Hiren Gohain

Subverting Constitution

While on Karan Thapar's show two distinguished advocates are seen arguing whether the CAA is constitutionally valid or not, it seems arguable enough that it is the actually the most…

CAA: View From Assam

Since the mooting of CAA there has been stirrings of doubt and unrest all over the country on its necessity and intended benefits.While it happens to be a sacred responsibility…

The Mere Anarchy of Law

India that is more Bharat these days is a democracy,which proclaims to the whole world that unlike socialist dictatorships is ruled by law.It has become quite difficult to understand what…

The Lost Ethical Dimension

What immediately follows news breaks reporting yet another attack on a Muslim peddler or Muslim milkman on his way back from a fairground with a newly acquired cow,is usually analysis…

Mythical Geography of Dwarka

Our indefatigable Prime Minister,not content with being the 'only Rockstar politician on the international arena',has now taken one step closer to being elevated to the Hindu Pantheon in popular imagination…

Assam As Epitome Of India

On 17th of February, a big public rally was held in the NCP office grounds right at the heart of Guwahati.It was attended by leading and senior leaders of the…

Populism, Democracy And Fascism

Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra's new edition that focuses on Nyay or justice as a major factor in establishing unity and harmony was largely a Congress venture though some partners…

The Odds We Face

I hope my readers all dislike and would like to join the united resistance against fascism.At the moment fight is going on in the parliamentary i.e.the electoral front.Here BJP has…

Unhappy New Year

The fag-end of the just ended last year was filled with ominous portents for the democratic character and heritage of our country.The Parliament so far alive with vibrant  and often…

Getting Lost In The Wild East

It is a matter of shame that 75 years after the country won independence and more than thirty years after the tumult of the Assam Movement even otherwise well-informed and…

Some Current Political Concerns

Emboldened by what appears a landslide victory the BJP party and government is gearing up for an early election.Draft electoral rolls are already out in Assam.Strike the iron when it…

Justice And Political Neutrality

Decades ago,long before there was any hint of a Hindutva wave in the country, I had  ventured to contest on the pages of ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY a view of…

Dilemmas of The Left

Nowadays leading newspapers and channels are barring their doors to anything written from a prominently left point of view.This has been a trend since the early years of the second…

Baring Their Claws

There is a news that the government is planning to proceed against 'anti-government content' appearing in media on the lines of British colonial laws that still quietly survive in our…

Current Disasters

     Contemporary trends portend more challenges in times farther ahead than one bargains for.The good people seem hesitant in taking firm steps for reaching their goals while the worst,"full…

Contemporary Riddles

There are certain events at the moment that completely befuddle my wits.Have I gone nuts or people around me? I do not know Mahua Moitra nor is there the remotest…

Guinea Pigs or National Assets

Like avid scanners of the share market the mercantile propensity of the present regime inclines it towards gambling in both economics and politics.It has a craving for sudden, unforethought and…

Truth to Power

It is unusual to link the ethics of the necessity of speaking truth to power to journalism.But in our times when lies have become common currency,and savants are falling silent…

In Search of a Redeemer

The social chaos and political churn in contemporary India cannot be redeemed by conventional politics.The BJP- RSS duo in tandem has caused so much havoc and confounded to such an…

Rifts in INDIA Alliance

Rahul Gandhi's campaign to sew back the torn fabric of the country is in danger of coming unstuck with two senior leaders of the alliance suddenly breaking ranks and turning…

Criminal Justice And Freedom of Speech

In our time and country the vital liberty of thought and speech,so crucial for health of democracy,has been under severe stress for the strangest of reasons.Such freedom is being curbed…

In The Name of Decolonization

(1) A deeply disturbing,indeed ominous feature of our contemporary debates and struggles on the question of the state has been the increasing penetration and dominance of Hindutva ideas in them.…

Clamour About Sanatana Dharma

Udayanidhi Stalin's declaration of war against 'Sanatana Hindu Dharma' has provoked a wave of denunciation and diatribe in different parts of the country.The Prime Minister has thundered that the critics…

A Virtual Coup

BJP is addicted to gigantism.Everything it does is on a gigantic scale,even the frauds.The last general election of 2019 for example ,if Satpal Malik's account of Pulwama is to be…

What’s In A Name

There's little doubt that the sole purpose behind BJP's raucous campaign to rename India as 'Bharat' is to create some confusion and unease in the mind of the masses about…

State, Crime, Criminality

The BJP spokespersons are lauding the newly dressed and christened penal code of the country as a refreshing native product,free from the traces of colonial origin.The authors of the code…

The End-Game of Democracy

One hopes fervently that the honourable judges of the Supreme Court understand the final repercussions of the present government's latest initiatives.It is nothing less than the abolition of constitutional democracy…

Dangerous Delays

While not denying the value of opposition dramatics at Parliament,one might yet worry that activities at the ground level are at a low ebb.Particularly because the saffron camp is in…

How It All Starts

Two days back news about the Bajrang Dal holding an arms training camp at the playground of a school in the district town Mangaldoi here in Assam created sensation and…

Delimitation Woes

Assam has been in uproar over an haphazard process of dilimitation of constituencies and for a couple of weeks erupting into cries of frustration and rage over the way it…

Extraordinary Matters

The extraordinary silence of the Prime Minister on the horrifying situation in Manipur has been broken by an extraordinary statement on a viral video of rape of one woman and…

Opposition Unity: Prospects and Pitfalls

It sure is heartening news that the long-awaited opposition unity has at long last materialized in the Bengaluru meeting.Most political parties that matter and oppose the BJP have come together…

Judicial Pitfalls

The observations of the Gujarat High Court judge who refused to stay the metropolitan magistrate's sentence on Rahul Gandhi make strange reading.Reportedly the magistrate himself had reached the present tier…

The Uniform Civil Code Conundrum

That the relevance of a uniform civil code should turn out to be a hot topic for debate and political contestation is a paradox mirroring the confusion in present political…

Once More on Manipur

Listening to Karan Thapar's numerous interviews with Meitei and Kuki interlocutors on the Manipur situation,I carried away the impression that it is not possible to acquire a clear idea of…

The craze for re-naming

It was Vico who had introduced us to the now common notion that it is given to man alone to understand things made by man.To create a thing is to…

Conspiracy! Whose Conspiracy?

Certain friends remind us it is the fifth anniversary of a dark moment in our recent history.About this time seven or eight years ago the govt agencies in charge of…

Notes on two recent sensations

The least the present government could have done,even if to save appearances,in response to the ghastly train accident at Balasore,was the Rly Minister's resignation.For there can be no doubt whatsoever…

Stolen Heirloom or poppycock

Reading a recent news suddenly my mind raced back across to a time when as an inquisitive child of twelve I used to read all available printed stuff in Assamese…

Symbolism of Sengol

It has become the confirmed habit of the saffron zealots to embroider every claimed achievement of their camp with adulterated facts.No wonder the 'Sengol' presented to Nehru by an influential…

Tinsel Gods

It is a great disappointment that the Supreme Court bench of JK Maheswari and PS Narasimha has refused to entertain the petition by an advocate seeking a prohibition of the…

Indian Democracy And The Class Question

The higher judiciary in india are given to quoting pronouncements of American judges and jurists,to the chagrin of Hindu revivalists who consider this an undesirable deference to Western ideas of…

Chasing Wild Geese and Red Herring

My well-meaning friends shake their heads mournfully over my odd habit of persisting with the most unusual questions after an issue has been discussed thoroughly,and settled most expeditiously.For example,when the…

Last Chance For Opposition

The Karnataka pre-election surveys indicate a pro-Congress wave which naturally raise the spirits of the Congress and the opposition,while it sees BJP ICON Prime Minister publicly showing his hurt sentiments…

History, Fact and Fiction

I hazard an intrusion into an area which professional historians might regard trespass or even worse.Nevertheless as a person interested in lessons of history and the way these are consciously…

Obstacles To Unity

The elusive goal of opposition unity is a perverse reality for several reasons.First and foremost is that current lot of party-workers are far more driven by personal ambitions of power…

Churn in Opposition

Rahul Gandhi may be forgiven for worrying about vicious attacks on the image painstakingly built over months of triumphant Bharat Jodo Yatra.But images are perhaps not the most important part…

Reductio Ad Absurdum

Law Minister has accused Rahul Gandhi for seeking bail in the case where he was convicted (The Hindu,April 5) of putting pressure on the judiciary. As they say,every action has…

An Irrational Verdict?

I may be wrong,but I believe that the ominous and dangerous verdicts of both the Judicial Magistrate of Surat and the Honourable Speaker are marred by an elementary fallacy we…

The Big Picture And The Small

(1) Attack,they say,is the best means of defence.And here we take up two arenas where at the moment this adage is most conspicuously in a frenzy of operation.Though poles apart…

Defence Daredevilry

Comments are no part of COUNTERCURRENTS.ORG repertory.But I am risking a chance on the ground that Ramakrishnan's eye-opening article on India's shift to a defence-dependant economy needs greater attention from…

Where Do We Go From Here

I am profoundly shocked and dumb-founded at Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's reported remarks about certain retired Supreme Court judges having joined a gang of anti-nationals and started among other…

Reason Bewitched

There are philosophers who can argue you into a corner where meaning itself becomes meaningless and reason an endless self-deception,to their own vast self-satisfaction.In this country current turn of events…

Making India Whole Again

''Bharat Jodo" meant uniting in love a country torn by hatred and malice.The word 'whole' had once been associated with health,and so the divisions and distrust are also threats to…

Evading the Nightmare

The BJP party and government(there is actually no difference.) has crossed all rational limits to crush the little but numerous vibrant signs of revolt under the steamroller of the state.Such…

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