Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Why We are not Hindus: A Reply to the Indian Fascists | Murzban Jal

  29 December 2013

  by Murzban Jal
  The true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as an image that flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again. —Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History.
  However it is impossible to arrive at a workers’ state with empty hands. Only political invalids...can speak of a peaceful, constitutional road to socialism. The constitutional road is cut by trenches held by the fascist bands. There are not a few trenches (…)

• Bangladesh: Amidst Ominous Forebodings

  19 December 2013, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  The country has been witness to extraordinary developments in the last few days. The results of the elections to the five State Assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan have dealt a stunning blow to the largest constituent of the ruling alliance at the Centre, its rout in the Hindi heartland exemplified by its humiliating defeats in Rajasthan and Delhi where it was in power for five and 15 years respectively. In fact the outcome in Delhi has been (…)

• . . . Where the Darlings Lie Buried

  19 December 2013

  The shivering cold nights of wintry Paush have passed. And now the dew drops of a morning like tears, shed by mothers, sisters, wives, as they gaze self-forgetfully at the mounds where their darlings lie buried.
  For the last-nine months the soil of this land was drenched with bubbling blood. And now the fecund earth lies under the warm and golden sun and brings forth her dower of flowers of the season. There is a smell of ripening harvest in the air. Drowsy with this atmosphere or through (…)

• India Wilted under Pressure at the WTO Ministerial in Bali

  19 December 2013

  by Anuradha Talwar and Biraj Patnaik
  Contrary to whatever Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said about the success of India at the WTO Ministerial in Bali, the authors present a completely different picture. It is being published here for the benefit of our readers.
  India has wilted under pressure from the US and agreed to accept conditionalities that were not part of the G-33 proposal. This is clear from the text of the agreed draft.
  What India has traded away:
  1. Anand Sharma (…)

• Mandela on Gandhi and Nehru

  19 December 2013

  TRIBUTE
  The following are excerpts from the letter from prison sent by Nelson Mandela to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations expressing sincere gratitude for the presentation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding for 1979 to him.
  Our people cannot but feel humble, at the same time proud, that one of their number has been selected to join the distinguished men and women who have been similarly honoured in the past...
  In the upsurge of anti-colonial and (…)

• Mandela (July 18, 1918-November 6, 2013)

  19 December 2013, by Badri Raina

  What man or woman, friend or foe, Could deny to you, even in the worst Of pique, your colossal due as a man Above the customary frailty of man? That you could shake the hand that locked In the best of your youth behind a dungeon, And share the glory of your second coming With the beast that wished you dead, And open your heart, and a million hearts Of diverse hue, to those that deserved Not reconciliation but comeuppance— This was staggering-human beyond Belief or apprehension. In doing so, (…)

• Their Highnesses, Royal or Not, are Ready to Serve the Country Again. Make Way

  19 December 2013, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  There is no democracy like Indian democracy. Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the BJP candidate in Madhya Pradesh, declared in her election affidavit that she had a dinner set worth Rs 1.54 crore. Was that worth mentioning in a country where a Sheaffer pen was announced for Rs 3 crore plus last week? But when an indulgent reporter asked about the dinner trinket, the candidate smiled indulgently and said: “What’s the big deal, we are royals.”
  Well said, your Royal Highness. In the (…)

• Kicking in the Womb of Uncertainty

  19 December 2013

  by Arun Srivastava
  Initial euphoria giving way to pragmatic analysis and evaluation of the election results of the four State Assemblies, the focus has now shifted to the free-market economy dictating the future character and shape of the Indian political establishment and also the political discourse and action. The reasons behind the rout of the Congress are more than apparently meets the eye. The political structure and programmes of any party at the surface level are no doubt (…)

• Lessons from People’s Verdict

  19 December 2013, by Bharat Dogra

  As expected, elections to the five State Assemblies this year have turned out to be highly significant. While the overall results clearly point to a victory for the BJP, this cannot be called a clean sweep for the saffron party and much less for its most prominent leader, Narendra Modi. The BJP’s victory march has been checked to a significant extent by the Congress in Chhattisgarh and by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. The BJP was not even a factor in Mizoram where the incumbat Congress (…)

• The Elections and After

  19 December 2013, by Uttam Sen

  Post-election time is open season on losers. That license overtook discourse (on the media) last week with customary intensity. Some within predictably sought to seize the moment. But an optimistic disposition would bring home the leftover plus points. With a little disregard to the rule, putting the finger on the quintessence of the voter’s choice before his or her means of exercising it (elections) would denote a preference for change which perhaps sounds as mundane as the truth. But it (…)