Mainstream Weekly

Palestine on BRICS agenda | Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi — 2026-05-22T04:27:18Z

AT the heart of the war on Iran is the issue of Palestine. That the BRICS foreign ministers

- 2026

Resume SAARC, renew friendships | Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi — 2025-05-24T02:43:59Z

THE late poet and film lyricist Kaifi Azmi described a strange method of writing film songs, which has come to bear a close resemblance to the method in Prime Minister Narendra Modi

- 2025

India

Jawed Naqvi — 2025-03-15T07:11:45Z

COMMUNIST parties in India are quibbling over the characteristics of fascism, wondering if Antonio Gramsci

- 2025

Pythagoras and the holy dip | Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi — 2025-02-22T16:04:38Z

RELIGIOUS beliefs and science have coexisted for centuries. Science and superstition can also find a way to trudge along together. A brilliant scientist may not tread the path that has been crossed by a cat. Ergo, superstition and science can coexist provided they do not interfere with each other

- 2025

Broadcaster Ameen Sayani's whose voice united South Asia | Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi — 2024-02-24T02:50:15Z

Progressive Urdu poet Sardar Jafri often quoted from a Pakistani poet's poem to illustrate the power of music over politics.
It was music, he said, which had bound India and Pakistan through ups and downs since their inception.
“Two Indian and Pakistani men, surrounded by their supporters in a restaurant, were fiercely defending their countries,” Jafri Sahab recalled. “Suddenly, the voice of Lata Mangeshkar arrived on the radio and the quarrel stopped in obeisance. The packed restaurant (…)

- 2024

An invitation to embrace reason | Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi — 2024-01-05T02:28:39Z

AS Prime Minister Modi leads the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya this month — built on the rubble of the Babri masjid upon the supreme court's directives — another landmark mosque in the sights of the old parliament house is gasping for the luck of the turkey at the White House. A solitary bird is traditionally spared the knife on Thanksgiving Day, a symbol of the US president's generosity. The Sunehri Bagh mosque has enjoyed the status of a heritage monument of Delhi, but the (…)

- 2024

Can we fight Zionism, not Jews? | Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi — 2023-10-14T00:24:32Z

ANYONE who is familiar with the history of Spain under Muslim rule before the 1492 Catholic pushback — and there's an excellent body of work on the theme by Tariq Ali — could not miss the intermingling of Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures in a cornucopia of art, literature and philosophy at its zenith. One was sadly reminded of that slice of history in the face of the needless pain and trauma coming with the uptick in the bloodletting between the people that once represented a blessing (…)

- 2023

G20 with a hope and a prayer | Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi — 2023-09-15T23:29:04Z

THE inveterate Hindu in him spurred the British prime minister to take time off from the G20 summit to offer prayers at Delhi's riverside Akshardham temple. In so doing, he picked up a politically handy applause from the hosts even if the trade pact both eyed has apparently hit the doldrums.
Rishi Sunak could have more usefully nudged his Catholic friend from the US to attend the Sunday mass at Delhi's British-era Sacred Heart Cathedral Church. After all, according to a worrying new survey (…)

- 2023

A splendid dream interrupted | Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi — 2023-04-15T00:19:11Z

THE 1968 students' uprising in Europe changed the matrix of campus politics in much of the world, India being no exception. Lahore-born Suneet Chopra was a student at SOAS in London around the time and was inevitably influenced by the compelling logic of revolutionary change. In December 1970, the Students Federation of India (SFI) was created in Kerala from the clay of a divided communist movement. Two years later, Suneet was scouting for talent to expand the reach of the students' (…)

- 2023

Pathan the blockbuster movie fuels jingoism | Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi — 2023-02-10T18:50:04Z

by Jawed Naqvi
MOVIE actor Nasiruddin Shah was promoting his book at a function in Delhi when his brother in the front row rattled him with a simple question. Why was it that in his recent movie, the terrorists were all Muslim? Why does this happen in far too many Hindi movies? Shah, himself a Muslim, mumbled something to blame the script. Park the thought and consider Shahrukh Khan's newly released movie Pathaan, a hugely successful venture moneywise. It's the story of a Rambo-like Indian (…)

- 2023