2018

by Rajaram Panda
After his re-election for a second term in office, the Chinese President has struck a strongly nationalistic tone in his closing address to the annual session of the National People’s Congress, the ceremonial parliament, with a firm assertion that China would never allow “one inch” of territory to be separated from it. Xi thundered that China was ready to wage a “bloody war” to assume its due place in the world. Against the background of the decision of the National (…)

by Ram Puniyani
From the last couple of decades one is coming across pamphlets, leaflets and other material containing the propaganda that Christian missionaries are converting the people at rapid pace; the examples given have been mostly of those of the North-Eastern States. This propaganda has been extensively used at the pan-India level, particularly before elections in most of the States. It is this propaganda which formed the basis of hate against Christians and we witnessed the (…)

by Vijay Pratap
On March 18, when Rahul Gandhi spoke about the failure of India’s foreign policy, especially in the case of SAARC countries, he was not making a rhetorical allegation as an Opposition leader. All sensitive and patriotic Indian observers of the South Asian political affairs are unanimous that the stock of the Indian regime in foreign policy is the lowest ever today. Not just the Indian observers, even within the South Asian countries knowledgeable persons in high places hold (…)

Dr Rammanohar Lohia’s 108th birth anniversary falls on March 23 this year. Since his birthday coincided with the day of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, Lohiaji never wanted his followers to observe or celebrate his birthday. However, we remember him and offer tributes to the abiding memory of that stormy petrel of the Indian socialist movement on this occasion by reproducing the following article. Written by a veteram journalist (the first editor of Mainstream who later (…)

EDITORIAL
That the ruling NDA coalition at the Centre, led by the BJP under the supervision of Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo, is on the defensive is clearly manifest in not just the last bypoll results in UP and Bihar but also in the manner in which it has overreacted to the speeches—mainly of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and erstwhile head of the party Sonia Gandhi—at the latest 84th plenary session of the principal Opposition party in New Delhi. Without replying to the basic issues raised (…)

IMPRESSIONS
It’s miracle time in India. A tree with no roots and no leaves, nevertheless bears fruit in Tripura; the BJP, with a previous record of zero, wins 35 of 59 seats. The bigger miracle is that it does not matter who wins, it’s the BJP that will form the government. In Meghalaya it won only two seats against the Congress’s 21. In Nagaland it won only 11 seats against the NDF’s 29. But in both States the BJP took over, as it did in Goa a year ago with only 13 seats in a House of 40. (…)

On the occasion of the eightyseventh anniversary of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom on March 23 this year, we are reproducing the following article (published earlier in Mainstream) in homage to the legendary revolutionary’s abiding memory. He was executed along with Sukhdev and Rajguru in Lahore on March 23, 1931. He was and remains to this day a source of inspiration for our youth. This article carries excerpts from Ajoy Ghosh’s Bhagat Singh and His Comrades (published in Bombay, 1945); a close (…)

by Bharat Dogra and Jagmohan Singh
While Bhagat Singh’s many-sided accomplish-ments at a very young age evoke admiration and awe, the family influences which made this possible have not been adequately explored. Bhagat Singh’s remarkable consciousness and yearning for justice even at the age of 12 to 14 has been frequently cited. We must know whatever made this possible and whatever contributed to this.
Bhagat Singh was born on September 28, 1907 at Banga Village (now in Lyallpur (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following lines were written by N.C. after the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. These are being reproduced now when feverish attempts are underway by the Hindutvavadi forces to force the construction of the Ram temple at the spot where Ram was supposed to have been born at Ayodhya without permitting the Babri Masjid (which was demolished more than 25 years ago) to come up anywhere near it—either through judicial intervention or by (…)

by Sardar Amjad Ali
It is the best of times, it is the worst of times for Incredible India.
Best, for those who after a period of 64 years could get a magnificent mandate of the Indian electorate to rule over a country of 125 million mixed population, the majority being ‘true nationalists’ and educate a fringe minority about what ‘nationalism’ means, and worst, for those who like fools of the first order believed to live in harmony with those who believe that ‘Bharat’ means ‘Hindustan’, (…)