Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• ICHR — Programme of Action

  2 August 2014, by Badri Raina

  Know that henceforth ICHR shall be known as Indian Council of Historical Reconstruction (not Research). “Research” being a species of subversive activity which “secularists” have engaged in for some six decades to integrate this ancient civilisation with the depraved Christian West, it is time to dump research and undertake reconstruction.
  Please understand that reconstruction does not mean the repair or renovation of monuments and such like, although their renaming, as we shall show, is (…)

• ‘Patriots’ of Our Times!

  2 August 2014, by Subhash Gatade

  India is a land of surprises, say many.
  And how can Bihar, which they say has been witness to a glorious past, be an exception. Of course nobody could have imagined that ‘surprise of surprises’ or (should I call) ‘mother of all surprises’ would be reserved for the Bihar Police. In fact it was one lifetime experience for all of them there where they found how ‘Rs 50,000 can balloon into Rs 1.14 crore’.
  The central character in the yet unfolding drama is Giriraj Singh, an RSS activist (…)

• Journey Of A Dalit Party: Why is the BSP Not Able to Extend beyond UP?

  2 August 2014

  by Sri Ram Pandeya
  The BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) could not win any seat in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections. However, the BSP seems to have retained a lot of its vote-base in UP (Uttar Pradesh) as it polled around 20 per cent of the vote-share (even when the Modi wave had reduced any other factor in the voting pattern as redundant) but could not win any seat due to the communal polarisation in the first-past-the-post system.
  Even when one of the national parties could achieve a (…)

• Can a Leopard Change its Spots?

  2 August 2014

  by Mouli Dey
  Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may appear to be ‘accomodative’ in rhetoric, in reality and action it still remains communal. It had failed to shed off its orthodox Hindu fundamentalist ideas. Several instances during the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections 2014 bear testimony. The gesture of tolerance towards the Muslims lacks credibility. The manifesto of the BJP still echoes the desire of the party to walk on the line of mandir—masjid politics when it expresses (…)

• Condemn both Minority and Majority Appeasements

  2 August 2014, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Minority appeasement, a game that helps no minority. But it can cut up the country into communal bits. A. K. Antony is a politician who never ruffles a feather. His style is to speak through silences and to act through suspended animation. But suddenly he ruffled every feather in every party with a seemingly simple statement: That appeasing minorities for political gains has helped communal forces to grow. Shock waves spread across the political spectrum. The rush of protests, (…)

• Vote-fraud

  2 August 2014, by Sunanda Sanyal

  This article is essentially a commoner’s view —one who lacks specialist knowledge of Political Science, understands what works for him, and what doesn’t. The relationship between a politician and a commoner should be give and take. That must be the criterion of judgment, the commoner feels. Much as he admires the politicians who, sitting in TV channels, parry questions, he wants voting to be peaceful, for he cares about his safety. A commoner wants no booth jams, no motorbike brigade; no (…)

• India Still Develops Cold Feet when the Matter concerns Britain

  2 August 2014, by Basubrata Roy

  Munkurai was on his way to a northern district town of Tripura, bordering on Bangla-desh, to attend a press programme more than one-and-a-half decade back.
  While on his journey through the highway as part of a convoy, escorted by the para-military, he could hardly have anything, not even a glass of water. So, when the escort dropped the convoy at Monu station, crossing through all the hill ranges, the crowd got joyous to have something from the roadside food joints as they had overcome the (…)

• Stop Harassment of Kobad Ghandy, Give Political Prisoner Status to Anup Roy

  2 August 2014

  The following is a statement issued on behalf of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners by its President, S.A.R. Geelani; Secretary-General, Amit Bhattacharyya; Vice-Presidents, Sukhendu Bhattacharjee and Bojja Tharakam; and Secretary, Public Relations, Rona Wilson.
  As an under-trial political prisoner, Kobad Ghandy, was initially lodged in the High Risk Ward (a jail within a jail) of Jail no 3 of the Central Jail, Tihar in New Delhi. For Kobad Ghandy, who is a heart patient, (…)

• Like Apartheid South Africa, Israel Must Be Boycotted

  2 August 2014

  The following is an interview of A.K. Ramakrishnan, a Professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been one of those Indian scholars of international relations who continue to critique the USA and Israel’s hegemony, internalised by many as a fait accompli. An expert of West Asia, Islam and critical theory, Ramakrishnan strongly condemns Israel’s ongoing brutal attack on Gaza and thus calls for a complete boycott of Israel the way the (…)

• Ensure Justice for 148 Jailed Maruti Workers

  2 August 2014

  COMMUNICATION
  About 148 workers of Maruti Suzuki India have been languishing in jail following the unfortunate incidents at Manesar plant in Haryana in July 2012. Since then several media reports and eminent activists have expressed their surprise and indignation at the imprisonment of such a large number of workers and the one-sided actions of the authorities ignoring the workers’ viewpoint of the happenings in July 2012. Trade unions and family members have repeatedly emphasised that the (…)