2019

EDITORIAL
With this Annual Number Mainstream enters the fiftyeighth year of its modest existence having completed fiftyseven eventful years. At this juncture alongside the country as a whole it too is experiencing a massive attack on the values that had inspired us since the days of our freedom struggle and which continue to do so as they are highlighted in the most precious document we gave ourselves in less than three years following our emancipation from alien rule, that is, the (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The time has come when we can no longer afford to indulge in mutual recrimination. The time has come for us to hang our heads in shame.
What has happened at Moradabad is a blot on our patriotism. No amount of quibbling, finding fault with each other, can save us from the ignominy of having to face a situation in which citizens of this country were shot dead by the police for the crime of belonging to a minority community. It is an indication of the magnitude of (…)

by Shamsul Islam
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (CAD) that promises to open the door for Indian nationality to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis who got into India (on or before December 31, 2014) from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, facing religious persecution, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 9, 2019. This Bill, transgressing the fundamental soul of the democratic-secular polity of the country, was passed in less (…)

“I don’t want to die”—
your agonising last words.
You fought for justice,
then fought for life,
but no victory was in sight.
A hapless daughter,
you lost your battle.
No deterrence,
no fear of retribution—
the unbridled lechers
without any remorse are on the prowl
for the next catch:
another daughter to be violated;
her innocent life to be snuffed out.
How long will it go on!
Where are those brothers
who, beyond raising slogans,
joining candle light march, (…)

This article was written before the passage of the CAB in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Just to recall, the Assam Accord of 1985 stipulated that all those individuals, irrespective of religious denomination, who entered Assam prior to March 24, 1971 would be recognised as citizens of India.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise was floated by the government of the day to effectively reverse what they saw as the deleterious consequence of that Accord.
It was hoped and (…)

by Aurobindo Ghose
Martin Neimoller’s confessional poem of how he, a Protestant pastor, did not care or ignored the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany , and how they arrested or persecuted the Communists, the Socialists, the trade unionists, the Jews and so on, one group after another till “Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me..”
The Indian situation looks different, there is some protest, but it is not very different. There is some, fragmented protest (…)

by Arup Sen
The Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh (UP) has earned notoriety for two spectacular cases of rape and violence against women in recent times. It should be mentioned in this connection that rape has become an organic part of everyday life in Unnao. According to the Superintendent of Police, Unnao, “51 cases of rape have been registered from January 1 till November 30 in the police stations falling under the Unnao district” in 2019. Nearly 200 rape cases have been registered in the (…)

by Harish Chandola
Fuel price rise in Iran, that has created a turmoil in the country since it was announced November 15, has led to the death of over 100 people and dislocation of its day-to-day life. It is unlikely to end soon.
On November 15 midnight it had announced a 50 per cent increase in the price of the first 60 litres of petrol that may be bought every month and a three-fold increase for more purchases. Various branches of the government closed ranks behind that decision of the (…)

by L.K. Sharma
A 25th century historian finds in the archives two books by foreign travellers who visited a place in Ayodhya. One describes a mosque there but the other has the photo of an exquisite temple exactly at the same spot. The confused historian discovers another book that solves the mystery. Its author quotes some locals who witnessed a Ram Temple appearing majestically in the place of a very old mosque.
Another foreign travel writer is told by an old semi-naked holy man that (…)

by Aijaz Ahmad Turrey
On August 5, 2019 the Indian Government unilaterally issued a constitutional order of revoking Kashmir’s special status, Article 370, and bifurcation of the State into two Union Territories namely, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Since then Kashmir is under constant lockdown and this is the worst one in the history of Kashmir. Kashmir today entered the 124th day of harsh crackdown, with India sending tens of thousands of troops in addition to the 800,000 troops already (…)