Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Socrates

  11 August 2019, by Badri Raina

  Dear mentor, these days I think
  No end of your time in Athens.
  We have the same little men today
  Whose little brief authority spins
  Self-evident truths into “treacherous” acts,
  Letting loose the minions of state
  On those whose angst on behalf of justice
  Is met with the terrified shrapnel of hate.
  I see you smile at the futile task
  Of quelling the laser of the mind,
  Since across centuries and the Aegean Sea
  You notice how inevitably questions their answers find.
  When (…)

• Jaipal Reddy — A True Liberal

  11 August 2019, by Neerja Chowdhury

  TRIBUTE
  “There is only one portfolio I am certain I have the right person for,” I.K. Gujral had remarked to a friend, hours before he took over as the Prime Minister in mid-1997. “It is the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for Jaipal Reddy.” He made this remark minutes after word came—“ho raha hai”—that Congress leader Sitaram Kesri had firmed up the requisite support for him. This was just after the departure of H.D. Deve Gowda as the Prime Minister.
  Jaipal Reddy became India’s I (…)

• Whither Secularism: Democratic Society and Minority Rights

  11 August 2019

  by Ram Puniyani
  We are living in times where the social norms, the values of the Constitution have been violated times and over again. The increasing atrocities on Dalits, the lynchings of minorities in the name of cow-beef have changed the social equations in a drastic way during the last few years. This in a way is part of the ascendance of a politics of communalism which believes in a narrow, sectarian religious identity as its defining point. This may get further worsened with the big (…)

• Bedis in Kashmir

  11 August 2019, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  Though the situation in Kashmir seems deteriorating but till date there is no clear indication of this Right-wing government’s policy towards Kashmir. Yes, no signs of discussions and dialogues with the Kashmiris. Also, the point is: who all will be representing the Kashmiris if the dialoguing process does take off. Not to be overlooked is the vital fact—the political rulers in New Delhi do not seem to trust any of the Hurriyat men, nor the Kashmiri intellectuals and academics who (…)

• Trump plays foul with ‘friend’ Modi

  11 August 2019

  by Madan Mohan Khajooia
  During his recent visit to the USA Prime Minister Imran Khan was accompanied by the most powerful man in Pakistan, Chief of Pak Army General Staff Gen. Bajwa. This is of great significance and signals that whatever position Imran Khan took in his negotiations with President Trump had the approval of the Pakistan Army. On return from the USA Khan’s morale was soaring high. His optimism seemed to have no bound. Trump had obliged him by supporting a demand on which (…)

• Triple Talaaq and Shah Bano Case

  11 August 2019

  by Fasihur Rahman
  With the ongoing debat in Parliament and the media on the “Triple Talaaq”, the Shah Bano case has resurfaced. Recently, while giving an interview on the The Wire (July 27, 2019), a former Union Minister maintained that the Shah Bano case was related to Triple Talaaq. Although the Triple Talaaq issue did surface during the parliamentary debate on the Shah Bano case, it was not the issue. The core issue, in the Shah Bano case, was related to the provision of ‘maintenance’ (…)

• Polarisation plus Anti-incumbency: A Full-scale View of BJP’s Rise in Bengal

  11 August 2019

  by Ayan Guha
  With the rise of the BJP the politics of West Bengal is experiencing a paradigm shift. The BJP has made spectacular inroads into West Bengal by winning 18 seats and doubling its vote-share from 17 per cent in 2014 to over 40 per cent in the recently concluded general elections. The ruling Trinamul Congress (TMC) could manage to win only 22 seats. The TMC managed to retain its dominance in and around Kolkata and most parts of South Bengal. But in three regions of the (…)

• Interrogating the Captive Mind: Addiction of Thinking

  11 August 2019

  by Prakash B.Salavi
  Introduction
  The question of ‘crisis’ is fundamental in modern capitalist societies. While some would claim that the crisis is fundamentally economic in nature, and while others would claim that the crisis is political, there is also another angle to this question, and that is the human crisis itself. This is because the modern world has largely devalued philosophy. It was thinkers from Aristotle and Kant, Plato to Hegel, Marx and Gandhi who had talked of the (…)

• The Spirit of ‘Quit India’ Movement: Lohia’s Perception

  11 August 2019

  by Prem Singh
  August 9, 2019 is the 77th anniversary of the ‘Quit India’ Movement, famously known as the August Revolution and an important milestone in the history of India’s freedom movement. The 75th anniversary of this movement, a movement which was fuelled by the intense desire for freedom of the Indian people, was celebrated two years ago on August 9, 2017. On that occasion, political parties across the spectrum had organised a number of programmes in memory of the martyrs of the (…)

• Communists and ‘Quit India’ Struggle

  11 August 2019, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  We reproduce N.C.’s following article on the 77th anniversary of the ‘Quit India’ struggle that began on August 9, 1942.
  This was the week, fiftytwo years ago, that marked the parting of ways between the Communists and the Congress. It was the Communist opposition to the ‘Quit India’ resolution at the historic AICC session in August 1942 that ultimately led to the expulsion of the Communists from the Congress organisations in 1946. Incidentally, the eviction of the (…)