Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Left Rethink Post-Assembly Elections

  2 August 2016, by Badri Raina

  The Left parties did not do very well in the Assembly elections in West Bengal. Sections among the CPI-M who did not favour any alliance or understanding with the Congress in West Bengal have been quick to blame the debacle on the electoral strategy adopted by the West Bengal unit of the party to strike a ground-level seat-sharing coordination with the Congress. It is widely known that the local unit of the party and the local leadership of the Congress had been keen on such coordination in (…)

• An Issue Far Beyond Brexit

  1 August 2016

  by Sanjal Shastri
  “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or Leave the European Union?” While the answer to this question is a mere yes or no, the issues this question throws up are not as straightforward. The referendum challenges the very idea of British national identity. What are the larger social issues the Brexit vote has exposed? How would these issues play out in the months/ years to come? These are the questions this commentary would try to address.
  The (…)

• Vivid Portrayal of Massive Human Tragedy

  1 August 2016, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  BOOK REVIEW
  New Songs of the Survivors: The Exodus of Indians from Burma by Yvonne Vaz Ezdani; Speaking Tiger, New Delhi; 2016; price: Rs 350 (paperback).
  Human memory of any important incident or event has now become a major source of history. There are pitfalls. Memories may fail. Memories may get clouded by other events thereby distorting memories of the events. In fact, in earlier days history depended entirely on written and/or archeological evidence, references in literature, epics (…)

• BJP’s Anti-Dalit Face Unmasked

  26 July 2016, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  The BJP is clearly on the backfoot. Attacks on minorities and Dalits have recorded a steep rise ever since the BJP-led NDA Government (wherein the BJP enjoys absolute majority) was formed at the Centre in May 2014. Of late Dalits are on the march especially in Gujarat where members of a Dalit family were mercilessly flogged and paraded in Una for skinning a dead cow—the Gujarat bandh, called by Dalit groups to protest against such action by the cow vigilante outfits associated (…)

• Why Increasing Violence Needs a New, Fresh Approach to Find Durable Solutions

  26 July 2016, by Bharat Dogra

  As the entire world grows increasingly concerned about the rising toll of many-sided violence, three regions have emerged as the biggest areas of concern—West Asia, North Africa and South Asia. In all these three areas, the existing violence is very troubling but the potential of escalation is even more worrying.
  Another common factor in these three regions is that while several peace efforts have been made, the overall impact appears to be of one step forward, two steps backward. So some (…)

• Death Be Not Proud

  26 July 2016, by Kuldip Nayar

  As the memory of the massacre at Dhaka recedes, examples of bravery are coming to the fore. One of them is that of Faraaz Hossain. He was on a vacation at Dhaka from his college in the US where he was pursuing higher studies. He spent less time at home but used the opportunity to meet his friends from foreign climes at Gulshan’s famous Spanish restaurant, the Holey Artisan Bakery.
  When ISIS terrorists struck, Faraaz was having food with his friends at the restaurant. The ISIS killers were (…)

• ‘Form a United Front to Resist BJP, Give Up Rigid Anti-Congressism’ - Letter to CPI-M Leadership From Irfan Habib and Sayera Habib

  26 July 2016

  DOCUMENT
  Letter to CPI-M Leadership From Irfan Habib and Sayera Habib
  The following is the text of the letter written by eminent historian Professor Irfan Habib and his wife Sayera Habib to the CPI-M Polit-Bureau and Central Committee on June 26, 2016. Both have been members of the CPI-M for more than 60 years.
  The statement issued by the Central Committee after its deliberations on June 18-20, 2016 deals item-wise with various issues without going into what are the essential features (…)

• Violence and Anger in Kashmir

  26 July 2016, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  War-drumming in Tanzania. War-like situation in the Kashmir Valley. Troops together with security forces not taking on an enemy country but unleashing terror on agitators and mourners participating in the burial procession of Hizbul Mujahedin commander Burhan Wani.
  A situation that could have been handled with some level of maturity has gone out of control. No restraint even as reports poured in of heavy casualties—at least 31 killed and a minimum of 1300 grievously injured. (…)

• Citizens’ Statement on Kashmir

  26 July 2016

  We write this in anguish at another alarming spiral of violence in Kashmir, when a discredited old playbook has yet again been deployed to wreak havoc with civilian life.
  Kashmir’s escalating violence follows a familiar pattern: a killing, a funeral where rage is vented through slogans and stones, and volleys of lethal gunfire in response. In 2010, this cycle rolled on repeatedly through four months, claiming over 110 lives, mostly of Kashmiri youth, including a number who were too young (…)

• Burhan Killing Signals Shift in Counterterrorism Strategy

  26 July 2016

  by Iftikhar Gilani
  Even though the Army has downplayed its prized killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, questions arise as to whether it signals a departure from the age-old counter-insurgency doctrine.
  Barring ‘Operation Bluestar’ in 1984, India’s counter-insurgency doctrine, modelled on the pattern of the British doctrine, did not entail hunting the top leadership, fearing emergence of splinter groups, difficult to control later. In contrast, the American way of tackling (…)