Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

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  Disturbing Scenario Unfolds

  19 September 2017, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  The economic situation is worsening by the day. This is the naked truth which is staring us in the face. Lately the fuel prices have been increased phenomenally—seven per cent increase in the last few months. Prices of vegetables have already recorded considerable rise.
  Against this background one has to read the latest column of Pratap Bhanu Mehta, the Ashoka University Vice-Chancellor and a regular columnist in The Indian Express. The article “Inglorious uncertainty” appears (…)

• The Short Shelf-life of Post-Truth

  19 September 2017, by Badri Raina

  It is extremely rare to hear murmurs of discontent from within the Bharatiya Janata Party. Which of course does not mean that discontent does not ever exist.
  A brave BJP Member of Parliament has, if you like, broken the hard ice and let out the best known secret of our times: “Modi does not like being asked questions” (The Indian Express, September 2, 2017) India’s vibrant media outlets have of course long swallowed this fact, reserving all their tired out barbs about lack of inner-party (…)

• Darkness Falls On Our Democracy

  19 September 2017, by Sudhir Vombatkere

  As darkness fell on September 5, noted activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh was entering her home in Bengaluru, and unknown gunmen extinguished the life of a courageous and outspoken upholder of democracy and opponent of communalism. Gauri is the fourth well-known person after Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi, to be murdered for speaking out her mind. What is common to these four martyrs for the cause of democracy and freedom is that they were unequivocal in their (…)

• Adieu...Comrade Gauri!

  19 September 2017

  by K. Ramachandran
  “If Gauri had not attacked the RSS, she would have been alive today”—that was BJP MLA from Chikmagaluru C.D. Ravi. Kannada TV channels were flashing this statement made on September 7, 2017 repeatedly. The RSS-BJP people also sometimes speak the truth and in the process expose their true colours. This BJP MLA’s statement makes it amply clear the Gauri’s killing was a political assassination.
  But who was Gauri Lankesh and why was she killed? We will draw a short profile (…)

• India’s Army Chief and his Public Posturing on China

  19 September 2017

  by Gautam Sen
  General Bipin Rawat, India’s Army Chief of Staff, has spoken twice publicly on India’s ability to wage a two-front war against China and Pakistan, inter-alia stating that internal insurrection, Maoists, etc. can be controlled simultaneously. The first such assertion was at the beginning of the recent Doklam border crisis, which drew sharp derisive reaction from China with the latter drawing reference to the Indian Army’s debacle in 1962. Thereafter, the General did not dwell (…)

• I Shall Not Be Silenced

  19 September 2017

  To the men —
  Cage me if you wish.
  You can bind my hands and legs
  But not my thoughts and ambitions
  Remember that ideas are bulletproof.
  To the society —
  Condemn me if you wish.
  You can insult and ostracise me
  But you cannot close your eyes to the naked truth I show you.
  Remember that our powerlessness is your only weapon.
  To the fascists —
  Kill me if you wish.
  You can threaten to rape or destroy me
  But my honour is not your slave.
  Remember that the pen will (…)

• For My Sister, Gauri Lankesh

  19 September 2017, by Sagari Chhabra

  Tonight I write the saddest lines, They killed my sister, last night. As she came back from work, Parked the car To open the gate to her house, They pumped three bullets Into her forehead, And there she lay Bleeding, oh! so forlorn.
  They sped away on their motorbike, I know they will come again, I do not write these lines in vain; They killed Kalburgi, They killed Dabholkar, They killed Pansare, And called it a law and order game.
  Tonight I write the saddest lines As my sister lay (…)

• Another Effort to Revive Bigotism

  19 September 2017, by Kuldip Nayar

  With a clutch of followers, Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat was about to storm into Kolkata when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cancelled the use of a hall which the RSS had hired for him to address a meeting. He was quite right when he criticised the cancellation as undemocratic. But the record of the RSS in polluting the Hindu-Muslim equation is so long that the precaution is quite in order. True, Mamata Banerjee looks dictatorial. But her act can be (…)

• US-Russia ties are heading south

  19 September 2017, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The US-Russia diplomatic tit-for-tat escalated with the announcement in Washington on August 31 ordering the Russians to shut down their consulate in San Francisco as well as two trade annexes. Moscow has regretted “the escalation of tensions” and promised a reaction after careful review of the “new measures”. The State Department press release is titled “Achieving Parity in Diplomatic Missions”, implying that the US has merely followed up the “Russian desire for parity in the diplomatic (…)

• India and the Evolving New World Order

  18 September 2017, by Kobad Ghandy

  This article has been sent to us for publication by the eminent Marxist-Maoist thinker, Kobad Ghandy, from the Visakhapatnam Central Jail where he is currently lodged. He started writing it in Hyderabad Jail and completed it at the Visakhapatnam Central Jail. We are carrying here its first part due to paucity of space. The second part will follow shortly.
  Part I : Evolving New World Order
  It was the spring of 1972. Standing as an accused in a Court in London, I was asked for my (…)