2019

by Chandrasekhar Bhattacharjee
It was August 23, 2017. The All India Students’ Federation and All India Youth Federation were organising a long march, much before the Farmers’ March in Maharashtra, from Kanya-kumari to Amritsar via Kolkata and Delhi. Kanhaiya, a leader of the march, was only the JNUSU President. The day before the marchers reached Serampur, a sub-divisional town of Hooghly district on the road to Howrah, a young girl, Prajita Dutta (12), asked her parents, “Tomorrow (…)

by Pratip Chattopadhyay
Elections to form the 17th Lok Sabha of the Indian Parliament have been under way with the declaration of the seven phases of election across the country by the Election Commission of India spanning from April 11 to May 19 with the election results to be declared on May 23, 2019. Devoid of any national issue that could attract the society like unemployment, poverty eradication, basic health service and literacy, this election uniquely focuses on two political (…)

Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818 and passed away in 1883. His 200th birth anniversary is now coming to a close. On this occasion we are carrying the following two articles for the benefit of our readers.
by Rup Narayan Das
At a time when the 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx is coming to the conclusion, it is worthwhile to recall the writings of Karl Marx on India, particularly on the ‘First Indian War of Independence’, although historians in India for all justifiable reasons will (…)

Bicentenary of Karl Marx
Celebrations of anniversaries usually become a routine exercise. But if we really analyse the achievements of Karl Heinrich Marx, and apply his method to the contemporary transition, the celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth may no more be an act of formality.
Karl Marx was perhaps the greatest of thinkers in human history. The world and India have produced outstanding thinkers, philoso-phers and scholars, but none can compare with Marx for the (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Friendships of ‘Largeness and Freedom’: Andrews, Tagore, and Gandhi: An Epistolary Account, 1912-1940 by Uma Das Gupta (ed); Oxford University Press, New Delhi; 2018; pp. xc+502; Price: Rs 1495.
I know that I am reviewing this book at a time when things around us are toxic and violent. This is also the time when the tyranny of rhetoric has replaced the possibility of a nuanced dialogue, and politics is becoming increasingly separated from deep moral and ethical questions. (…)

by Ranbir Singh
Deen Bandhu Sir Chaudhry Chhotu Ram was hailed as a Rehbareazam (the Great Leader) by the peasantry of colonial Punjab. He has been legitimately recognised by the specialists of Punjab politics and history as the tallest political leader of 20th century Punjab. He not only provided relief to the deeply indebted peasantry of the province by enacting the much-needed legislation for bringing them out of the clutches of the moneylenders, Sir Chhotu Ram had also conceived the (…)

Rabindranath Tagore’s 158th birth anniversary falls on Thursday (May 9, 2019). Where You Walk in Company...
where you walk in company
with the world of men,
I am united with you.
Not in the forest retreat,
nor in isolation,
not even in the solitude of
my inmost thoughts,
but where the people have you
for their own,
I, too, have you for my own,
my beloved.
Where you greet every one
with outstretched arms,
my heart awakens in love for you.
Love is (…)

by D.K. Giri
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king who was punished for his craftiness and was forced to roll a huge stone up a hill. The Indian National Congress seems to be in a similar position in this election, especially in Uttar Pradesh. Understandably, voters in this election would like a non-NDA government-led or supported by the largest Opposition party, the Congress. But, ironically, the Congress party is not rising to the people’s expectation. My study-visit to the Farrukhabad (…)

EDITORIAL
The fourth phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is over. It took place yesterday. The maximum city of Mumbai, known for its electoral apathy, turned a new leaf by recording a 55.1 per cent turnout, the highest since 1989. The polling in West Bengal (77 per cent) was significant as the high percentage was recorded despite some clashes in the State.
Meanwhile PM Narendra Modi stirred a hornet’s nest: speaking at an election rally in Hooghly’s Serampore, West Bengal, he claimed (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Ayodhya has become the epicentre of a cyclone that threatens to spell disaster for the political fabric of this country. For the fourth year now, it has virtually taken over the centre-stage of national politics.
What has been achieved so far is that actual confrontation is averted almost at the very last moment by a desperate move to buy time, so that a little more space may be available to tackle the dispute over the question of the proposed Ram Mandir, requiring (…)