2015

Among the many things fabricated by the BJP rulers after their assumption to power in India, one striking fixture is the politics of ‘distancing’. On a close look it appears to perfectly suit their total action plan which enjoys the benefit of being worked out with great care and meticulous vision by those who are not in power, yet are powerful. The RSS does not leave anything to chance. It believes in working out the fine blueprint and getting down to it well in advance. Even the communal (…)

Jawaharlal Nehru’s 126th birth anniversary falls on November 14, 2015. On this occasion we are reproducing the following excerpts from Nehru’s speeches and writings that are of exceptional relevance today.
Before I am anxious about anything today, it is the communal spirit in India. Before I can deal with the communal spirit of Pakistan, I want to deal with the communal spirit in India, the communal spirit of the Hindus and Sikhs more than that of the Muslims. I want this House to realise (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Twelve years ago Jawaharlal Nehru died is harness on May 27. Inevitably, much has changed in these twelve years among his people and in the humanity at large. He was not the man who would have preferred the status quo to change; and if the landscape and the skyline of his country have changed—at places beyond recognition—Nehru, had he been alive, would have tried to understand them, accelerate the process of change.
What we who belong to the generations after him (…)

by L.K. Sharma
This is no usual anniversary for paying tributes to Nehru. He and his principles are under attack by those wanting to drag India into a direction not envisioned by the freedom fighters nor sanctified by the secular India’s Constitution.
A debate on Nehru’s failures as the Prime Minister has been there for long and his record is a legitimate subject of criticism or praise. But today some basic principles, that Nehru, other Congress leaders and most Opposition leaders stood (…)

Pandit Nehru, after his tour of the Western world and of the Soviet Union, realised that the socialist orientation of the nationalist vision was indispensable for making political independence in the future more than a symbolic affair and he was hopeful that even the Indian National Congress, which was conservative in its outlook, would look favourably towards the socialist ideal. He saw the commonality of interests among “the peoples of Asia and Africa struggling for freedom” and “the (…)

by Mohd Yousuf Dar
Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India, always tried his best for building a secular India. Nehru was in the core of his heart secular and rationalist. India emerged as a secular state in the mid-20th century mainly due to the efforts of Jawaharlal Nehru, because he played a heroic role in the development of a secular outlook during the freedom movement itself. That is because he was convinced that in a multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, plural and (…)

REVIEW ARTICLE
Nehru’s India: Essays on the Maker of a Nation (ed. Nayantara Sahgal);Speaking Tiger Publishing Pvt Ltd, New Delhi; 2015; pages: 192; Rs 399.
This is an engaging and timely collection of eleven recently-written essays on Jawaharlal Nehru. The introductory essay is by Nayantara Sahgal who has since also triggered the effective and widespread campaign by distinguished writers, artists and others to return state-related awards in protest against the manner in which the state, (…)

TRIBUTE
“How is Rasheed?” This was a question I was to answer very frequently for over three decades by friends in Delhi and outside. Such was the popularity and affectionate feeling for Rasheed Al-Talib among his immunerable friends in various fields of activity. And, as I had the privilege of being a close friend of his, despite an age difference of many years, I was asked about his welfare by common friends even if in a routine manner.
I came to know Rasheed Al-Talib in the early (…)

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
The BJP at bay on the intolerance issue is desperately trying to deny that it (and the Sangh Parivar) is fanning intolerance in every sphere of society. But ironically it finds that every time it tries to do so only confirms and reinforces the public perception that it is, indeed, creating an atmosphere of intolerance as a matter of its political policy and its larger political agenda. Take, for example, the latest sample: a district-level Karnataka BJP leader publicly (…)

How soon has Geeta, a deaf and dumb girl, disappeared from newspaper columns and television networks! This is not surprising. It only shows the depth of hostility between India and Pakistan. Islamabad did make a gesture by returning her. New Delhi should have recipro-cated more positively and tangibly. Instead, the response was tepid. The media in both the countries dropped the topic quickly as if it was something which should be shunned.
In any other country, such a step would have been (…)