Mainstream Weekly

The Synthesis: Acceptance of the Political Hindu

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2017-05-14T18:21:33Z

Quite a few weeks have passed since the verdict of March 2017 that gave a real boost to the saffronites while leaving the secular liberals hurt and clueless. Now, it's time to define, honestly, what has happened, and more importantly, why it happened. While the larger perspective of any such analysis remains constant—how to advance towards an India that is internally at peace with the right to freedom of expression and dignified life of all citizens ensured—an objective comprehension of the (…)

- 2017

Election 2014: RSS Swallows the Great Indian Media!

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2014-05-19T19:13:35Z

This article was written sometime ago and should have appeared before the end of the election process (on May 12, 2014) but it could not be published in the previous week due to space constraints. It is now being published as its contents have not yet lost their relevance.
At the fag end of the last millennium, CPI-M General Secretary H.K.S. Surjeet was working in tandem with Subramanian Swamy to bring down the first NDA Government. In those days, the main warhead of their coup, Madam (…)

- 2014

AAP in Perspective: Birth of the ‘New Alternative'

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2014-01-28T17:02:28Z

As we stepped into 2014, India seemed prepared for a real socio-political leap forward. More significantly, this leap forward is characterised by one single word: Optimism. And this time this optimism is essentially anti-elitist, directed against the corrupt, opportunist, self-serving class that was dominating the scene since the 1990s. This optimism is still limited to the ‘common man', that is, about 30 to 40 per cent of our people; but if the guardians of this ‘optimism' do not falter (…)

- 2014

Beyond Coalgate: End of Political Authority

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2012-10-02T19:30:47Z

A news item in The Times of India on August 23 had the heading: ‘Court says commercial activity seems to top Centre's priorities'. The item was on tourism in tiger reserves.
It was published six days after the same paper had carried another headline for its lead news item, a fascinating one for a banal piece of news. It read: ‘CAG estimates: Our likely loss Rs 38,00,00,00,00,000'. Somewhere coal blocks, somewhere land, somewhere something else had been gifted to industries for a song. This (…)

- 2012

Subterfuge and Lies Spelling Doom for the Congress

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2012-04-13T13:08:10Z

The Age of Brazening Out
It was a sunny morning in Delhi, just a couple of hours through an interesting day of counting of votes polled in five States, including UP. As the first trends of the election started pouring in, a Congress leader with a not-so-trustworthy track-record appeared on a national channel to break the secret: the High Command would soon take a final call on whom to ally with, SP or BSP.
That the Congress was secretly toying with such ideas was not unknown to the (…)

- 2012

Manmohanomics Today: Towards Perpetuation of Poverty

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2011-12-27T17:40:27Z

After experiencing twenty years of the ‘Reform' process Manmohan Singh started in 1991, it seems the ‘messiah' wants to be remembered in future only by the elite of the country as their greatest champion. Perhaps he does not care for the rest, and will be least perturbed if they remember him as someone who harmed their existence in many ways. But, the social cost the country will have to pay in future for the insensitive part of the reform process may turn out to be huge. Singh's recent bold (…)

- 2011

Kishenji's Killing: Some Important Questions

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2011-12-12T17:44:59Z

Truth is seldom etched in black and white. Most often it is all grey.
The attitude towards Kishenji, and all the works he carried out throughout his life, stands testimony to this. While to many he was a villain, to some others he was a hero, a character whom they saluted for the last time with the words ‘amar rahe'.
His body was cremated on a Sunday, after it was handed to his family by the West Bengal Government. This is what Hindustan Times wrote about the cremation day:
“The (…)

- 2011

Would Rahul Effect Kill Manmohanomics?

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2011-11-21T09:41:15Z

There are people, may be millions, who believe feeding the hungry is less important for our governments than spending money for ‘develop-ment'. This attitude may be described as a reflection of insensitive minds, but many of our politicians brazen it out when push comes to shove.
Sharad Pawar did it when, on the question of providing highly subsidised food to the needy, he said: “The BPL debate is underway and the final decision will be taken by the Planning Commission. According to me, (…)

- 2011

Disturbing Trends in Anna Camp Growing

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2011-10-19T18:39:46Z

When a hitherto-little-known person or group of persons suddenly comes to dominate the centre-stage in any field, that person or group enjoys a big advantage. People do not know him/it and so they remain unaware of his/its negative side. And if the person or group can exploit an already-rotten and hopeless reality, he or it may scale unexpected heights. All of us know the best example of this is Hitler.
Hitler, anyhow, was an exception. The only person who could come close to him in being (…)

- 2011

‘Common Man' versus ‘Invisible Man' through the Prism of Anna Movement

Diptendra Raychaudhuri — 2011-09-06T16:01:20Z

Karl Marx talked about class divisions and two warring classes. I assume that was valid in his time. But it had lost its relevance since long. The society has got divided in tens of classes in a country like India. And if the society has so many classes, one cannot organise it according to Marxian thoughts characterised by class interest.
But, of late, these tens of classes have organised themselves in two broad categories in our country: one category is referred to as the ‘common man'; (…)

- 2011