Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Coalition Dharma and Drama

  11 December 2007, by Som Benegal

  Musings
  If there is one thing that is painfully obvious it is that coalition dharma is nothing but drama—in fact, just empty, negative melodrama. When people talk of the coalition era, which has come to stay in India’s politics, and polity they are talking too hastily on ill-founded presumptions and suppositions. These are compounded by the torrent of misleading opinion surveys and forecasts, which only reveal contradictions and off-the-mark results.
  History shows, not only in (…)

• Sketchy, though Faultless, Analysis of Naxalite Uprising

  11 December 2007, by K S Subramanian

  Book Review
  Maoist ’Spring Thunder’: The Naxalite Movement (1967-1972) by Arun Prosad Mukherjee; K.P. Bagchi and Company, Kolkata; 2007; pages: 319; price : Rs 595.
  The distinguished author of this interesting and important book was posted as the Superintendent of Police, Darjeeling district, West Bengal when the historic Naxalite movement erupted in the Naxalbari, Khoraibari and Phansideva sub-divisions of that district in 1967, which subsequently spread to the State capital Kolkata and (…)

• Defend the Legitimate Interests of Every Downtrodden Segment

  11 December 2007, by Syed Shahabuddin

  Communication
  Broadly agreeing with Shri Chaturanan Mishra’s analysis of the current political situation in the country (Mainstream, November 3, 2007), I support his call for the formation of a united secular front including the Left and the mobilisation of all the marginalised and disempowered people in their struggle for social justice in pursuit of their human, constitutional and legal rights.
  Shri Mishra correctly finds the bourgeoisie, whether in the Congress or the BJP, are (…)

• Wages of Gulagism

  11 December 2007, by Subrata Banerjee

  On the occasion of the birth centenary of Prof H.N. Mukerjee
  Scholar, writer, orator, politician and parliamen-tarian, Prof H.N. Mukerjee (Hirendranath Mukhopadhyay) is a venerated figure in the fields of both politics and literature. The published books, written by him, exceed fifty in number. Commencing 1952, he was elected to the Lok Sabha for five consecutive terms by a Calcutta constituency. His speeches in Parliament received rapt attention. He has been praised as a ’creative (…)

• Emergence of Rahul Gandhi in Indian Politics

  11 December 2007, by Suvrokamal Dutta

  Lately Indian politics is seeing the emergence of many young political leaders into the National scene with Rahul Gandhi, the son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, taking the lead in it. Such a trend is no doubt a welcome development in Indian politics. At least now India can hope to have some dynamism in its political scene based on some vision for social and economic development.
  The coming of Rahul Gandhi into the centre- stage of Indian politics should also be viewed in (…)

• Dr Ambedkar on Democracy

  11 December 2007, by Shyam Chand

  All over India the 51st death anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar is being observed on December 6, 2007. He was a genius par excellence—an economist a sociologist, a political scientist, a great historian, a legal luminary, a great constitutionalist and above all a great champion of the downtrodden.
  Abraham Lincoln says: “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.” Various philosophers, political scientists and writers have given numerous (…)

• The ’Deal’

  3 December 2007, by SC

  As the CPM continues its repressive acts of vegeance over the hapless people of Nandigram backed as the State Government is by a benign Centre beholden to the Marxists over their decision to let the UPA Government hold talks with the IAEA in Vienna on the India-specific safeguards agreement—and thereby permitting Dr Manmohan Singh continue in office (for he had threatened to resign from the PM’s post if the talks were disallowed)—the UPA-CPM ‘deal’ over the N-deal worked out by Pranab (…)

• Share Market Gyrations:

  3 December 2007, by Arun Kumar

  The share market has been giving the investors the jitters. Few know which way it would go next. Recently, after touching a peak of 19,198.66, the BSE index came down to 17,559.98 and more such fluctuations are in store. This was not unexpected given the rapid rise of the index in the preceding two months and especially in the preceding two weeks. Investors were getting used to hearing that the index had climbed by 1000 points in six or four trading sessions. It was a bullish market which (…)

• Buddha’s Killing Fields of Nandigram!

  3 December 2007, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  It was a well-planned and equally well-executed bloody operation conducted by the armed marauders of the Communist Party of India- Marxist which started on and around November 5 and is still continuing with lesser intensity. The objective was simple and straightforward. It was to reoccupy several villages whose inhabitants were originally party loyalists who turned hostile to the party after the Haldia Development Authority published the notice regarding acquisition of land in 34 villages in (…)

• Nandigram: A Dangerous Chapter in the History of Human Rights

  3 December 2007, by Mahi Pal Singh

  Those who expressed their concern at and denounced the post-Godhra carnage in Gujarat will fail in their duty if they do not show their concern at the turn of events taking place in Nandigram in West Bengal. Although the magnitude of the Gujarat communal riots, which took a toll of more than 2000 lives, displaced thousands of families and forced them to live in terror during the last five years, was bigger than the killings and resultant desertion of their homes by hundreds of (…)