2018

Panchayat elections were held in West Bengal on May 14. The polls saw widespread violence and hooliganism which has took a toll of over two dozen lives. The victims belonged to all the political parties—Trinamul Congress, CPI-M, Congress, BJP and even Independent candidates. Two CPI-M workers were shot dead and a CPI-M worker and his wife were burnt alive after they were locked up in their house and it was then set on fire.
Given the prevailing situation, the violence was very much (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
In the light of the ongoing debate on Marx and Marxism that the bicentenary of Karl Marx’s birth (May 5, 1818) has generated, we are reproducing two articles by N.C. on Marx, Marxism and the Indian communist movement in the wake of contemporary developments for the benefit of our readers.
Marx and Marxism
A Personal Testament
The centenary of Karl Marx’s death on March 14 saw impressive tributes to his memory as not only the philosopher who interpreted the world (…)

Karl Marx was an eminent philosopher, renowned economist, historian, journalist, political ideologue, revolutionary socialist, great intellectual and multilingual expert. Karl Marx obtained a law degree and simultaneously studied Hegelian philosophy. The bicentenary of his birth is being celebrated in a spectacular way all over the world from May 5, 2018 onwards throughout the year.
Marx was a great scientific thinker, yet there are some pseudo-intellectuals who have distorted Marxism. (…)

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is not just a place of learning. It was in the forefront of a movement for the demand of Pakistan and still leans towards what is considered beneficial to the millat. A photo of Mohammad Ali Jinnah on the wall of Kenney Hall, the most prestigious place in the AMU campus, is no surprise. It was there even before the partition and it continues to be there all these years. But what amazes me is its disappearance on May 1 and reappearance on May 3!
True, it (…)

Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s 157th birth anniversary fell last week, on May 9, 2018. The following article is being published as a tribute to his memory now that India is under attack from the Hindutvavadis in power.
by Jayanta Kumar Ghosal
A few days ago a political leader who claims to be a Hindutva preacher and ardent follower of the Indian tradition declared that there was no need of following Rabindranath Tagore, as he did not know Indian tradition properly. But the question (…)

On January 14, 2011, the Supreme Court sought answers from the Union and Andhra Pradesh governments regarding the “encounter” killings of the Maoist leader, Azad, and a journalist, Hemchandra Pandey, in July 2010. The two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court said: “We cannot allow the republic killing its own children.” They added: “The governments will have to answer so many questions.”
But, Kashmir is a “State of Exception”. The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990, (…)

by Gouri Sankar Nag
Backdrop
Exactly after 242 days since the Doklam imbroglio petered away unexpectedly on and from August 28, 2017, Modi and Xi Jinping met at central China’s Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, for an informal one-on-one meeting. This is for the second time after Modi’s last visit to China in 2015. While Sino-Indian relations practically reached their nadir in mid-2017, sources were ecstatic about the positive derivatives of the Modi-Xi personal equations this time (…)

by Navneet Sharma and Showkat Ahmad Mir
Don’t see J&K as a conflict state and a political issue, it is a society which has social issues right now. — Haseeb Drabu
(the) deep sense of victimhood prevalent in the Kashmir Valley. It surely deserves to be addressed with great sensitivity. — Three Interlocutors
Political settlement will happen only when peace prevails. — Dineshwar Sharma
Kashmir is no more a place or the word. We have been ‘trained’ to read it as the Kashmir issue. (…)

BOOK REVIEW
by T. Navin
Cellars of the Inferno: Confessions of an RSS Pracharak by Sudheesh Minni; Publisher: Chintha Publications; pages: 122.
The RSS has been critiqued for long for its divisive and fascist ideology. Its role in spreading hatred, communal violence, killings—arson and loot, blasts has been pointed out by critics. However, the attempt of the RSS to project itself as a cultural and nationalist organisation working for the welfare of the majority community, nation and (…)

by Mahi Pal
Introduction
The author is neither a historian nor a scholar of Bahujan which encompasses all forces except the Brahaminical Social Order (BSO). However, as a keen student of social development he has relations with various people of the community and is also associated with different organi-sations of the community. While working in the erstwhile National Commission for SCs and STs for two years, I informed myself about the problems of the marginalised groups. Almost a (…)