Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Terrorist or Patriot?

  18 June 2018, by Badri Raina

  When Nathu Ram shot dear Bapu dead,
  Was he a terrorist or a patriot?
  The answer lies in the hat you wear—
  A white Gandhi topi or a black Nagpur fit.
  But when an Abu son picks up the gun
  For a purpose similar to Nathu Ram’s,
  What hat you wear is irrelevant—
  He is simply a terrorist with arms.
  So tell me what is true or false,
  Kosher white or black as night?—
  The things that are in effect done,
  Or the opinion we hold of black and white?
  Badri Raina

• Remembrance: The Enduring Legacy of Justice Bhagwati

  18 June 2018

  by Vijay Kumar
  Justice P.N. Bhagwati, whose first death anniversary falls on June 15, 2018, was one of the most trail-blazing judges of the Supreme Court. His first landmark judgment was rendered in the Royappa case,1 in which he introduced the concept of arbitrariness in the text of Article 14, and thereby liberated the equality clause, which was, to borrow his own language, ‘cribbed, cabined and confined within the narrow and doctrinaire limit of classification’.
  After the liberating (…)

• Nalanda Mahavihara — Victim of a Myth regarding its Decline and Destruction

  18 June 2018

  by O.P. Jaiswal
  Nalanda1 has a very ancient history going back to the days of Mahavira and Buddha in the sixth and fifth centuries BC. According to the Jaina texts, it was a suburb (bahariya), situated to the north-west of the famous city of Rajagriha. Indeed, so important was the place that Mahavira spent as many as fourteen rainy seasons there. The Pali Buddhist literature too contains many references to Nalanda. It is said that in the course of his sojourns the Buddha often visited the (…)

• Letter to North Korean President

  18 June 2018

  The following is the text of the letter sent on June 12, 2018 by the office-bearers of the All India Indo-Korean Friendship Association to Kim Jong-un, the Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army, on the successful accord of North Korea with the United States on an equal basis following his talks with US President Donald Trump at Singapore.
  Dear Comrade (…)

• J &K — At the End of the Tether

  18 June 2018, by Sudhir Vombatkere

  The Kannada saying “murthi chikkadaadaru keerthi doddadu” (meaning that even if the physical form is diminutive, the virtue is great), applies to Lal Bahadur Shastri who, as the Prime Minister, led India with remarkable initiative and verve in the 1965 war against Pakistan. It was he who coined the slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”, in the full understanding that the Jawan provides border security (since then he has also been providing internal security due to the failure of governance) and the (…)

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  Pranab’s Tryst with the RSS

  10 June 2018

  POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
  “Here is our vast country, Hindusthan, the land of the Hindus, their home country, hereditary territory, a definite geographical unity, fulfilling all that the world should imply in the Nation idea. Living in this country since prehistoric times, is the ancient race—the Hindu race, united together by common traditions, by memories of common glory and disaster, by similar historical, political, social, religious and other experiences, living and evolving, under the same (…)

• A False Step

  10 June 2018, by Kuldip Nayar

  Pranab Mukherjee is a man of all political affiliations. He had occupied the highest position as a Congressman and had also floated a political party with a few of his associates in the Congress. But one can call him a self-made man in the political arena. He has accepted the invitation to visit the RSS headquarters at Nagpur to address the Sangh’s cadres.
  To quote RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, “Mukherjee was graceful enough to accept the invitation.” It is a surprise because the place never (…)

• Many Faces of the Fury

  10 June 2018

  by Fayezah Iqbal
  It feels disrupted, It feels stagnated. To make their point masses have stranded, The life that was while away taken for granted. As activism pledges to achieve the demanded, And exert against evil and unwanted, Intrepid Nirbhaya, Gauri and disillusioned Vemula wait yet brave-hearted. While as emboldened are fringe and conflict-bent and as much undaunted; As unrelenting Karni Sena, Jats, Marathas wreck lives unwarranted.
  Slogans are raised all aloud, Voicing often (…)

• Poll Results: Threats and Promises

  10 June 2018, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Never have byelection results made waves of the kind that last week’s did. Only two out of fourteen seats were won by the BJP, the party that is generally projected as the unstoppable force sweeping across the country. Opponents were quick to proclaim its stoppability.
  It would be a mistake to hurry to the conclusion that the BJP is losing ground and will be overtaken in next year’s general election. The party has strengths that other parties do not have, and will not have in (…)

• The Future Beckons

  10 June 2018, by Badri Raina

  There comes a time when Caesarism begins to breed discontent and thoughts of another possible world begin to take hold. Indeed, when what might have been a reassuring visage becomes a daily irritant.
  The decline began with the Gujarat polls where the sons-of-soil duo managed barely to cross the half-way mark, vanquished by a new willingness in the Congress to find allies and equations not considered before. Indeed, had the Congress and NCP struck an understanding, Mr Modi’s home State may (…)