Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Freedom Fighters lament India moving away from the Ideals of Equality, Justice and Dignity for All

  20 August 2017

  by Bharat Dogra, Jagmohan Singh
  The freedom movement of India is a vast saga of great sacrifices, very inspiring courage and an overwhelming commitment to securing liberty from the bondage of colonial rule, a commitment which enabled a very large number of freedom fighters to endure the greatest hardships for long periods without wavering from their firm commitment. This will always remain a source of great inspiration for persons and groups who want to devote their life to a higher cause. (…)

• Let Us All Stop Degeneration of the Country, Immediately Ban Vigilante Organisations

  20 August 2017, by Sitaram Yechury

  The following is the speech of CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury in the Rajya Sabha on July 19, 2017 during the short-duration discussion on the situation arising out of the reported increase in incidents of lynching and atrocities on minorities and Dalits across the county.
  Sir, I am rising to speak with a very heavy heart and also in the background of what happened in the House just now. Sir, the sort of atmosphere that we have seen here does not augur well for our parliamentary (…)

• Independence Day: May the Good Indian Show Us the Way

  20 August 2017, by Badri Raina

  In 2016 this writer published a collection of commentaries on the ongoing state of the Republic titled, recklessly it may seem, Idea of India Hard to Beat: Republic Resilient.
  The central speculation in that volume was that whereas it was unlikely now that Capitalism would inevitably breed its own slayer, another sort of inevitability could be asserted in the Indian context, namely, that, however circumstances might discourage, it could be argued that no government, be it from the Right or (…)

• India At Seventy: Are All Citizens Equal?

  20 August 2017

  by Mridula Mukherjee
  The celebrations of the seventieth anniversary of Independence Day and the seventyfifth anniversary of the ‘Quit India’ Movement, within the same week, have brought with them a welcome focus and debate in the public domain on the core values that define the Indian Republic. Political leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to the democratic vision of the freedom struggle. The Prime Minister has included communalism as one of the scourges that need to be made to ‘Quit (…)

• Mockery of Independence? What a Country!

  20 August 2017, by A K Biswas

  Nationalist ruler’s loyal forefathers were ‘unsolicited’ British collaborators honoured with Royal Salute
  I was overwhelmed on reading in The Calcutta Gazette, 1858 that the East India Company bestowed an extraordinary distinction upon an Indian feudal lord for his “unsolicited” support against the sepoys during the mutiny in Central and Berar Provinces, a fact, perhaps, scarcely known to the public. The issue, if and ever focused, is exposed to be erased from books in the face of (…)

• My Transition from Gandhism to Marxism

  20 August 2017, by Barun Das Gupta

  For a child to be born into a staunch Gandhian family and to have grown into boyhood in the strict disciplinary ambience of an ashram run on Gandhian principles to have embraced Marxism and become a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party of India (RCPI) in his late teens was a revolution in his personal life. Ours was a family of freedom fighters. My uncle, Satish Chandra Das Gupta, was known as the Gandhi of Bengal. Both my parents took part in the freedom movement. My mother, Suniti (…)

• Without Borders

  20 August 2017

  How do you conjure up a scenario: no states, no nations, only a vast ocean of humanity! It may sound amazing - not easy to comprehend; yet, look inward. Blind self-love fascinates, but excludes, blurring vision beyond borders; a closed identity, its magnetic pull gravitating, jams the wings of flight to take off into the universe. Try to see peaks from the foothills. A huge wall of height stands, blocking your searching eyesight; from a distance they outline a wondrous panorama on the (…)

• The ‘Legitimate’ Writer and his ‘Illegitimate’(?) Writings

  20 August 2017

  by Sudipto Mukhopadhyay
  The ongoing protest on Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s writings and the debates over their legitimacy (to the claim of an accolade from the Sahitya Academy) and authenticity (in representing the Santhali community) lead us to ponder over a few things which are integral to the study of Indian writing in English today. We believe one has the right to write and one surely has the right to protest. But the methods could be put at stake for our discussion here.
  Herein, one (…)

• Graphic Account of Afghan Turmoil in the 1980s and Questions posed Thereafter

  20 August 2017, by Mahendra Ved

  BOOK REVIEW
  Whispers of War: An Afghan Freedom Fighter’s Account of the Soviet Invasion by Masood Khalili; Sage Publications, New Delhi; 2017; 275 pages; Price: Rs 495 (paperback).
  Afghanistan’s Ambassador Masood Khalili is a born story-teller. This writer, whom he helped in the 1990s with information and insights in order to co-author two books, should know.
  Even at the recent launch of his book, Whispers of War: An Afghan Freedom Fighter’s Account of the Soviet Invasion, he told an (…)

• Tribute: N.V.K. Murthy

  20 August 2017

  TRIBUTE
  N.V.K. Murthy was born on August 16, 1925 in Hyderabad. He received a baccalaureate degree in English literature from Maharaja’s College in Mysore. In August 1942, while a still a student at Maharaja’s College, he joined the ‘Quit India’ Movement for freedom against British colonial rule, and was imprisoned. Later, he received a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Indiana University in Bloomington, USA.
  During his illustrious career in India he was the Head of the Department (…)