Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Who is Terrorising Whom? Who is a Terrorist?

  18 March 2018, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  As encounters and encounter killings in Uttar Pradesh are ongoing—as many as 1142 encounters were recorded between March 2017 and January 2018, and 38 alleged criminals were killed—I have been wondering how many of the killed or wounded or hounded out could be innocents. And now ask these innocents (those still alive and in a position to speak the truth, without fear of the aftermath): who is a terrorist? Quite obviously their answer will be—the state!
  It’s time we ask: who is a (…)

• Left Must Team with Congress (and others) to Save Democracy

  18 March 2018

  The drubbing that the Communist Party of India-Marxist just received in Tripura deepens the crisis the Indian Left has been facing. Is the Left’s demise in the country inevitable? Will the Tripura Assembly election results dampen the morale of Left-liberals who have been opposing Hindutva for the last four years? Will it aggravate the tension in the CPI-M over the issue of whether or not to align with the Congress in 2019?
  Ajaz Ashraf spoke to Sumanta Banerjee, an avowed Leftist (…)

• The Power of Periyar and the Unravelling of the NDA

  18 March 2018, by Badri Raina

  When the old man, Akhlaque, was done to death inside his house, allegedly for storing beef in his refrigerator by a murderous, vandalising, vigilante mob, the Supremos said nothing. Sundry satraps said a lot nobody who swears by the Constitution should say. They went unchecked. It was said occasionally that the law would take its course. In point of fact, not the law but the vandals and vigilantes took their course.
  The same when the equally innocent Pehlu Khan was lynched and killed: the (…)

• Reflecting on Sir Syed

  18 March 2018, by Anil Nauriya

  The following is the text of the author’s Sir Syed Memorial Lecture delivered on October 17, 2007. It was organised under the auspices of the Sir Syed Foundatin, New Delhi at the Jamia Millia Islamia. It is being published now as its relevance has not in the least diminished even after a gap of more
  than ten years since it was delivered; rather it has grown in the present circumstances.
  Sir Syed never lived to see the twentieth century. He saw most of the 19th. How should an Indian in (…)

• What is Fundamentalism?

  18 March 2018, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Fundamentalism has become a much-used term today—in politics and in the academia. And there are in vogue various types of the so-called fundamentalists—political, religious and cultural.
  But before cataloguing these various tribes of fundamentalists, it is important to clarify what precisely is meant by fundamentalism. The Oxford English Dictionary says the term, funda-mental, pertains to “the basis or groundwork, going to the root of the matter”. But the word (…)

• India’s Entry into NSG: What it Means for India and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime

  18 March 2018

  by Muzaffar Ahmad Ganaie and Sajad Hussain Wani
  Introduction
  The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), formerly known as the London Club, is a group of 48 countries formed in 1975 in response to India’s nuclear test of 1974 to control the export of nuclear material and technology that could be used for the development of nuclear weapons. The main objective of the group is to contribute to the goal of nuclear non-proliferation through export controls of nuclear and nuclear-related material, (…)

• An Ode to Jigisha

  18 March 2018

  I did have a dream,
  not the dream to walk on the ramp or on the red carpet,
  or to be bracketed with Freida.
  Never dreamt of becoming
  princes of the fairyland,
  and marrying the prince
  or to have the world as my oyster.
  I did have a dream,
  a dream to wipe out a
  tear from my Baba’s eye.
  in the twilight years of his life,
  who would now never
  wait for me to return
  to the middle class flat
  in the periphery of Delhi’s
  affluent urban suburb,
  I did have a dream
  to (…)

• Statues are Not Safe in India

  18 March 2018

  by L.K. Sharma
  Violent political activists in India, used to attacking fellow humans, have now turned their attention to statues. Within a week they demolished or damaged the statues of Lenin, Ambedkar, the Dalit icon, and Periyar, the social reformer who fought against upper-caste hegemony.
  In India statues of leaders command an immense political significance which now characterises even the idols of Hindu Gods. These come in all sizes and colours. Prime Minister Modi is seeking to (…)

• Lessons in Tripura

  18 March 2018

  by Samit Kar
  The defeat of the Manik Sarkar Government in Tripura is a big lesson to the Left in general, and the CPI-M in particular. It is revealing to note, the extent of poverty in Tripura is as low as 11.2 per cent. The record of implementation of various poverty eradicating social welfare schemes is indeed noteworthy.
  But the rate of unemployment is as high as over 18 per cent. The constituency represented by Manik Sarkar, a man of impeccable honestly and integrity, happens to be a (…)

• An Open Letter to Communists

  18 March 2018, by Bharat Dogra

  Dear Friends and Comrades,
  Greetings.
  This letter is being written when the communist movement in India is passing through very difficult and depressing times; but this is precisely the reason why the Communists need to show more courage, understanding and resilience than ever before. The world is also passing through more difficult and complex problems than ever before and the wider challenge for the Communists is to become an important part of the solutions.
  There are powerful forces (…)