2018

Metaphors are cruel things, never easy to deploy. It will have to be said that the genius of deploying metaphors after all distinguishes a Shakespeare from an Amit Shah.
When Macbeth intones the sad, self-reflexive words, “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent/Only vaulting ambition that o’erleaps itself and falls on the other”, he knows exactly what he means: as he vaults on to the horse of intent, his overreaching ambition overshoots the back of the horse and he falls in failure (…)

by Jayanta Kumar Dab
It was in the late 19th century that the cow emerged as an important rallying point for mass political mobilisation in India. Hindu nationalists sought to unite Hindus against the British colonial rule and subsequently, against Muslims amidst the growing Hindu-Muslim communalism in the early 20th century. The cow has since become a potent symbol of Hindutva, a Hindu supremacist ideology espoused by the Sangh Parivar. And now the cow has become a symbol of annihilation (…)

EDITORIAL
Dalit anger at the perceived dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act) as a consequence of a March 20 order of the Supreme Court erupted in large-scale violence in different parts of the country, especially North India (with Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, to go to polls this year, witnessing the worst violence), on April 2 resulting in the death of nine persons—six in Madhya Pradesh, two in UP and one in Rajasthan—while many were injured (…)

by Gouri Sankar Nag and Debabrata Das
This article was received sometime back but could not be used earlier due to unavoidable reasons.
This paper is an attempt to highlight certain issues constituting a facet of the current scenario between India and Pakistan from which to infer the trajectory of their evolving relations. However, to make things clear, in focussing upon issues we have consciously avoided oft-cited cases and perhaps the most intractable issues like Kashmir and the (…)

This article was sent quite sometime ago but could not be used earlier due to unavoidable reasons.
Nothing seems to work between India and Pakistan. The meeting of Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian prisoner in Pakistan jail, with his wife and mother could have been an opportunity to foster a better understanding between the two countries. But the bureaucracy on both sides is so contaminated to the last tier of administration that it spoils any effort towards better relation-ship.
After 21 (…)

IMPRESSIONS
These are unusual days no doubt. But how unusual can unusualness get? Can the murder of Mahatma Gandhi be enacted again to show that he was not killed by the man who killed him? Can a propaganda war, however elaborate, really convince anyone that mass killings of migrant workers are taking place in Kerala? Controversies of this kind are politically loaded. Hence the heat—and the danger.
The Gandhi assassination twist is typical of the politics that motivate it all, one (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Whoever rules Uttar Pradesh gets the passport to Delhi. This has long been the rule during the days of the Congress hegemony. Actually, Uttar Pradesh can claim to have reared as many as seven Prime Ministers: Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Charan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar. The only exceptions so far have been Morarji Desai and now Narasimha Rao.
What is more significant is that the political set-up in Uttar Pradesh, (…)

We may be the largest Democracy, But what nuisance elections are; Especially when saffron begins to fade, And other shades reappear.
It is best to have elections out of the way Simultaneously, While strong man is still in charge, And opinion gingerly.
The Basic thing in democracy Is not to answer to the electorate;, But to make the people fall in line Behind the leader and the state.
Among the Basic Institutions Of Constitutiional Democracy Not Parliament, Judiciary, or the Media But (…)

by S.R. Darapuri
It has again come up prominently in the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) “Crime in India—2016” Report that the BJP-ruled States outdo other States in atrocities against Dalits (Scheduled Castes). The same scenario was during 2015 also. At present the BJP-ruled States are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Goa and Jharkhand where cases of Dalit atrocities are more than in the non-BJP-ruled States. This situation exposes Modi’s show (…)

by Sandeep Pandey and Rahul Pandey
The 2018-19 Budget of the Narendra Modi Government has been touted as catering to the interests of the farmers, rural workers, women, Dalits and small businesses but nothing can be farther from the truth. A strikingly paradoxical feature of this Budget is the announcement of new schemes for farmers and poor accompanied by a reduction in the funds actually allocated in the Budget. For example, allocation for the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (rural (…)