Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• A National Loss

  30 June 2008, by S Viswam

  Tempus fugit. Time flies. And how! I was completely taken aback on being reminded by Sumit that the tenth death anniversary of Nikhilda will fall on June 27. “No, it cannot be,” I protested. “Not ten years already.” “Yes, yes,”said Sumit, “it is, it is.”
  It is unbelievable that ten years have passed since we lost Nikhilda. Yet, in its rapid sweep, Time has devoured those years and completely overshadowed an event which when it occurred deeply saddened a number of people whose lives had (…)

• The Power of One

  30 June 2008, by T J S George

  From the end of the 1950s, Delhi became India’s densest journalistic jungle. The transplantation there of a wholly Bombay phenomenon like Frank Moraes was a pointer to the inexorability of the process. No one will understand the economics of newspaper proliferation in Delhi. What is clear to all is that by the end of the Nehru era, the Capital of India had more journalists per square inch than any other city in the country.
  Among them were stars. Inevitably, some twinkled by pretension. (…)

• Letter to the President

  30 June 2008, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  The following is the text of the letter that the Editor of Mainstream sent to the President of India on January 27, 1990 detailing the reasons for his inability to accept the Padma Bhushan award conferred on him on the Republic Day that year.
  NIKHIL CHAKRAVARTTY Editor MAINSTREAM 35 Kaka Nagar New Delhi -11000
  January 27, 1990
  To
  The President of India
  Sir, On my way back home today after an extensive tour abroad, I find that you have conferred on me Padma Bhushan on the occasion (…)

• Conscience of a Progressive Polity

  30 June 2008, by Surendra Mohan

  Nikhil Chakravartty launched the weekly Mainstream when the country did not have serious political journals apart from publications of political parties, like the AICC Economic Review, the New Age, the Janata and the Mankind. When the weekly started, it was accompanied by the Link, the Patriot, and the India Press Agency. These publications appeared to promote a political line of asking the Communists to lead the ‘radical Congress masses’, for which they sought to persuade them to join the (…)

• Nikhilda through the Mists of Memory

  30 June 2008, by Mrinal Pande

  If one wanted to find an iconic journalist whose work straddled both the colonial period and the post-independence India, the first inspired by the spirit of Gandhian thought and the latter influenced by the many avatars of Nehruvian socialism clashing with the rational and militant ideologies of the Left parties, I would unhesitatingly name Nikhil Chakravartty. He was the best representative of an era that was great and sick at the same time and listening to him talk one saw how much (…)

• Nikhil at the Gates

  30 June 2008, by Syeda Hameed

  These times when life’s mad rush
  – Overtakes our days, inverts our rights
  – Your memory places a soothing palm
  – On my fevered brow.
  I recall
  – You walking slowly
  – To light a candle at the last post
  – Separating India from Pakistan.
  I recall
  – You watching with bemused disdain
  – Hate filled postures, martial clip clop
  – Of Pakistan Rangers and Border Security Force.
  I piece together the rest.
  Returning to your room late at night
  – You lift your ink-filled pen
  – Recalling (…)

• Nikhil Chakravartty

  30 June 2008, by Neerja Chowdhury

  For several of us doing political reporting in the eighties and the nineties, one of the things we looked forward to were the political discussions we could have with people like Nikhil Chakravartty and Madhu Limaye. Both kept open houses and we could walk into their home in the evening, often without appointment, and chat about the latest political development. Often we would try and decode the latest political googly by one or another player. Besides giving a new angle or new insights (…)

• A Media Legend of India’s Underbelly

  30 June 2008, by Suhas Borker

  Last week it was suddenly discovered that the portrait of Nikhil Chakravartty was missing from the Press Council of India’s Conference Hall where President K.R. Narayanan had unveiled it on February 28, 1999. It had been missing since mid-2003.
  After the attention of the present Chairman of the Press Council, Justice G.N. Ray (who took over in March 2005), was drawn to the missing portrait, the original portrait was found and restored within fortyeight hours, though without the plaque, (…)

• US’ Violation of Human Rights in Afghanistan

  30 June 2008, by Ash Narain Roy

  Afghanistan has endured a quarter century of brutal wars during which human rights have been violated systematically by the occupying forces, the various regimes in power and the insurgent groups. The “war on terror” unleashed by the US promised a new dawn. But the Operation Enduring Freedom has brought neither the end of nightmare and miseries for the Afghans nor freedom of any consequence. The war on terror has led to widespread civilian deaths, often at the hands of unaccountable units (…)

• Emergency: What it meant

  30 June 2008, by Amiya Rao, B G Rao

  Lest We Forget Thirtythree years ago on June 26, 1975, Emergency was proclaimed throughout the country as the ruling leadership bared its fangs nakedly displaying its dictatorial proclivities. We present here write-ups and poems that bring back the nightmare of those dark days when our freedom was sought to be snatched away and our voice throttled. —Editor
  Not a leaf stirs in my kingdom without my leave. See how quiet my people sit. —Atahuallpa the Inca
  To those whose only preoccupation (…)