2016

The following article, by the first editor of Mainstream, appeared six years after Jawaharlal Nehru’s death in this journal’s May 23, 1970 issue. Born on September 29, 1921 in Ooty, C.N.C., as he was known to his friends and admirers, passed away at Delhi on August 2, 1990. A veteran journalist, he worked in the Indian Express (Madras) in the 1940s; he joined The Hindustan Times in Delhi in 1960, and edited Mainstream when it was launched from the Capital in September 1962. In 1963 he joined (…)

The fiftysecond death anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India, will be observed this month at a time when the present dispensation is bent on rubbing out his name from the annals of history. Also, one of the principles Nehru stood and fought for, a principle which he thought was essential for the very survival of the plural polity that is India, namely, secularism, is being openly denigrated and denounced by those who have assumed office by swearing in the name of the (…)

by V.M. Mohanraj
The early 20th century saw India, China and Russia as mediaeval or semi-feudal societies under oppressive rulers. The imperialists in India and China could only have been more oppressive but not much more than the monarchy in Russia. However, the people of these three countries had not been taking it lying down; they fought for their freedom but India and China liberated themselves from colonial rule only three decades after Russia overthrew the monarchy. When the British (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
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. It was published on May 30, 1964. It is being reproduced on the occasion of Nehru’s fiftysecond death anniversary.
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 (…)

MUSINGS
Frenzied are Sanghis about changing names of roads. In fact, this frenzied lot are now targetting Akbar Road; chanting it ought to be renamed after Maharana Pratap Singh. Why? ‘Too many Delhi roads named after Mughal emperors... Muslim rulers!’ quip today’s RSS rulers.
Hopefully this name-changing hysteria remains confined to roads. And not get diverted to hapless humans. It shouldn’t come as some sort of a shock if you happen to hear today’s rulers hiss, ‘Too many with Muslim (…)

I was on my way to Peshawar from Rawalpindi to meet Wali Khan, son of Frontier Gandhi, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan. At Abottabad, where I stopped for a cup of tea, the radio was broadcasting a BBC report that Sikh security guards had shot Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dead.
There was no question of my proceeding further. I rushed back to Lahore but by then the flight to Delhi had left. Ironically, a London-based Sikh organisation at Lahore had arranged that day a meeting to raise the demand for (…)

by Suneet Chopra
Objective realities, often based on hard truths and their subjective papering over, are a part of our present state of hyperbole in the media. And the elections in five States of the country are no exception, but the myths they are burdened with have to be cleared.
The first myth that must to be exploded is the projection of a BJP wave sweeping the country. If we look at the overall figures, the BJP contested 696 Assembly seats, won only 64 and had a success rate of 9.1 (…)

The Bharatiya Janata Party has always excelled in its mastery of the art of hyperbole. Remember ‘Shining India’? The hype that the party leadership is giving to the BJP’s perfor-mance in the recent State elections—in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and in the Union Territory of Puducherry—does not come as a surprise.
The BJP narrative is four-fold: one, the BJP has eclipsed the Congress as the star performer in these State elections; two, India is getting rid of the Congress; (…)

COMMUNICATION
In all five States taken together the Congress got more seats than the BJP but this was ignored by the media.
Although the media in India was recently saturated with the results of the Assembly elections, it was by and large ignored that if we combine the results of all the five States then the Congress has won 115 seats while the BJP has won only 64 seats. Thus the number of seats won by the Congress is much higher than the BJP. This can be more clearly seen in the table (…)

EDITORIAL
As we go to press today, the results of the Assembly elections in four States (Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) and the Union Territory of Puducherry have just come. These given an idea of the public mood in various parts of the country at this point in time. Significantly, all these States and Puducherry have given decisive verdicts.
In Assam (having a total of 126 seats), after being in power for three terms at a stretch CM Tarun Gogoi of the Congress has been (…)