Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Modi Lacks Knowledge of Kashmir

  5 May 2014, by Kuldip Nayar

  I was happy when Kashmir was not the election issue till two-thirds of the country had gone to the polls. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did say in its election manifesto that it would delete Article 370 which gave a special status to the State. But this was nothing new. The BJP had been articulating the demand for many years. It got very little attention.
  Bihar BJP leader Giriraj Singh’s outburst that those who did not vote for Narendra Modi should go to Pakistan spoilt the atmosphere (…)

• Freedom of Speech versus Hate Speech

  5 May 2014

  by Imtiaz Ahmad Ansari
  “I do not agree with a word that you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” — Voltaire
  While writing this article I am little bit apprehensive. This apprehension arises out of the way the notion of freedom of speech has been understood and implemented in India. Freedom of speech and expression is one of the fundamental principles on which any free society is based. Most of the democratic nations consider freedom of speech a fundamental right. (…)

• Footfalls of Fascism?

  29 April 2014

  POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
  The contours of the rift within the BJP are becoming clear. It is not a mere Advani versus Modi or an ‘old-versus-new’ battle but has an ideological edge, too, which needs to be taken note of. A Bihar BJP leader, Giriraj Singh, said at an election meeting at Deoghar in Jharkhand on April 19 that those opposing Narendra Modi are looking to Pakistan. Such people will have place only in Pakistan and not in India. ‘After the general election those opposing Modi will have to (…)

• Last Opportunity for Indian Communists

  29 April 2014

  by Daya Varma, Vinod Mubayi
  The 2014 parliamentary elections are more critical for the future of India than any other in the past. A victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Narendra Modi, would not only end the Congress domination of Indian politics, it would set in motion a new culture and reverse the secular foundations of India.
  There are many factors for the decline of the influence of the Congress but none has played as big a role as its denunciation by the block of Communist (…)

• Know Your NaMo: Like ‘Father’, like ‘Son’ ?

  29 April 2014, by Subhash Gatade

  Not very many people—living outside Gujarat—know that Narendra Modi, the Parivar’s ‘PM in waiting’, also happens to be a ‘passionate writer, poet and a lover of culture.’ and how ‘[d]espite his busy, .. schedule,.. devotes time to ..writing, interacting with people on social media etc.’ (www.narendramodi.in) We are also told that he has been writing ‘since he was young’.
  Let me admit at the outset that this poor pen-pusher was rather unaware of Modi’s writing prowess apart from one of his (…)

• Why We Can Never be Hindus or the Struggle against Fascism in India

  29 April 2014

  by Murzban Jal
  Every rise of fascism bears witness to a failed revolution.
  Walter Benjamin
  Now in your own interest and in the interest of this great country you must learn to listen and to read what we say. A people who refuse to listen to new questions and learn new answers will perish and not prosper.
  Kancha Ilaiah
  Whose sentiments are really being hurt? Are we going to stagnate as a culture that continuously touches the feet of intolerance?
  Stephen Alter
  Fascism and the (…)

• Somnath Bharti as an Embarrassment for the Aam Aadmi Party

  29 April 2014

  by Sanjay Mishra
  Introduction
  For all its promise of cleansing the Indian politics of corruption—a tall order by any yardstick given the gargantuan and deep-rooted corruption in Indian politics—and for all its boastful tom-tom of its ephemeral, 49-day governance in Delhi being the best ever by any state government in post-independence India, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), ever since its dream electoral debut in Delhi, has been dogged by one controversy after another. This is not to brush (…)

• Intellectuals’ Appeal to Defend Secular Democracy

  29 April 2014

  Never before in post-independence India have political forces, which are a front for an organisation committed to creating a Hindu Rashtra, made as strong a bid for power as in the coming elections. These forces are led by a person who presided over a pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 and has never expressed any contrition over his role in that ghastly incident. And they enjoy the backing of the most powerful corporate houses in the country. The prospect of this alliance of corporate (…)

• Stop Election Violence, Join Wider Left Unity: Open Letter to India’s Maoists

  29 April 2014, by Bharat Dogra

  communication
  It was extremely distressing to read in newspapers today that 14 persons, including seven members of a polling team, were killed in landmine blasts triggered by Maoists in Chhattisgarh on April 12. These election-time attacks are extremely shocking as elections, despite several problems, are an essential part of democracy.
  This letter is also a request to you to reconsider your methods and strategies so that a broader unity of Left forces can be established for peaceful (…)

• Elections: Trends and Projections

  29 April 2014, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  in the midst of a general election, it is obviously unfair to predict who or which party is going to emerge victorious or be in a position to form the next government. This is doubly true in a situation facing us today in which no party can claim to win outright the majority of seats in the Lok Sabha. The absence of a ‘wave’ or a definite issue round which the election campaign has centred makes all forecasts mere guesswork. However, there are certain trends which are (…)