Gandhi-Godse: Contrasting Concepts of Nationalism
This Gandhi Anniversary (October 2020) one saw a twitter storm ‘Nathram Godse Zindabad’, (Long live Nathura, Godse). This overshadowed the tributes to Gandhi on the same platform. This year the…
Dr Ram Puniyani
Conversions and Anti Christian Violence in India
Mr. Satyapal Singh, the BJP MP, while speaking in Lok Sabha on amendments to FCRA went on to support the forthcoming restrictions to the foreign contributions. While making his arguments,…
Was Mughal Rule the period of India’s Slavery?
When James Mill periodized the Indian History into Hindu Period, Muslim Period and British period, he not only gave the tool to British to pursue their policy of ‘divide and…
Kashi- Mathura: Will Temple Politics be Revived?
When Babri Mosque was being demolished in broad day light, the slogan being chanted by the leaders was, Yeh to Kewal jahnki hai, Kashi Mathura Baaki hai (This is the…
Reforming the Society: Life and Mission of Swami Agnivesh
Before taking up the engagement with issues related to communal harmony and national integration, I was trying to associate with issues of labor movement. During that time I used to…
Promoting Fraternity: Courts to the Rescue – Stay on Transmission of Hate Program of Sudarshan TV
Prashant Bhushan, the upright legal luminary and social activist, has shown the mirror to the Judiciary in a remarkable way. But that’s not the whole story. Recently two interventions of…
Scapegoats and Holy Cows: Media, Police and Tablighi Jamaat in the Times of Covid 19
The spread of Corona Virus in India has been on the upswing despite the measures undertaken by the state. In most parts of India the suffering has been immense. The…
Was Shaheen Bagh Movement Scripted by BJP?
Aam Admi Party, rather Arvind Kejriwal’s party on 17th August accused the BJP of sponsoring the anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh, “The BJP won some seats from the North-East in…
India’s Composite Culture and Muslim Stalwarts
Contrary to present impression that Muslims are separatists due to whom the partition of India took place, the truth is that majority of Muslims contributed to freedom movement and upheld…
Hagia Sophia: From Museum to a Mosque-Times are a Changing
Last three decades have seen a drastic shift in the global political scenario. Earlier decades were marked by national liberation struggles; focus on the issues related to ‘this World’. Many…
Lord Ram: Where was he born?
As the foundation stone of temple in the name of Lord Ram is being planned at the site where Babri Masjid once stood (August 5, 2020) , two new controversies…
Covid 19 and Furthering of Sectarian Agenda in Education
As Covid 19 has created havoc all rounds, the rulers of certain countries are using it to further intensify their set agendas. The democratic freedoms are being curtailed in certain…
Kerala, Moplah Rebellion and Communalization
Kerala has been in the news from last few months for all the right reasons. After the attempts to curtail the impact of Covid 19 came to be undertaken, Kerala…
Mahatma Gandhi, Race and Caste
During the course of agitation ‘Black lives matter’ some protestors defaced the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in US. Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of Indian Nation, has the unique distinction…
Lives of Marginalized Matter: When will their suffocation End?
In Minneapolis, US an African American, George Floyd lost his life as the white policeman, Derek Chauvin, caught hold of him and put his knee on his neck. This is…
Freedom of Religion: Indian Scenario
India is a plural country with many religions. While the majority religion is Hinduism, Islam and Christianity are the major religious minorities. While Freedom movement accorded them equal status as…
Savarkar, Two Nation Theory and Hindutva
This 28th May 2020, Savarkar was in the news yet again. While the opposition parties in Karnatka opposed the naming of Yelahanka flyover in the name of Savarkar, the Prime…
Palakkad, Kerala and death of Pregnant Elephant: Communalization of a Tragedy
India, a plural society is undergoing the pangs of communalization at a rapid pace. In this process the religious minorities are targeted and subjected to violence, which is overtly justified.…
Babri Masjid, Ram Janmbhumi and Buddhist Relics
Country is under lockdown. Most of the activities related to production and construction have come to a standstill barring few. One such is the construction of the Ram temple. The…
Retrieving the True meaning of word Jihad
Words Jihad and Jihadi have been in abundant use for the negative purposes from last two decades in particular. They have been closleyl linked to the word terrorism and violence,…
Can Humanism Survive the Onslaught of Hate? | Ram Puniyani
Lately when India is undergoing the massive crisis of the Corona epidemic and the offshoots of its mishandling, we have also seen the pandemic being used to demonise a particular…
Can we put a brake on rampant Islamophobia?
Islamophobia as a word came more into vogue after 9/11 2001 twin tower attack. In the aftermath the American media popularised the word “Islamic Terrorism” and for the first time…
Palghar Lynchings and Divisive Propaganda
India has tragically witnessed the phenomenon of lynching becoming dominant during last few years. It was particularly around the issue of Holy Cow-Beef, that lynchings became more prevalent and two…
Combating ‘Hate Virus’ in the times of Corona Pandemic
Popular perceptions form the base of many an acts of violence and violation of human rights of deprived sections of society. In India from mid-eighties many an event has shaped…
Corona Virus Spread: Looking for Scapegoat: Tablighi Jamaat
As India is under lockdown, we see the attempts to contain the Corona Virus. With over four thousand reported cases and over one hindered deaths, India is shaken to the…
Dealing with Corona Virus: No place for blind Faith
The World today (March 2020) is gripped with the pandemic of Corona Virus. While it began from China, currently it has gripped various countries; India is also facing the problem…
Does Religion Matter? Communal Violence in India
The carnage or to put it more precisely the anti Muslim violence in Delhi (February-March 2020) has shaken us all. Analysts are burning midnight oil yet again to understand the…
CAA: Should United Nations Norms be respected in Domestic Policies?
In the wake of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) UN High Commissioner, Michele Bachelet, has filed an intervention in the Supreme Court petition challenging the constitutionality of the Citizenship Amendment Act,…
Delhi Violence: Genesis of Carnage
They say ‘history repeats itself first as a tragedy and then as a farce’. In case of India, communal violence not only keeps repeating itself, the pattern of the tragedy…
‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and Contemporary Nationalism in India
Like most of the political phenomenon, even the practice of Nationalism is not a static one. It changes with the changing political equations of the political forces and assumes the…
What about Kashmiri Pundits? Three Decades of Exodus
This January 2020, it is thirty years since the Kashmiri Pundits’ exodus from the Kashmir valley took place. They had suffered grave injustices, violence and humiliation prior to the migration…
Are Adivasis Hindus? Forthcoming Census and RSS campaign | Ram Puniyani
Currently massive protests are going on against NPR, NCR and CAA. At the same time we are going to begin the process of decadal census in 2021. Already RSS is…
Shaheen Bagh Movement: Deepening Democracy-Uniting India
As democracy is seeping in slowly all over the world, there is an organization which is monitoring the degree of democracy in the individual countries, The Economist Intelligence Unit. As…
Citizenship Amendment Act and Religious Minorities in South Asia
In the beginning of January 2020 two very disturbing events were reported from Pakistan. One was the attack on Nankana Sahib, the holy shrine where Sant Guru Nanak was born.…
Pakistan and Indian Muslims
‘Go to Pakistan’ has probably been most often used phrase used against Muslims in India. Recently in yet another such incident the SP of Meerut, UP has been in the…
CAB Debate: Falsehoods to the Fore
Citizenship Amendment Bill, while passed in both houses of Parliament has elicited diverse and negative responses all over India. On one hand we see massive protests in North East leading…
Swami Nithyanand: Founding of a Hindu Rashtra
Religion is probably the most complex human phenomenon. From Centuries philosophers have tried to understand and define it. Different commentators have emphasized on its many facets. Probably one of its…
Kashmir After Abrogation of Article 370: Lies and Propaganda Galore
It is over three months that the Article 370 has been abrogated. The procedure laid down by the law has been given a go bye and through a majority in…
Babri Judgment and Portents for Future
The Supreme Court judgment on Babri Mosque-Ram Janmbhumi dispute gave the verdict that the whole land where the mosque stood from 1528 to 6th December 1992 be given to the…
BJP’s Nationalism and Electoral Chessboard
BJP is a party with a difference in more ways than one. It is the major electoral formation which contrary to the values of Indian Constitution of secular, democratic nation,…
Sikh Organizations: India not a Hindu Rashtra
RSS ideologues and leaders regularly keep stating that India is a Hindu Rashtra. This has been most annoying for the religious minorities, particularly Muslims, Sikhs and all those believing in…
Gandhi Anniversary: An Occasion to Gain legitimacy for Some
The media is full of articles and videos on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of the ‘father of the nation’, Mahatma Gandhi. While there is a genuine attempt…
Gandhi Alone is the ‘Father of India’
The ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Houston was an eye catcher for more reasons than one. While Modi was saying ‘All is Well’ in India, thousands of protestors outside were showing…
Hindi as the Uniting Language of India!
Modi.2 has emerged as a very powerful Government. It has not only the numerical majority; it is also facing a weak and divided opposition. That is one of the reasons…
Icons and Ideology of Religious Nationalism
The nationalism which was at the root of freedom movement, which is based on inclusive pluralism, is currently under severe strain with the ascendance of the politics of RSS combine.…
Holy Cow: Indian Political Chessboard
Lynching alone has not been the only fallout of making Holy cow as central to the agenda of Hindu nationalist BJP and its co travelers towards Hindu Rashtra. In the…
Kashmir: Abolition of Article 370: Implications
Currently there are celebrations in sections of Indian society and there is a pall of gloom in Kashmir. On Tuesday 5th August (2019), by a Presidential order Article 370 has…
Miyah Poetry: How do Besieged Communities Respond?
A FIR was registered against 10 Assamese poets (July 10, 2019). These poets mostly Muslims; have been pioneers and are leading lights of what has come to be known as…
Kashmir Today: Striving for Peace
After the massive mandate in 2019 General Elections, Narendra Modi Government is in the firm saddle. Now Mr. Amit Shah, who seems to be the most powerful person after Modi…
Whither Secularism: Democratic Society and Minority Rights | Ram Puniyani
We are living in times where the social norms, the values of Constitution have been violated times and over again. The increasing atrocities on dalits, the lynchings of minorities in…
Can Modi Win “Sabka Vishwas”? Did Modi implement Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas?
After 2014 victory Modi, Prime Minister of India had promised that he will implement Sabka Sath; Sabka Vikas (Taking everybody along, development for all). To this slogan he has now…
RSS Supremo’s Public relations Exercise
Do organizations say what they intend to do? Not necessarily. This came out clearly from the three long lectures by RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat. The event was supposed to be…
Need to Combat Emerging Global Sectarianism
Like people of all regions and religions, a large number of Hindus have been migrating to all the parts of World. The reason behind this is better pastures and…
Swami Agnivesh: Social Reformer Under attack
On 17th August (2018), during the funeral procession of the former Prime Minster of India, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Swami Agnivesh was assaulted outside the BJP head office, when Swami was…
What Pranab Mukherjee Should Tell RSS Cadres
Dialogue is an essential part of democratic process. But what do you do when people wanting to usurp democracy through democratic means want to have dialogue with those believing in…
How To Revive The spirit Of Quit India Movement?
The ‘Quit India’ movement 1942, 75th anniversary of which is currently being celebrated, was the major landmark in the struggle for India’s Independence. On 8th August the Indian National Congress…
Hindutva And Cow: Love For Cow or Hatred For “Others”?
There have been several brutal lynchings of Muslims and beatings of dalits on the issue of Holy cow. Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, Pehlu Khan in Mewat being just two of the…
RSS Controlled Garbh Vigyan Sanskar In pursuit Of “Master Race”
The RSS agenda of Hindu Rashtra draws heavily on the superiority of Aryan race and greatness of Brahmanical values. The ideology constructed by this organisation tells us that Aryans…
Hindu Rashtra: Is It Good For Hindus?
Hindu Rashtra is the goal of Hindu nationalist politics, which is also called as Hindutva. In contrast to Hinduism, Hindutva is a politics in the name of Hinduism with Brahmanism…
The Conspiracy Behind Babri Demolition
After the long wait, the Supreme Court Chief Justice J.S. Khehar opined that long pending dispute of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid should be settled out of court. (March 2017) He…
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