Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• At Random

  12 September 2009, by K. Natwar Singh

  It never rains but pours. There is a severe drought in large parts of the country, but there is no political drought. The Bharatiya Janata Party is hell-bent on committing political hara-kiri. Such disarray has never been witnessed in our country. An erstwhile colleague of L.K. Advani has woken up after his expulsion from the BJP. What was he doing all these years? The BJP made him the Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and Finance Minister. But strange things happen in politics. Yesterday’s (…)

• Was Jinnah Secular and Solely Responsible for Partition?

  12 September 2009, by Balraj Puri

  Jaswant Singh’s expulsion from the BJP for writing a book on Jinnah raises a number of issues. First is the manner it was done. He was conveyed the decision by party President Rajnath Singh on telephone when he arrived at Shimla to attend the chitnan baithak of the party which he was asked not to attend. Could not this have been done before he left Delhi? Or could he not have been dropped from attending the meeting like Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie?
  Why were normal courtesies like (…)

• Jinnah and Nehru

  12 September 2009, by P.K. Nigam

  Jaswant Singh wrote that Jinnah was a great man. Advani considered that Jinnah was secular. The BJP leaders have been enamoured of Jinnah and his greatness. But, their bete noire is Nehru. He was pseudo-secular. What are the facts?
  Jinnah’s reading was limited and he did not understand geo-politics. Nehru had vast reading and his knowledge of the outside world was better than any leader in the world. Based on his vast knowledge, he made many predictions, which came true. Only two are (…)

• Powers Line Up to Stir Afghanistan‘s Pot

  12 September 2009, by M K Bhadrakumar

  This piece was written before the Afghan presidential poll.
  In his distinguished diplomatic career spanning four decades, there is not a trace of record to show that Richard Holbrooke, the United States special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, dabbled in energy security issues. His recent visit to Pakistan—en route to Afghanistan —has been officially projected as aimed at helping his host country find a way to overcome its electricity shortage.
  Holbrooke admitted to (…)

• Political Struggle within the CPI-M

  12 September 2009, by Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri

  The takeover of the CPI-M party by the neo-liberals was so bloodless, with seasoned social-democrats rooted in the trade unions (like Pandhe saab) and the peasant masses (like Rezzak saab) and voluble intellectuals capitulating with only a whimper or two,* that commentators like the present columnist concluded that the party had become a party of big capital. While this remains the principal aspect, it seems that there is still life in the creature, and the debacle in the West Bengal Lok (…)

• Swine Flu, Panchayats and NRHM

  12 September 2009, by Bidyut Mohanty

  Introduction
  Nowadays the swine flu has created a health scare among the Indian population. It is still confined to the urban areas. But eventually it is likely travel to rural areas. Given the background of villagers’ apathy in health matters the flu in all probability will take a larger toll. Since the local government institutions are functioning well and programmes like the National Rural Health Missions are working in conjunction with panchayats it will be worthwhile to start the (…)

• Swiss Bank Accounts: Need to do More to get the Money Back

  12 September 2009, by Arun Kumar

  Switzerland has reportedly told the Indian authorities that it would not give them names of the Indians holding secret bank accounts in its banks while its largest bank, the UBS, has agreed to give the US Government names of about 4500 US citizens who have accounts there. This is in addition to the 250 names it agreed to give in February 2009.
  Switzerland is one of the possibly 77 tax havens in the world where rich individuals (from all over the world) keep their money from the (…)

• Remembering Sarat Chandra Bose

  12 September 2009, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  Sometimes, in moments of introspection, one is tempted to ask what could have happened if people in authority had behaved differently, had different views about each other. Even orthodox Marxists have not been able to deny the role of the individual in history, but the reality perhaps is more explicit on this score than they would concede.
  Recently I had a strange feeling about how the destiny of our country could have turned out to be very different had those at the helm in the past (…)

• Centenary of Madan Lal Dhingra’s Martyrdom

  12 September 2009, by Chaman Lal

  Madan Lal Dhingra is perhaps the first Indian freedom fighter, who was executed in London on August 17, 1909. But it is strange that no one in public or the government has thought of comme-morating the event. A brief life-sketch of Madan Lal Dhingra is being given here to draw attention towards his martyrdom, a century ago, for the freedom of the country.
  Madan Lal Dhingra was born on February 18, 1883 at Amritsar in a very rich family. His father, Dr Ditta Mal, retired as the (…)

• On Gandhi’s Deep Interest in Saving Bhagat Singh

  12 September 2009, by Visalakshi Menon

  BOOK REVIEW
  Gandhi and Bhagat Singh by V.N. Datta; Rupa and Co., New Delhi; 2008; pages
  126; Hardcover price: Rs 295.
  Here is an extremely readable book—rather old-worldish in some ways, but very topical nevertheless. V.N. Datta, the well-known historian and retired Professor of History, engages with questions that are asked repeatedly: did Mahatma Gandhi let Bhagat Singh down at the Gandhi-Irwin talks in 1931? Could he have saved Bhagat Singh from the gallows and did he choose not (…)