Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Russian Spring in Ukraine

  19 May 2014, by Arun Mohanty

  The much-talked about and controversial referendum in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions located in the eastern part of Ukraine (which is ruled by an interim government that came to power through a coup) took place on May 11, 2014. And its preliminary results show that an overwhelming majority of the population living in the region have voted in favour of indepen-dence.
  According to Aleksandra Malihina, the chief of the Election Commission of the Lugansk region, 96.2 per cent of the people (…)

• Muslim Voters and BJP’s Secularist Attempt

  19 May 2014

  by Arun Srivastava
  The threat of communalism is not merely a bogey, and the Muslim ‘sense of alarmism’ does not exist in a vacuum. It may be exaggerated by some parties to get Muslim votes, but it is a real threat. The BJP leaders have a common refrain that the Muslims should understand them. But this is not a one-way traffic. During the 2014 Lok Sabha election the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate tried their best to entice the Muslim voters, but they could not succeed. Barring one (…)

• Thoughts on Elections

  19 May 2014, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The following article, published in this journal on March 7, 1998, was one of the last articles of N.C. After this he wrote “Reflections on the Constitution” (Mainstream, March 21, 1998) and “Iraq Crisis and Gujral Government” (Mainstream, March 28, 1998). He died on June 27 of that year.
  Crucial though the election results are, they have not come as a surprise. The lakshman-rekha has hardly been crossed by any party which hoped to be a majority in the Lok Sabha. (…)

• NaMo versus AK

  19 May 2014, by Subhash Gatade

  Masjidon main maulvi khutbe sunate hi rahe,
  Mandiron mein barhaman ashlok gatey hi rahey
  Ik na ik dar par jabeen-i-shouq ghisti hi rahi
  Aadamiyat zulm ki chakki mein pisti hi rahi
  Rahbari jaari rahi, paighambari jaari rahi
  Deen ke parde mein jang-i-zargari jaari rahi.
  — Majaz
  (The mullah and the pundit and their ceaseless sermon
  Man bowed before each one of them but did he learn
  The great messiahs came claiming divinity. Their religions, mostly ruses for plunder turn by (…)

• Modi Caste Wars

  19 May 2014, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The Hindi-belt journalists have gone ecstatic over Narendra Modi’s “naked attempt to get into the caste politics of Poorvanchal and Awadh regions of Uttar Pradesh”. They have reported that it is going to be Modi’s “trump card”.
  It doesn’t seem to occur to them even remotely that there is a much simpler uncomplicated way of looking at what Modi and the BJP have attempted, namely, a last-ditch, desperate attempt at the eleventh hour when the poll has reached the final stage and the going (…)

• Should Only Minorities Be Worried Over Narendra Modi?

  19 May 2014

  by Sanjay Kumar
  By stealth, wealth, and media barrage a phalanx of powerful interests is trying to create a public opinion favourable to Narendra Modi. It appears the entire privilegenstia of the country, the super-rich capitalists, professional elites, entrepreneurs of the religion, top bureau-cracy, including retired Armymen and police, upper castes, media pundits, even NRI acade-mics, are united in their enthusiasm for Modi. From Ratan Tata to Ramdev, people have been told how the man (…)

• Election 2014: RSS Swallows the Great Indian Media!

  19 May 2014, by Diptendra Raychaudhuri

  This article was written sometime ago and should have appeared before the end of the election process (on May 12, 2014) but it could not be published in the previous week due to space constraints. It is now being published as its contents have not yet lost their relevance.
  At the fag end of the last millennium, CPI-M General Secretary H.K.S. Surjeet was working in tandem with Subramanian Swamy to bring down the first NDA Government. In those days, the main warhead of their coup, Madam (…)

• Converging Brand into Charisma: The Making and Rise of Narendra Modi

  19 May 2014

  by Navneet Sharma, Pradeep Nair, Harikrishnan B.
  The question whether Modi, the BJP’s PM nominee, is a charismatic leader or is a mere brand of politics has to be always analysed from a vantage point, this vantage point may shift from the implications of the poll results that will be announced on May 16, 2014. However, this question shall be pertinent whether in the Indian context and the rise in the speed of human and information circulation, a pan-national ‘charisma’ could be evolved and (…)

• Political Bankruptcy of the Left

  19 May 2014, by Barun Das Gupta

  communication
  The Central Secretariat of the CPI issued a statement on May 6, which says: “CPI wishes to make it clear that as far as the TMC led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee is concerned, she is actually helping the BJP by polarising the West Bengal voters on communal lines. Her attack on the BJP is a got-up game.”
  The statement betrays the pathetic political bankruptcy of the entire Left, not of the CPI alone. Because the accusation that Mamata Banerjee’s relentless (…)

• A Puppet on a String

  19 May 2014, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  book review
  The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh by Sanjaya Baru; first published in Viking by Penguin Books India, New Delhi; 2014; pages: 301; price: Rs 599.
  Being ruled for centuries by despotic petty rajas and nawabs whose private lives were often not only bizarre but even grotesque (shrouded in secrecy), common Indians had an insatiable curiosity about their life and living style. This propensity about our elected leaders continues even after (…)