Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Tribute to N.C.

  12 December 2009

  COMMUNICATION
  P.V. Narasimha Rao’s letter to the editor of Mainstream and Chanchal Sarkar’s article (October 31) reminded me that November 3, 2009 is Nikhil-da’s 96th birth anniversary. I had the good fortune of knowing him when I was in Kolkata. I was a member of the undivided CPI. As I was associated with the Bandar Local Committee and with trade union activities, I also used to do some office work at the Central District Committee. Thus, I had the privilege of meeting many party (…)

• Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression

  12 December 2009

  DOCUMENT
  Statement of Women’s Organisations on increasing State Violence on People’s Movements and Sexual Violence on Women by the Police, Paramilitary and Army
  We, the undersigned representatives of women’s organisations and individuals, are deeply shocked and disturbed by the Indian Government’s armed offensive by paramilitary and armed forces in the adivasi-dominant forest areas of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. This (…)

• Gay Marriages: A Controversy

  12 December 2009, by Manini Garima

  A Division Bench of Justice A.P. Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar, in its 105-page order given on July 2, 2009 on a PIL plea by Delhi-based non-government organisation Naz Foundation, said: “We declare that Section 377 of the IPC (the controversial law on homosexuality which goes back 149 years when Lord Macaulay introduced the section in the IPC) insofar as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private, is violative of Articles 21 [Right to Protection of Life and Personal (…)

• Respect Samatha Judgement, End Hostilities, Start Dialogue

  12 December 2009

  The following is a statement issued on behalf of the Citizens Initiative for Peace.
  While there were indications from the government as well as the Maoists some time back that they were prepared to consider the idea of a dialogue as proposed by the Citizens Initiative for Peace and other groups, the CIP notes with deep concern that operations by the security forces of the Central and State governments have already been launched in several States causing untold miseries to the tribal people (…)

• Shame of Bhopal, Real Test at Copenhagen

  8 December 2009, by SC

  The world’s biggest industrial disaster took place in Bhopal on December 3, 1984 taking a toll of 20,000 lives and affecting 5.69 lakh people. The twentyfifth anniversary of that massive mishap at the Union Carbide plant in the city is being observed across the country today.
  That disaster is a crying shame for all our citizens. Why? For three reasons. First, the real culprit behind the mishap, the Union Carbide management, got away real cheap—the Union Government reached a (…)

• World Communist Meet in New Delhi: My Impressions and Suggestions

  8 December 2009, by Chaturanan Mishra

  The Eleventh International Meeting of the Communist and Workers Parties took place in New Delhi on November 20-22, 2009. At its conclusion there was a public meeting at the Capital’s Mavlankar Hall. It took the shape of a mass reception for the delegates who participated in the Meeting. I attended the function. From the dais the slogan—“Workers of the World, Unite!”—was repeatedly raised. On hearing the slogan I told my CPM friends: “….but the workers of India must remain divided!” (…)

• West Bengal: Citizens Beware! Killer Convicts At Large!

  8 December 2009, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  A brief recital of the event is necessary both for the purpose of recapitulation and for putting the issue in the right context. On March 16, 1970, the Second United Front Government of West Bengal imploded entirely because of its internal contradictions. The then Chief Minister, Ajoy Mukherjee, resigned (on March 16, 1970) calling his own government “barbaric”. President’s Rule was imposed immediately. On March 17, 1970, the CPI-M called a “bandh” for the entire State. Being thrown out of (…)

• Not Sorrow but Atonement

  8 December 2009, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The following piece, which was published as ‘Political Notebook’ in Mainstream (December 12, 1992), is being reproduced on the seventeenth anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Its significance is heightened due to the tabling in Parliament and release of the Liberhan Commission report on the probe into the Babri demolition of late. —Editor
  The vandalism that brought down the Babri Masjid structure on December 6 will remain a Black Sunday in the (…)

• Rubble

  8 December 2009, by Gopal Gandhi

  You lifted one fistful of salt
  And an empire was shamed.
  Lift
  One fistful of rubble
  Now
  And pour it on our shameless heads.
  December 6, 1992, Gopal Gandhi

• In the Aftermath

  8 December 2009, by SC

  The mosque was eloquent History,
  Everything else was shrouded in mythology.
  Yet they, under the spell of fiery oratory,
  Chose to chase the mirage of a myth,
  Pull down the building
  And build hatred in their hearts
  When I, a citizen of this vast land
  With the pulsating impulse of History behind me,
  Watched helplessly in speechless agony.
  My dreams lie shattered,
  My country split
  And its future back to the tribal past.
  I know not how to atone for my immoral silence
  For (…)