2019

The following is a press release issued on March 9, 2019 by Imtiaz Alam, Secretary-General, South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), about a peace conference held in Lahore.
Peace activists from across civil society at a peace conference in Lahore, convened by the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) and Progressive Writers Association, called for strategic restraint, obser-vance of ceasefire across the (…)

(This is another article that the well-known Marxist Maoist thinker, Kobad Ghandy, sent to us from the Hazaribagh Central Jail in Jharkhand where he is currently lodged. He completed this article on March 1, 2019 and thereafter sent it to us. We are publishing as soon as we received it for the benefit of our readers.)
It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system; for, if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow (…)

Honourable Chief Justice of India,
You know more than anyone else in the world that the Indian constitutional polity treats all citizens equally irrespective of their race, creed, religion, language, culture and gender. But the observation of the Bench (consisting Justices S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer) headed by you in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title case that the issue is primarily not about the disputed 2.77 acres of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid (…)

by Irfan Engineer
After the air strike by the Indian Air Force in Balakot, Pakistan on February 26, 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have recalibrated its main campaign issue to a strong leader and powerful India. Although even in the general elections held in May 2014, the 56” chest of the then aspirant-PM, Narendra Modi, vs the then PM, Manmohan Singh (soft-spoken, weak and remote-controlled) underpinned the main campaign around “sabka saath sabka vikas” (solidarity with (…)

Mr Trump is a businessman, He does not like to lose; Having lost the House he sees An enemy holding a noose.
Mr Trump is no democrat, He would rather be a king; Like Caesar he thinks democrats Ruin everything.
The First Amendment he thinks was meant Only for him and cronies; Dissenters who America made Are unconstitutional loonies.
Mr Trump is most at ease With no-nonsense dictators; He thinks the world is best managed By in-your-face haters.
Luckily, there are enough of them Now (…)

Citizens For Democracy and PUCL (Delhi) view with grave concern a recent statement made on March 14 by Sakshi Maharaj, a BJP MP, at Unnao that there is Modi tsunami and after this election of 2019, there would be no further election. This should not be viewed as a stray statement by a political leader but a belief which is widely shared by the top leadership of the Sangh Parivar. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Amit Shah, the President of the BJP, also declared last year that (…)

EDITORIAL
With the Election Commission having announced the schedule of the 2019 parliamentary polls for electing the 17th Lok Sabha, the country is now in the grip of a poll fever. The elections are due to be held across the country between April 11 and May 19 in seven phases and the results will come on May 23, the date on which the counting of votes is to take place. As expected, the ruling BJP is off to a head-start and it hopes to reap maximum electoral dividend by raising the pitch (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following appeared fiftyfour years ago as the editorial in the Annual Number of Mainstream 1965. This brings out in sharp relief the contrast between what prevailed then and the national situation one is confronted with today vis-a-vis Pakistan, Kashmir, the minorities and the Muslims in particular.
The valiant defence of the Motherland by our armed forces as well as by the brave people of Jammu and Kashmir has inspired the nation. The grim determination of the (…)

In dealing with the Pulwama attack of February 14, India has exhibited a degree of triumphalism that could spell disaster for the Kashmiri people and for the future of Indian democracy.
India saw the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s invitation to be a guest of honour at the 46th session of its Council of Foreign Ministers Conference in Abu Dhabi as a triumph over Pakistan. An even bigger triumph was that the meeting passed a declaration without mentioning Kashmir.
The triumph was (…)

IMPRESSIONS
It is good that 12 fighter jets bombarded a terrorist camp in Pakistan with the intention of delivering a blow that would be remembered. More significantly, India crossed the Line of Control for the first time to hit Balakot, the terrorists’ nerve-centre. The message was heard in other countries as well; many of them asked the Pakistan Government to help eliminate terrorism. The pressure exerted by them also persuaded Pakistan to release the IAF hero who had shot down their (…)