Mainstream Weekly

Recollecting the Forgotten History of State Violence | Arup Kumar Sen

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-09-08T04:02:00Z

Recent state violence on the CJP activists/supporters in New Delhi is fresh in our memory. However, the violence unleashed by the Indian State on the student activists in different universities in recent years has faded out in public memory. It is ironical that a student activist, Nehal Ahmed, published a monograph titled – Nothing Will be Forgotten: From Jamia to Shaheen Bagh (LeftWord Books, 2022), documenting incidents of State violence in and around the Jamia Millia Islamia University (…)

- 2026

Targeting Muslim Protesters as Anti-Nationals | Arup Kumar Sen

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-08-15T09:18:03Z

Othering of Muslims is a recurring strategy pursued by Hindutva politics in contemporary India. This was manifested in the recent protests in Kolkata against police atrocities on the students/young protesters in New Delhi. It was reported in Altnews: “From the assembly to press briefings, Suvendu Adhikari repeatedly invoked communal tropes while defending the arrests made over the alleged violence during the July 24 Kolkata solidarity protest. Sixteen people arrested in the case – 15 of them (…)

- 2026

Reading Brutal Assertion of State Power in New Delhi | Arup Kumar Sen

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-07-29T21:59:58Z

On July 20, 2026, New Delhi witnessed brutal assertion of state power against the young protesters. The Hindu reported (July 21, 2026): “Several people were injured…when the police cracked down on a Parliament march called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan… At least 38 of the injured were taken to the Lady Hardinge Medical College and around 65 to the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, with fractures, swellings, and head (…)

- 2026

Muslims in West Bengal: On the Road to Unfreedom? | Arup Kumar Sen

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-07-14T18:15:16Z

Immediately after coming to power in the state of West Bengal in 2026, the BJP government has been taking new measures of governance to curtail the freedom of the Muslim community. The Hindu reported (May 28, 2026): “Kolkata's Id-ul-Azha celebrations this year were marked by a major shift in venue, moving from the traditional Red Road to the Brigade Parade Ground for the morning prayers. The festival also witnessed no public slaughter of animals after a May 13 notification by the West Bengal (…)

- 2026

Arrival of Giorgio Agamben in West Bengal | Arup Kumar Sen

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-06-24T23:58:25Z

The mode of conducting the recent assembly elections in West Bengal and its aftermath signify a paradigm shift in the mode of governance. Lakhs of voters lost their voting rights through the process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Critical political observers feel that the SIR, monitored by the Election Commission and legally ratified by the Supreme Court, played a big role in changing the ruling political regime in West Bengal. The party which came to power, the BJP, (…)

- 2026

Precarity of Border-Crossing People in West Bengal | Arup Kumar Sen

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-06-12T13:52:41Z

The recent change in the ruling political regime in West Bengal has intensified surveillance and control of the Bangladesh border in different districts. The Telegraph reported (June 4, 2026) in this context: “The Suvendu Adhikari government continued to move forward with its agenda of fortifying the India-Bangladesh border across Bengal during its third cabinet meeting…Bengal shares over 2,200 kilometres of the border with Bangladesh. The new state government has made it a priority to hand (…)

- 2026

A Life's Journey with the Constitution of India | Arup Kumar Sen

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-06-01T03:35:38Z

Very recently, Indira Jaising, the eminent legal practitioner in the Supreme Court, has expressed her thoughts in her conversations with Ritu Menon, the noted feminist writer and publisher. The conversations have been incorporated in the book titled – The Constitution is My Home: Conversations on a Life in Law (Harper Collins Publishers, India, 2026).
In the Author's Note, Indira Jaising stated: “Over the past six decades of my legal career, not a single day has passed without my entering (…)

- 2026

Reading Gandhi

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-05-22T04:31:24Z

Kumkum Sangari

- 2026

Reading Jadunath Sarkar in Chaotic Times | Arup Kumar Sen

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-05-12T16:40:39Z

In the current assembly elections, the BJP has come to power in West Bengal with a landslide victory, defeating its nearest rival, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). This is the first time that a party which distinctly preaches

- 2026

Reading Noida Workers

Arup Kumar Sen — 2026-05-01T03:25:12Z

The recent workers

- 2026