself,” words of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, Mohan Bhagwat, in a congregation in the country.
  He further identifies every true ‘Hindu’ as the rightful owner of the land of ‘Hindustan’. His immensely pugnacious speech has stood the test of time, been heavily applauded in the public constituency, the RSS community (Sangh Parivar) in (…)

• Revisiting Development and Social Justice Agenda

  22 September 2014, by Bharat Dogra

  These are difficult times for social activists in India. These are also times when an honest appraisal of previous work—achievements as well as limitations—is needed, as also fresh thinking about the challenges ahead.
  India has a rich and diverse heritage of social activism which continues today despite many adversities and setbacks. There are many senior activists who have spent their entire adult life in this work. They have many achievements to their credit but despite this, today they (…)

• To be ‘Modern’ and ‘Hindu’: Mobilising Ayurveda for the Nation

  22 September 2014

  by Shivangi Jaiswal
  The decades spanning the early 20th century in India were marked by competing claims on ideas, identities and symbols characterising reformist campaigns of the time. In this context, delivering lectures by the educated elite was one of the means through which claims of nation-making were made. This paper is an attempt towards exploring how a well-known Ayurvedic practitioner, Mahamahopadhyaya Gananath Sen Saraswati, in his lectures, employed a version of Ayurvedic past (…)