The BJP has done a Humpty Dumpty on Manipur. The Prime Minister’s political acumen, Maan ki Baats, high-pitched oratory, and the massive Bhakt network around the country, nothing at all, will ever put Manipur together again. Not in the way, it was, in any case. The political ploy that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) imagined in Manipur did not pan[Read More…]
When ruling dispensations run out of viable ideas on political playoffs, they almost always resort to the politics of compulsion. By contrast, responsible governments which are committed to social progress use politics as an instrument to advance development, via progressive political agendas. They recognise that programs of public benefit veer towards enhancing social-economic-cultural-welfare value. Politics where schemes are ideologically self-centred[Read More…]
The military power of Israel has failed to curb Palestinian resistance. Palestinians are convinced that the might of Israel’s colonialist-apartheid structure will, one day, crumble, due to its lack of moral legitimacy. It is, perhaps, crucial to define two terminologies at the very outset that defines the ongoing struggle for justice in Palestine-Israel. ‘Sumud’ – which implies ‘steadfast perseverance’ –[Read More…]
It is now close to two months since Manipur has been in an unrelenting state of violence. The hostilities have assumed cruel forms involving ferocious ethnic fires. Angry masses have seemingly lost their humanity and have indulged in killing sprees replete with reprisals. In one village alone, nine people were killed in gunfire. Other examples are equally gory or even[Read More…]
Last week, Goans woke up to their newspapers carrying rather uncanny news. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had summoned Goans to eradicate all signs and vestiges of Portuguese rule, and to ‘launch a fresh history’ for Goa. Commemorating 60 years of liberation from the Portuguese, Sawant recounted that Indians are also memorialising the 75th year of India’s Independence. He queried as[Read More…]
Tribal communities feel that the BJP-led state government is participating in perilous communal politics by backing the Meiteis as ‘Hindus’ against the tribal people who are predominantly Christian. Manipur has erupted in violence. For over a month, the Meitei and Kuki people of the state have been wedged in a political conflict. Many have died, properties destroyed and hundreds injured.[Read More…]
India’s new Parliament House was launched with as much fanfare as there was controversy. For those now in their sixties and seventies who have had occasion to either travel or live in Delhi, the new Parliament building was neither necessary with the offensive waste of public funds. Nor does it have the architectural grace that the current building has. A[Read More…]
Sudipto Sen, Director of ‘The Kerala Story”, in his unrestricted arrogance and egotism, claims that his film has “awakened civilization”. This claim is erroneous to its very core! How can a film whose issues must address root questions of colonialism, and plunder by the West be assigned in the hands of an un-researched propagandist. The film is virtually a hotchpotch[Read More…]
The unmistakable message from the Karnataka elections is that the BJP does not bring stability and substance to governance. The BJP may have ruled Karnataka before. They never managed to complete a single full term. Each term was replete with political upheavals and defections – a game that the BJP is seeking to master with big money from sources unknown.[Read More…]
Has the Chief Election Commission abandoned its autonomy and independence and chosen to be co-opted as part of the BJP Team? The magazine ‘Outlook’ in a report by by Anisha Reddy shows that over 9,000 adults find themselves declared dead or moved out of the Shivajinagar constituency when, in truth, they are alive and at home. People who resided in[Read More…]
In 1889 an international federation of socialist groups and trade unions designated May 1 as a day in support of workers in commemoration of the Haymarket Riot in Chicago (1886). May Day commemorates the struggles and gains made by workers and the labour movement around the world. It also serves to highlight the deplorable conditions of workers and their oppression under patterns of[Read More…]
14th April is commemorated each year in the memory of B. R. Ambedkar. Because of his radical stance in favour of the oppressed Dalits, his birthday is referred to as “Bhim Jayanthi” and “Equality Day” Contemporary India sorely needs a reincarnated Dr. Ambedkar. In his lifetime, he aspired for a society that gives equal rights, opportunities, and respect to the[Read More…]
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi MP from Wayanad lost his membership of Parliament after the verdict of a court in Surat. The Lok Sabha Secretariat hurriedly issued a notification declaring that the Rahul Gandhi is no longer a Member of Parliament. Such swift action is rare, but not surprising. It’s hard to guess what the higher courts will dispense as justice.[Read More…]
The BJP’s protests against Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Cambridge are drawing yawns from the general public by now. News-curious folk who have heard snippets of Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Cambridge fail to understand why Parliament is stalled over a speech that does not even remotely endanger or disgrace the country. The curious ones took it upon them to watch the[Read More…]
Several years ago, the Australian great, Ian Chappell, warned that the presence of too many political figures in the BCCI impedes its professional functioning. Politicians don’t necessarily make good sports administrators. Cricket administrators must earn their place in the system by virtue of good cricketing experience and understanding of the intricacies of the game and not for status and power.[Read More…]
In the last three years, India ranks as tenth most dangerous for Christians across the world Christians have traditionally adopted a posture of social leadership to the wider community in multiple ways. Education, medical care, social services, rural development, services to the hungry and poor, vocational training, community development, and a host of other development models were introduced by the[Read More…]
In a recent commentary from Washington Post, there is description and analysis on the flood of illegal arms into Palestinian communities, including East Jerusalem, where local arms traffickers say “business has never been better”. This is also true of circumstances in Palestinian Israeli towns, where “a political and security vacuum has allowed criminal gangs to flourish, and spurred ordinary people[Read More…]
Christians are under frequent threat by the Chief Minister in Goa. Without any real evidence to corroborate false qualms, he has vowed to act with an unyielding hand to put down forced conversions that were taking place in remote corners. Pastor Dominic has been one of his targets and the government had even imposed Section 144 around his residence. Religion[Read More…]
At a time when the political and judicial discourse on forcible conversions is moving with animated political fervor in various States around the country, Chhattisgarh is witnessing a somewhat perplexing political phenomenon. Nearly 18 villages in Chhattisgarh have faced attacks after fringe Right Wing forces attacked and drove them out of their homes, villages, and the fields they cultivate. The[Read More…]
Israel’s pogrom to obliterate the Palestinians from the land is ongoing with a vigor and revenge that is picking political momentum. Whether that will work in its intent is another question. Domination, suppression and control are the strategies that Israel is employing. In a new position paper, Adalah, an Israeli human rights organization, lays out how the guiding principles and[Read More…]
When civil society recently came together in Goa under the rallying space of the Centre for Responsible Tourism to explore how the Goan economy could advance tourism in Goa, several pertinent issues arose. The view that tourism is an exclusively economic movement was seen as flawed and faulty. Tourism is in its essence is a social contract between those who[Read More…]
Israel’s worst ever possible choice of government has expectedly started on the wrong foot. The mandate was less extreme than the way things have things turned out to be. Racist genocide has become the political fashion for Netanyahu and his political cohorts. The New Year began with two murders and, if that is the tone they are setting, one can[Read More…]
The world awaits in keen anticipation to see how the several combinations of resistance will end the beastly apartheid-colonial system that Israel has chosen as their apparatus of misrule. Militant youth confronting the occupation are high on the agenda of resistance. This is assuming forms of courage rarely witnessed before. The holy rage that young Palestinians feel at the humiliation[Read More…]
Only recently, the Chief Minister of Goa warned the people of the State in rough and ready terms: ‘I will not brook any criticism of the PM’. In the ever-widening threat of trampling public discourse and media freedom, I pondered as to how long more one would be able to read a valid newspaper, or tune into critical news coverage[Read More…]
The recent clashes involving cruise tourists, tour operators and taxi-folk have lessons that the Goa Tourism ministry can apply. Tourism must, of necessity, bring gains to the hosts who are the local community. Tourism is, of essence, a socio-cultural transaction between the visitors and visited. The numerous clashes which occur in tourism are because of the commercial impulse big business[Read More…]
Palestine won too without even playing! Since the historical decision when Qatar was awarded the FIFA hosting rights in 2010, it has constructed seven gigantic stadiums and refurbished Stadium 974, named after the country’s international dialing code. This stadium has more than normal stadium value. It is a port-side structure with more than 40,000 seats built also from recycled shipping[Read More…]
In addition to the many shock results of several matches at the World Cup, perhaps the biggest upsets have fallen on Israeli fans and the Israeli media. Little did Israel expect that fans from literally all over the world would manifestly display their support for Palestine. Israeli fans have found no choice but to be subdued. Israeli media began with[Read More…]
When Rahul Gandhi walked side-by-side with Late Gauri Lankesh’s mother, Indira and her sister, in BJP-ruled Karnataka during the Bharath Jodo Yatra, he demonstrated his will to take on the fundamentalists who killed Gauri Lankesh and several others in what was a dim period in Indian history. Rahul Gandhi’s tweet said: “Gauri stood for Truth. Gauri stood for Courage. Gauri[Read More…]
Israel and Germany are prolonging their fuss over Mahmoud Abbas’ comment on the ‘holocausts’ committed by Israel on the Palestinian people. Abbas cannot reverse facts even if he pulls back his statement. Abbas is no political saint. But he has on this occasion spoken out with courage and truthfully. Germany cannot stomach it because the term sticks on them because[Read More…]
It is cynical to use war as a way of beefing up chances of winning an election. This is exactly what Israel’s leader Lapid did in Israel’s latest aggression on the besieged Gaza strip. Two hard facts define what this war sought to achieve. First, it wanted to tug at the unity of the Palestinian resistance. Second, and equally disparaging,[Read More…]
Tradition teaches us that democracy has four pillars – legislature, executive, judiciary and the media. This is not the absolute truth any longer. Each of these has suffered severe distortions over the last several years leaving democracy in peril. Fascist-dictatorial trends assumed political dominance and democracy goes kaput! Peoples power is an additional pillar needed to remedy the total collapse[Read More…]
Sashi Tharoor pertinently observed: “While our mainstream media was distracted by hijab, halal, and azan, India’s labour force shrunk by 3.8 million in March. Unemployment rose across sectors.76 lakh jobs were lost in industry, 41 lakh in manufacturing, and 29 lakh in construction”. Communal riots had broken out in as many as four states including Delhi over last weekend. Violence has accompanied dozens of communal riots across[Read More…]
Placid is not the only distinctive feature of this government in Goa. Well after a month since election results were announced, the BJP is tottering with government formation. Governance is near-invisible. In quick time, the government has made known anti-democratic/anti-people credentials. It pretends it is pro-development when, in fact it is the opposite. Ministers are openly dismissive of people’s aspirations.[Read More…]
Goa was in crisis mode on Sunday when Hindu-Muslim clashes occurred in the vicinity of Vasco. A large crowd of Ram Navami processionists marched through Vasco on the occasion of Ram Navami on 10th April. They chose the small and congested streets of the area rather than the broader convenient approved route thus creating disruption. At the conclusion, a small[Read More…]
People across the world who seek justice do what they can and must to respond to the plight of Palestinians who remain trapped in a deepening cycle of violence, humiliation and despair. Palestinians have called out to their brothers and sisters in around the world as their suffering proliferates. They shed tears as they shout in anguish: “Enough is enough.[Read More…]
On Christmas Day 2019, at a Christmas Eve Mass, parishioners were offered a powerful, yet challenging message on how we as everyday Christians must understand and observe Christmas. The priest narrated how the image of the manger is not just that of a humble abode. It is an inclusive and ecumenical space because Jesus came for all the people[Read More…]
COVID-19 has left India’s population under lockdown and curfew. Once more India has had to cope with Narendra Modi’s ‘shock and awe’ policy of short-notice announcements. These proclamations are issued rather callously and with total disregard for the welfare of people and an absence of disaster preparedness and management stratagem. Chaos followed as shops closed down, markets were emptied of[Read More…]
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My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
