Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• West Bengal Scenario: Will Mamata Learn from her Mistakes?

  29 April 2014, by Amitava Mukherjee

  If psephological gurus are right then there are prudent reasons behind Mamata Banerjee’s recent political postures. In spite of the drubbing she has received from Anna Hazare, it may be a distinct possibility that her Trinamul Congress (TMC) may turn out to be one of the deciding players in the formation of the next Union Cabinet after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha election. Although the “gale of change” which had brought Mamata to power in West Bengal in 2011 has certainly ebbed a bit, (…)

• Jumble of Indian Politics

  29 April 2014, by Kuldip Nayar

  India is halfway through the Lok Sabha election process. Two factors have come to the fore so far: caste and money. I am dismayed about caste. I had imagined that in some 67 years since independence, the nation would have matured enough not to be swayed by baser instincts. Lately, religion has been inducted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
  The appeal in the name of religion in the fifties was understandable because the country had been partitioned on the basis of religion in August (…)

• A Rejoinder to Maxwell’s Article

  29 April 2014, by Kuldip Nayar

  communication
  If some disparaging remarks about me make Neville Maxwell happy, I do not want to grudge him that. What disappoints me is a streak of self-righteousness which runs through his article published in the Mainstream. [“On Writing India’s China War”, Mainstream (April 12, 2014)] Editors and others at The Times, London, never referred to me as a stringer. They would address me as their correspondent and publish my dispatches under my by-line. I worked for the paper for 25 years. (…)

• Afghanistan: Obama Wants Minimal US Military Presence

  29 April 2014, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The high probability, as things stand, is that there will be a runoff in the Afghan presidential election. The final results of the April 5 election will be known in another three weeks only. The current front-runner, Dr Abdullah, is apparently reaching out for support from his rival candidate, Zalmay Rassoul, in a runoff, which could be a winning coalition.
  There are allegations of election irregularities, but there is unlikely to be any serious conte-station of the election results. (…)

• Is Manmohan Singh as Innocent as Sanjay Baru Makes Out?

  29 April 2014, by Barun Das Gupta

  IN LIEU OF BOOK REVIEW
  Sanjay Baru’s controversial book (The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh, Penguin India) portrays the Prime Minister as a helpless minion in the hands of Congress President and UPA chair-person Sonia Gandhi. Baru was the PM’s media adviser and chief spokesperson from May 2004 to August, 2008. Which means that he left that post before the 2009 general elections which brought the UPA to power for the second time.
  The question that (…)

• April Day of Birth and Death

  29 April 2014, by Badri Raina

  (On the occasion of William Shakespeare’s birth and death on April 23)
  A new born babe you came to us
  Under a Stratford roof;
  Was there across your tender brow
  A mark, a foretold proof
  That your quill was already in your palm,
  And an infinity in your head,
  Eyes that saw histories before,
  And the worlds to come ahead?
  Your grammar came not from the school nearby
  But from a well spring of givenness;
  To which you added sentient empathy
  Unscarred by prejudice.
  You (…)

• An Ode to Anuradha - On her Sixth Death Anniversary

  29 April 2014, by Kobad Ghandy

  The following was sent by Kobad Ghandy from New Delhi’s Tihar Jail to the Mainstream editor on April 12, 2014: “Through a poem by Rumi in memory of his soul-mate and idol, Sham Tabriz, a fate similar to what I faced on this day six years ago.”
  Your Face
  You may be planning departure, as a human soul leaves the words taking almost all its sweetness
  with it. You saddle your horse.
  You must be going. Remember you have friends
  here as faithful as grass and sky.
  Have I failed you? (…)

• India Inc’s Massive Bid for Power

  20 April 2014

  POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
  In the run-up to the 2014 general elections, India has witnessed an unprecedented demonstration of massive infusion of money in electoral campaigning. A sort of carpet-bombing of India’s voters with the Opposition BJP’s message everywhere to be seen, from advertisements in newspapers, on TV, on radio, on the Internet, on the street billboards in all metropolitan cities and small towns, including on transport vehicles (even inside the Delhi Metro trains). In effect it has (…)

• Modi’s Colossal Ignorance of History

  20 April 2014

  communication
  Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, has earned notoriety for his colossal ignorance of Indian history and important facts.
  According to him, the ashes of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder of the Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, had been brought to India in 2003 although he had died in Kashmir while leading an agitation in 1953.
  At a rally in Rajasthan he came out with the incorrect name of Mahatma Gandhi, whose correct name is Mohandas (…)

• Hate, Desperation Vitiated Our Campaigning: We Need to Worry about Our Tomorrows

  20 April 2014, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  By all accounts this election campaign has been shriller, more aggressive and more hate-filled than previous campaigns. There were excesses on all sides. All players seemed driven by a newfound desperation. The BJP, emboldened by popular disgust with the Congress as well as by the impact of a dramatic public speaker, was on a now-or-never drive. The Congress, saddled with a singularly undramatic leader-ship, was fighting with its back to the wall.
  Provincial leaders, (…)