Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The kind of India Nehru Wanted

  16 November 2015, by Girish Mishra

  Pandit Nehru, after his tour of the Western world and of the Soviet Union, realised that the socialist orientation of the nationalist vision was indispensable for making political independence in the future more than a symbolic affair and he was hopeful that even the Indian National Congress, which was conservative in its outlook, would look favourably towards the socialist ideal. He saw the commonality of interests among “the peoples of Asia and Africa struggling for freedom” and “the (…)

• Growing Relevance of Nehru’s Secularism

  16 November 2015

  by Mohd Yousuf Dar
  Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India, always tried his best for building a secular India. Nehru was in the core of his heart secular and rationalist. India emerged as a secular state in the mid-20th century mainly due to the efforts of Jawaharlal Nehru, because he played a heroic role in the development of a secular outlook during the freedom movement itself. That is because he was convinced that in a multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, plural and (…)

• The Importance and Centrality of Jawaharlal Nehru in Contemporary India

  16 November 2015, by Anil Nauriya

  REVIEW ARTICLE
  Nehru’s India: Essays on the Maker of a Nation (ed. Nayantara Sahgal);Speaking Tiger Publishing Pvt Ltd, New Delhi; 2015; pages: 192; Rs 399.
  This is an engaging and timely collection of eleven recently-written essays on Jawaharlal Nehru. The introductory essay is by Nayantara Sahgal who has since also triggered the effective and widespread campaign by distinguished writers, artists and others to return state-related awards in protest against the manner in which the state, (…)

• Remembering Rasheed Talib

  16 November 2015

  TRIBUTE
  “How is Rasheed?” This was a question I was to answer very frequently for over three decades by friends in Delhi and outside. Such was the popularity and affectionate feeling for Rasheed Al-Talib among his immunerable friends in various fields of activity. And, as I had the privilege of being a close friend of his, despite an age difference of many years, I was asked about his welfare by common friends even if in a routine manner.
  I came to know Rasheed Al-Talib in the early (…)

• BJP at Bay

  10 November 2015

  POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
  The BJP at bay on the intolerance issue is desperately trying to deny that it (and the Sangh Parivar) is fanning intolerance in every sphere of society. But ironically it finds that every time it tries to do so only confirms and reinforces the public perception that it is, indeed, creating an atmosphere of intolerance as a matter of its political policy and its larger political agenda. Take, for example, the latest sample: a district-level Karnataka BJP leader publicly (…)

• Tethered to Old Positions

  10 November 2015, by Kuldip Nayar

  How soon has Geeta, a deaf and dumb girl, disappeared from newspaper columns and television networks! This is not surprising. It only shows the depth of hostility between India and Pakistan. Islamabad did make a gesture by returning her. New Delhi should have recipro-cated more positively and tangibly. Instead, the response was tepid. The media in both the countries dropped the topic quickly as if it was something which should be shunned.
  In any other country, such a step would have been (…)

• The Intolerance Debate and the Game of Pretence. Why is a 5000-year Heritage under Threat?

  10 November 2015, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Suddenly last week our country reverberated with voices of wisdom. Arun Jaitley’s was the clearest when he spoke of “extremely disturbing trends” of intolerance and vandalism. That was precisely what victims of intolerance, social workers, newspaper editorialists, writers, artists and other segments of the powerless have been talking about for at least six months. During those months, Jaitley and fellow policy-makers had dismissed them with denials and accusations of ulterior (…)

• National Education Day: Forgotten Birthday of a Great Indian

  10 November 2015

  by Sukumaran C. V.
  The following article is on Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, one of the greatest secular democrats of the country, on the occasion of his birthday (observed as the National Education Day) on November 11.
  If religion expresses a universal truth, why should there be differences and conflicts among men professing different religions? Why should each religion claim to be the sole repository of truth and condemn all others as false? —Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
  As far as we, Indians, (…)

• Russia in Quest of an Assertive Role in Syria

  10 November 2015

  by Sheel Bhadra Kumar
  The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has opened a new chapter in the complicated region of West Asia. The strategic chessboard of West Asia has been set in for a strategic move. Russia, with its advanced warplanes, military hardware, troops and military advisers, has suddenly entered the already complex battlefields of Syria. While the West regard it as an unwelcome move, in the eyes of Syrian President Basher Al- Assad and its allies [Iran, Iraq and Lebanon], it is (…)

• Fascism and Indian Philosophy

  10 November 2015

  by MurzBan Jal
  The Indian Brahman proves the holiness of the Vedas by reserving to himself alone the right to read them. —Karl Marx, The Leading Article in No. 179 of the Kölinische Zeitung
  Does the Hindu social order, recognize social equality? The answer must be in the negative. —B.R. Ambedkar, The Hindu Social Order: Its Essential Principles
  The revolutionary project is engaged in a struggle against oppressive and dehumanising structures. To the extent that it seeks the affirmation (…)