Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Meaning of being Gandhi

  12 February 2017, by Sandeep Pandey

  A controversy erupted recently when Narendra Modi’s photo appeared behind the charkha in a calendar of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission where people are used to seeing Mahatma Gandhi. Some Modi supporters are asking why there was no contro-versy when Modi used broom, also a symbol taken from Gandhi, for his Swachch Bharat campaign. After all, Gandhi spectacles appear on all Swachch Bharat publicity material.
  Gandhi has no monopoly over either broom or charkha. Anybody has a (…)

• Turkey’s bid to join the EU: Have we reached a Point of No-Return?

  12 February 2017

  by Sanjal Shastri
  The year 2016 has been a testing year for Turkey’s relations with the European Union (EU). With Austria’s Foreign Minister threatening to freeze talks regarding Turkey’s EU membership bid, irreparable damage might be done to the relationship between the two sides. Turkey, a land that is described as a natural meeting point between the East and the West, is increasingly finding itself out of favour in Europe. This commentary attempts to look at the possible fallouts of the (…)

• India’s Ideological Contradictions

  12 February 2017

  by Mrinal Pradhan
  In the wake of Communist leader Fidel Castro’s demise, when one ponders over the future of communism, one gets the feeling that the Leftist movement is never going to succeed in India. The most pervasive ideological contradiction in India is the concomitant existence of socialist ideals with religious zeal. According to the basic socialist ideology, matter leads spirit, and not the other way around. The most fundamental assumption in the ideology of Karl Marx, the father (…)

• Should Retired Military Officers join Politics?

  12 February 2017

  by Bhartendu Kumar Singh
  The recent decision of a retired Army General (General J.J. Singh, the former Chief of Army Staff, and Governor, Arunachal Pradesh) to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Punjab has come in for criticism from his own Veteran fraternity. The criticism had less to do with the actual entry into the political arena but more to do with the General’s decision to contest the Assembly elections and ‘demean’ his status! While this could be a subject of a separate (…)

• The Indian History Congress and its Cultural Intervention

  12 February 2017

  by Suresh Jnaneswaran
  The 77th session of the Indian History Congress took place at the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram from December 28 to 30, 2016. The following article has been written against that backdrop by the Local Secretary of the session.
  The coming of the Indian History Congress to the Kerala University has greater significance than meets the ordinary eye. In the present political ambience with the ruling front at the Centre going all out to reinforce and perpetuate (…)

• Clarion Call on R-Day 2017

  31 January 2017, by SC

  Editorial
  On January 26 this year, when we observe our sixtyeighth Republic Day, it is most pertinent for us to recall the message to the nation from our first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, on our first Republic Day on January 26, 1950:
  There is a peculiar appropriateness about this January 26, for this day links up the past with the present and this present is seen to grow out of that past. Twenty years ago we took the first pledge of independence. During these twenty years we have known (…)

• The Greatest Treasure

  31 January 2017, by Jawaharlal Nehru

  January 30 this year marks the sixtyninth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdom. We offer our homage to his indelible memory by reproducing the following excerpts from Jawaharlal Nehru’s statement in the Constituent Assembly on February 2, 1948, that is, within three days of the assassination of the Father of the Nation.
  o o
  I am not quite sure in my own mind if it is exactly fitting for me or for any others of this House to say much on this occasion, for I have a sense of utter (…)

• Lead, kindly Light . . .

  31 January 2017, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Every year we dutifully go through the ritual of offering homage to Gandhiji on the day of his martyrdom.
  We shall once again be witnessing the ceremony on January 30 to be conducted as per protocol—early morning prayer at Rajghat, singing of bhajans and hymns, a round of spinning and then during the course of the day, meetings and seminars and a special programme on Doordarshan to remind us of the Father of the Nation. VVIPs encircled by gun-totting security guards (…)

• Netaji’s Immortal Words

  31 January 2017

  On the occasion of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 120th birth anniversary on January 23 this year, we are carrying the following excerpts from Netaji’s speeches and writings while remembering that stalwart of our freedom struggle.
  This is Subhas Chandra Bose speaking to you over the Azad Hind Radio.
  For about a year I have waited in silence and patience for the march of events and now that the hour has struck, I come forward to speak.
  The fall of Singapore means the collapse of the (…)

• 67th Anniversary of Democratic-secular Indian Constitution: Hindutva Demolition Squad Waiting for the Right Time to Undo it

  31 January 2017, by Shamsul Islam

  There is no doubt that despite many infirmities the Indian Constitution, as framed by the Constituent Assembly (CA) of India on November 26, 1949, is a fine document of liberal democracy. Its emphasis on an all-inclusive polity assuring social, political and economic justice was, in fact, a continuation of the anti-imperialist legacy. But the Indian Constitution today faces the most critical challenge to its existence. It is true that the ruling parties before the enthronement of the Modi (…)