Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• CPM and "Third Front"

  2 May 2009, by Barun Das Gupta

  As the run-up to the 15th Lok Sabha elections gathers momentum, the CPI-M is desperaely and frantically trying somehow to knock together and prop up under its leadership what it calls a “Third Front” which, it believes, will form the government at the Centre, leaving both the UPA and the NDA far behind in the race.
  The desperation is due to the CPI-M’s apprehension that it would lose heavily in both its strongholds of Kerala and West Bengal. If it has to remain relevant in national (…)

• Electioneering in India: No Agenda for the Common People

  2 May 2009, by Sitaram Kumbhar

  One should not be surprised at last election’s spat and the present spat between the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, and the UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, because these are not new to Indian politics. A close assessment of the election campaign in India suggests that the genuine issues of the common people are routinely left out of the election campaigns (if not manifestos) of the political parties due to electoral compulsion. The political parties use such issues which have the (…)

• The Giant is Awake

  2 May 2009, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  Politics in this country has been passing through a cleansing process. The imprint of mass consciousness can be seen even in the jungle of petty factional moves and manipulations.
  New wind is blowing through the corridors of power; its warmth could be felt even in the sophisticated political labyrinth of New Delhi, in the instant reactions of the common man to the Supreme Court verdict against the Presidential derecognition of the princes. The hoary-headed judges may look down with (…)

• An Appeal

  2 May 2009, by Prem Singh

  Dear Friends,
  I would like to inform you that I am contesting the coming Lok Sabha election from East Delhi as a Gandhian socialist activist. The purpose of contesting the election is to spread awareness/consciousness among citizens against the twin-danger of neo-imperialism and communal fascism in the country. The danger can be fought only by strengthening the constitutional values of equality, freedom, self-reliance and secularism through various means including participation in the (…)

• Exploring South Asia’s Varied Nuances

  2 May 2009, by Amna Mirza

  BOOK REVIEW
  Co-operative Development, Peace and Security in South Asia by Neetu Gaur and Vijay Laxmi (ed.); Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, (CRRID), Chandigarh; pages 144; price: Rs 360.
  South Asia is distinct in the Asian continent and is known for its diverse civilisations, sharing borders, facing more or less the same problems (among them the fear-prognosis of India by the other neighbours due to its distinct colossal size), population, resources, territory. (…)

• Is India a ’Dar-ul-Harb’? Are Hindus ’Kafirs’?

  2 May 2009, by Syed Shahabuddin

  The following piece reached us on April 22, 2009 with the author’s forwarding letter that read: “As you must have noticed recently, the question has been raised whether India is a ‘Dar-ul-Harb’ or ‘Dar-ul-Islam’ and whether the Hindus should be designated as ‘Kafirs’. I enclose a copy of my note on the subject. I would request you to publish it in order to clarify the position and to remove the misunderstanding. I may add that I am not a theologian but I have discussed the matter with some (…)

• Elections and the Maoist Phenomenon

  26 April 2009, by SC

  Exactly a week ago, on April 16, the process of the 15th general elections was set in motion when 124 Lok Sabha constituencies in 17 States and Union Territories went to polls in the first phase of the massive electoral exercise. These included six States—Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Orissa—through which passes the Maoist ‘Red corridor’. After the voting, the Election Commission estimates put the poll percentage “around 58 to 62 per cent”.
  However, (…)

• Please Help Mallika Sarabhai‘s Election Campaign

  26 April 2009, by Ashoke Chatterjee

  Dear Friends,
  I am sure you know that Mallika Sarabhai is standing as an Independent candidate from the Gandhinagar constituency, opposing Shri L. K. Advani. The challenge as well as the significance of Mallika’s effort is relevant not just to those of us in this constituency but to any citizen concerned about the future of Indian democracy. Gujarat is on a roll with its hype on industrial advancement at any cost. Yet the State’s human development indicators remain appalling. Worst (…)

• Bravo, Mr Naveen Patnaik! Keep It Up!

  26 April 2009, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  It was sheer delight to watch your performance in the TV interview with Mr Karan Thapar. Your clipped upper-class monosyllabic replies warmed up the heart of an old Anglophile. After all, the British did not rule this country in vain. Today we really have an Englistan, as the Mahatma prophesised one hundred years ago in a small booklet called Hind Swaraj (which, in his own words, was the production of a fool), rather than Hindustan, in India.
  Your understated replies, like the (…)

• Letter to PM on Binayak Sen‘s Incarceration

  26 April 2009, by V R Krishna Iyer

  The following is the text of a letter written by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, the former Supreme Court Judge, to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, dated April 17, 2009.
  I would like to bring to your attention a case of grave injustice which is a cause of much shame to Indian democracy: that of Dr Binayak Sen, the well-known paediatrician and defender of human rights.
  This good doctor has been incarcerated in a Raipur jail for nearly two years now uner the Chhattisgarh State Public (…)