2011

by DEBABRATA BANDYOPADHYAY
Winston Churchill, in the preface to his six-volume history, The Second World War, wrote: In War: Resolution; In Defeat: Defiance; In Victory: Magnanimity; In Peace: Goodwill.
Mamata Bandyopadhyay followed this precept wonderfully in what the media chose to call ‘the great battle for the Writers’ Buildings.’ She made a courtesy call on the former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chattopadhyay at the latter’s residence. By this act she set a shining example of (…)

by SUBRATA MUKHERJEE
A Bengali play, adapted from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, was recently not allowed to be staged by the district administration of Hooghly in West Bengal. The administration so acted as a CPI-M leader submitted a written objection, the latter having perceived that enactment of the play would create disaffection among the voters against the CPI-M. The Chief Minister however later on publicly opined against this decision, but nevertheless the prevention of staging of an (…)

by SUNANDA K. DATTA-RAY
Mamata Banerjee’s demolition of the world’s longest-serving democratically-elected Communist Government also means the end of history for West Bengal. I don’t mean the Communist Party of India-Marxist’s (CPI-M’s) structure and strategy which are being discussed threadbare over end-less cups of tea in its Alimuddin Street office, as it was at Monday’s Polit-Bureau meeting in New Delhi.
I mean communism as an idea to which millions of young Bengalis responded. (…)

The Left Front Government has been defeated after 34 continuous years, a record not only in India but perhaps in the world. But the defeat did not happen suddenly; it has been maturing over the years, with lots of signals being given out, which unfortunately were ignored. People had made up their minds much earlier despite the government’s Left character and several achievements. Thus, a long experiment has come to an end with lots of lessons. While the Left in power in Bengal showed how to (…)

All over rural India the most important livelihood of small farmers is confronted with multiple problems. There is a yearning for a new beginning but solutions are proving elusive because individual initiatives can only succeed up to a limit. Community level initiatives are needed and government help is also needed to create a situation in which people feel more encouraged to take steps in the right direction.
Basically the livelihood problems have to be solved in ways which are in (…)

Indian agriculture lost one of its most cogent voices at a time when the farming community nationwide is facing the growing menace of state-driven expropriation of land for crony capitalists. This trend, which we may designate as the corporatisation of private property, parallels the other disturbing tendency towards the privatisation of public resources; both may jointly be said to comprise the Indian face of globalisation.
Mahendra Singh Tikait emerged in the public arena in October (…)

The National Women’s Commission objects to calling them ‘honour killings’ and would prefer to call them “dishonour Killings”. The Commission has yet to do anything beyond expressing this preference even when these killings are common-place today. Young couples who dare to marry within their Gotra are murdered in broad daylight under instructions from the rich and powerful who call themselves Khap Panchayats. This has been happening in the villages of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and west UP. (…)

This is a ruling that couldn’t have come a day sooner. The Supreme Court’s directions to rein in Khap Panchayats for their bizarre edicts is a welcome step towards dismantling the clutch of these medieval community courts. This landmark judgment not only delegitimises caste councils which have become a law unto themselves but also conveys that nobody is above the law. The verdict is a bodyblow to Khap Panchayats that administer Taliban-style justice to promote caste-based politics in (…)

(On the occasion of Jawaharlal Nehru’s fortyseventh death anniversary on May 27, 2011, we remember the first PM of independent India by publishing the following excerpts from his writings. We are also carrying the piece that N.C. wrote within two days of Nehru’s demise in 1964 and two articles by distinguished personalities published in Mainstream in May-June 1965. —Editor)
A Revaluation of the Congress Party
We have to function in future as a compact political party with a well-defined (…)

The following piece, which appeared in the ‘New Delhi Skyline’ of Mainstream, was written two days after Jawaharlal Nehru’s demise on May 27, 1964. As the golden flame licked up the funeral pyre, an unforgettable scene ended near the banks of the Jumna and under the shadow of the Red Fort.
It was an emotional experience without precedence, to watch this mightiest demonstration of love and respect that this great country has paid to any man. For Jawaharlal Nehru was, for the vast mass that (…)