2026

Introduction
“My message is that you have to study history in depth and in detail and look at particularities” stated William Dalrymple in an interview with Vrinda Gopinath last year . The interview has been doing the rounds lately again. In this light, are you also among those who associate Sufism with just Raqs (dance) and Sama (music) and the peripatetic Darveshis (wandering Sufis) aloof from this world busy in finding solace in the remembrance (zikr) of God? If so, then you may need to (…)

June 2026
Abstract
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, is widely described as a regression, a reversal of the rights framework established in National Legal Services Authority v Union of India (2014). This article concurs, but contends the regression has a distinct character that existing commentary has not been fully articulated. Drawing on B.R. Ambedkar’s distinction between constitutional morality and social morality, it argues that the Amendment does (…)

When Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin warned that the expansion of Hindi was threatening smaller Indian languages, he listed several languages struggling for survival. Buried somewhere near the end of that long list was Khortha, my native language. It was one of those rare moments when I encountered Khortha in a national political debate. Despite being spoken by millions of people across Jharkhand, the language rarely features in discussions on language policy, linguistic rights, or (…)

1. Introduction: The Scientist-Theoretician in a Newtonian Trap
Dr. Gangadhar Adhikary was not merely a political organizer; he was a Berlin-trained PhD in Chemistry, a man who viewed the social world through the rigorous, albeit rigid, prism of the natural sciences. As a scientist-revolutionary, he approached the chaotic landscape of 1940s Indian politics with the mindset of a laboratory researcher. His 1942 thesis, Pakistan and National Unity, was an ambitious effort to distil the (…)

Thomas Piketty is a world famous economist known for his emphasis on justice. Srijana Mitra Das of The Times of India is a famous journalist known for her detailed interviews with famous academics and thinkers. So it is nice to see a full page carrying the interview with Thomas Piketty titled ‘India’s growth ambition is valid—99% can get richer without climate disaster’ (see The Times of India, Chandigarh edition, June 10).
This detailed interview has a lot of valuable information for (…)

First, one group of journalists writes that the president has signed a decree introducing a minute of silence. Now, every day at 9:00, the entire country must fall silent in memory of the victims of the war. These texts usually include an exhaustive list of who can be considered a victim. As you might expect, the men who died while trying to escape conscription are not included in that list.
Then a second wave of journalists joins in. They add details: pedestrians and vehicles must stop in (…)

* The Strange Myopia of West Bengal CPI(M) | Aditya Nigam
* Is the INDIA Block dying? | Faraz Ahmad
* Kerala’s Agrarian Crisis and the Search for an Ecological Future | Jos Chathukulam & A. M. Jose 16775
* The Intellectuals | Anton Pannekoek (1935)

It must have sounded bizarre to those who do not keep abreast of political developments in West Bengal that the BJP chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, thanked the CPI(M) for helping him defeat Mamata Banerjee by transferring votes to him. Adhikari made this statement to the press even as counting was still going and widespread complaints of opposition counting agents being thrown out of counting rooms were coming in.
For people living in the state however, this connection between Ram (the (…)

Is INDIA Bloc alive or has Rahul Gandhi dug its grave and put it to rest forever. So it seems, and worse the Congressmen specially those two power hungry Congress MLAs in Tamil Nadu Assembly who became ministers in this very suspect TVK government are gloating about it. Never mind that they have entered the Tamil Nadu assembly on the shoulders of its leader and outgoing chief minister M.K. Stalin.
The Tamil Nadu Congress had laid a precondition before offering the support letter to Vijay (…)

May 25, 2026
Now that the dust and din of Assembly election results are settled and new governments have become functional, it is time to reflect on tbe state of Indian Politics.
Firstly, let me start with the emergence, nay steady consoliation, of the BJP’s hold over Indian Politics. Unmistakably,the Party is trying to establish its one party dominance (OPD) system over the Indian political horizon, though I must hasten to add that it is truly not yet so, as four South Indian states are (…)