2017

BOOK REVIEW
by Dipak Malik
Farewell To Kabul: From Afghanistan to a more dangerous world by Christina Lamb; William Collins, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers, London; 2015; pages 640; price: $ 22.47.
The story of Afghanistan does not blur out after the 9/11 ‘moment’ of cataclysm, it has increasingly incremented into a beleaguered frontline state and society against global and indigenously breeding terrorism faced with almost mystical intransigence on the part of the US (…)

COMMUNICATION
The recent brutal murder of the brave journalist, Gauri Lankesh, in front of her home in Bengaluru reminds us of Hannah Arendt’s insightful observation, made long time ago: “...under conditions of terror most people will comply but some people will not...”.
Janaki Nair has reminded us that the weekly tabloid launched by Lankesh, Gauri Lankesh Patrike, challenged the establishment in every sense of the term and at every level.
While speculation is rife about the possible (…)

We have received the following message from a frequent contributor to Mainstream, VidyaBhushan Rawat:
“Just read on Ujjaini Halim’s wall the sad demise of her father, Biplab Halim, in the morning today (September 28, 2017) in Kolkata. It is a great loss to the social movements, particularly related to farmers and other marginalised sections in West Bengal as well as in South Asia, as Biplab Da was engaged in a number of them. He was a forceful voice against the neo-liberal agenda that was (…)

EDITORIAL
The worsening political and economic situation within the country is having its inevitable impact on the ruling dispensation at the Centre.
The BJP’s official position of forcing the Rohingyas in India to go back to Myanmar has been opposed by many including those in the Opposition. Significantly, among them falls BJP MP Varun Gandhi who has called upon the government to grant them refugee status “while vetting each applicant for national security concerns”. This view has been (…)

On September 11, 1893 Swami Vivekananda delivered his famous speech in the Parliament of World’s Religions in Chicago. The Bharatiya Janata Party Government decided to celebrate the event and Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the youth of the country. Incidentally, he shares his first name with Vivekananda’s original name, Narendra Nath Datta.
Vivekananda has inspired the youth of this country for long. His preachings are thought- provoking. For example, he says, ‘As certain religions (…)

On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s one hundred and fortyeighth birth anniversary on October 2, 2017, we are reproducing the following excerpts from his writings and pronouncements. This is followed by a couple of articles on Gandhi and N.C.’s lecture on “Mahatma Gandhi—The Great Communicator”. The economic conflict which you envisage, is likely to make the Hindu-Muslim tension less acute. Even the end of the Hindu-Muslim conflict will not end all our troubles. What is happening is this. (…)

by Kshitish Chandra Das Gupta
The Fifteenth of August, 1947, was drawing near. India was going to shake off two centuries of British domination and join the comity of nations as a sovereign independent country. None could have been happier at this prospect than Mahatma Gandhi, looking at the fulfilment of the struggle he had led for nearly three decades—a struggle unique in world history.
But happy he was not. The 16th of August, 1946, had marked the beginning of the Muslim League’s (…)

by Sadiq Ali
On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s one hundred and fortyeighth birth anniversary on October 2, we are reproducing the following text of Sadiq Ali’s Nineteenth Annual Gandhi Peace Foundation Lecture delivered on January 30, 1993 in New Delhi. It was first published in Mainstream (October 2, 1993). Sadiq Ali was the Governor of Maharashtra (1977-80) and later Tamil Nadu (1980-82). A veteran freedom fighter, he was successively Permanent Secretary and General Secretary of the (…)

. . . Came flood, came death, came the storm of war
Great Famine left its signature on every road,
Every moment I was afraid the whole history was under threat
Yet I kept my spirit up, although besieged by death, and heaved no sigh of despair
There are signs left in the burning ghats in towns and villages
And face to face with many a death I have sung firmly of victory.
That is why today standing here, close to our dear dreams,
It seems we are all living only in you—
We have (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following is the text of the Gandhi Peace Foundation Lecture 1995 delivered by Nikhil Chakravartty in New Delhi on January 30, 1995. It first appeared in Mainstream (October 3, 1998) after N.C.’s demise.
I am deeply touched by having been asked to deliver this year’s Gandhi Peace Foundation Lecture. Nobody is more conscious than I am about my inadequacy in speaking on this sacred occasion, the day of the martyrdom of the greatest son of my country. Perhaps my (…)