2014

by Pallavi Borgohain
The essay discusses the reasons behind why women would vote for Modi as an alternative in this election and then also seeks to give reasons as to why it is not advisable for them to lend their solidarity to Modi.
The need for this piece was realised quite some time back, since the beginning of the crusade led by the forces of Modi, for cleansing the system and leading the nation and not letting it bend before any potent or impotent forces.
My usage of the name of (…)

I have lately realised that we should be no political party’s vote-bank. This is as bad as ballot-rigging. In order to come to power all
existing parties take recourse to ballot-rigging. Ballot-rigging assumes different forms. To begin with, hordes of goondas, astride motorbikes, frighten genuine voters. Goondas jam up booths so that the queues of men and women can’t move. They spend millions of rupees to bribe voters.
The CPI-M, for example, had tried out bribes, in the last (…)

by Abhijit Ghosh
I intend to argue here that whichever political party or alliance comes to power in the sixteenth
Lok Sabha elections, there is no possibility of a paradigm shift in Indian politics. But the sixteenth Lok Sabha could be, as the present strength of small and regional political parties taken together indicates, the high time to shake the basic foundations of the political structure of India. As far as the understanding of the ongoing political process is concerned or the (…)

by Pratip Chattopadhyay
In Indian politics one of the most happening States at present is West Bengal for its own logic of politics, change and populism. While practical politics of different genres manifested in the evolution of Bengal politics from the extreme Right to extreme Left variations, the contem-porary political milieu is that of the rising aspi-rations of the people led by a positive and entre-preneurial government and a leader (Mamata Banerjee) with sufficient mass appeal (…)

The Left forces and activists need to engage constantly with what kind of alternatives they want to create in place of the existing system of capitalism based on exploitation, injustice and alienation and also with what kind of mobilisation they need for this. It is only by devoting their hearts and minds to exploring, studying, analysing, discussing these crucial issues that the Left forces can provide path-breaking guidance to society in difficult times. It is only with such continuing (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The time has come when we have to seriously ask ourselves if we are really serious about preserving in one piece this Republic of India. Many in our country think that to talk about disintegration of the Indian Union is just a fantasy with an over-dose of panic. They can’t take it that we may have taken the road to Bosnia.
Three months ago, this impression was widespread. It can’t happen here—was the average Indian reaction when the mighty USSR fell apart without a (…)

BOOK REVIEW
by Bajinder Singh Mann
The Particle and Philosophy in Crisis: Towards Mode of Information by Anil Rajimwale; Aakar Publishers, New Delhi; 2013; pp. 456; price: Rs 395 (paperback).
It is perhaps for the first time after Lenin that the whole of Marxist philosophy, and philo-sophy in general, has been reworked and taken to higher levels in a holistic manner, particularly using the dialectical method through and through. Here is a work which not only makes original (…)

TRIBUTE
by Vivek Kumar Srivastava
Gabriel Garcia is dead. With him died a writer who remained nostalgic throughout his life for his parent county, Columbia, where he was born on March 6, 1928 at Aracataca; with him also died parts of a glorious friendship between two Greats. His departure saddens one but he will never evaporate due to the emotional experiences and many memories his readers have accumulated while travelling through his great writings.
One Hundred Years of Solitude (…)

I was happy when Kashmir was not the election issue till two-thirds of the country had gone to the polls. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did say in its election manifesto that it would delete Article 370 which gave a special status to the State. But this was nothing new. The BJP had been articulating the demand for many years. It got very little attention.
Bihar BJP leader Giriraj Singh’s outburst that those who did not vote for Narendra Modi should go to Pakistan spoilt the atmosphere (…)

by Imtiaz Ahmad Ansari
“I do not agree with a word that you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” — Voltaire
While writing this article I am little bit apprehensive. This apprehension arises out of the way the notion of freedom of speech has been understood and implemented in India. Freedom of speech and expression is one of the fundamental principles on which any free society is based. Most of the democratic nations consider freedom of speech a fundamental right. (…)