Articles by: Sumanta Banerjee

Cracks  in  India’s   armoury  –    Achilles’  heel   in  the  security  and  intelligence  apparatus

Cracks  in  India’s   armoury  –    Achilles’  heel   in  the  security  and  intelligence  apparatus

The  killing  of  five  Indian  soldiers  by  militants  on   May  5  in  the  Rajouri-Poonch  sector,  once  again  highlights  the  failure  of  our  security  machinery  to  protect  our  jawans.  Its  agents  who  are  posted  in  that  sector,  failed  to  detect  the  explosive  device  that  was  planted  and  triggered  by  the  militants  in  the  path  of  these  soldiers. Just  a  fortnight  ago, [Read More…]

by 26/05/2023 Comments are Disabled India
Open  letter  to  the  Prime  Minister

Open  letter  to  the  Prime  Minister

“Dear  Shri  Narendra  Modi ji Please  accept  my  heart  felt  condolences  on the  demise  of  your  party,  the  BJP,  in  Karnataka. But  more  than  that,  I  am  rather  disappointed  by  the  utter  ineptitude  of  your  party  in  manipulating  the  minds  of  the  voters  and  the  EVMs  in  favour  of  your candidates.  And  this  failure  happened  in  spite  of  your  domineering [Read More…]

by 16/05/2023 Comments are Disabled India
Left  Wing  Extremist and   Islamic  Terrorist    challenges

Left  Wing  Extremist and   Islamic  Terrorist    challenges

Our   Defence  Minister  Rajnath  Singh’s  braggadocio  that  the  Islamist  terrorists  in  Kashmir  have  been  eliminated,  and  our  Home  Minister  Amit  Shah’s  much  touted  announcement  that  the  Maoist  insurgents  (termed  officially  as  LWE  –  Left  Wing  Extremists)  have  been  crushed,  are  receiving  wide-spread  applause  by  the  mainstream  media.   But  both  the  claims  have  turned  out  to  be   deceitful,  or  at  best [Read More…]

by 04/05/2023 Comments are Disabled Uncategorized
Letter to Ranajit Guha

Letter to Ranajit Guha

An advance 100th birthday greetings  sent to Ranajit Guha by Sumanta Banerjee. Ranajit Guha breathed his last on 28th April 2023 at Vienna Woods in Austria just before his 100th birthday. This letter was published in the journal ‘Frontier’ Dear Ranajit da Do you remember me? I was your student for a brief while in 1953 on the eve of[Read More…]

by 01/05/2023 Comments are Disabled Life/Philosophy
G-20  summit  in  Delhi  –  legacy  of  the  colonial  `durbar’  of  1877,  when  a   teenager  composed  a  poem  against  its  pomposity

G-20  summit  in  Delhi  –  legacy  of  the  colonial  `durbar’  of  1877,  when  a   teenager  composed  a  poem  against  its  pomposity

New  Delhi  today  sits  at  the  centre  of   the   global  summit called  G-20 –  hosting  VIPs  from  different  parts  of   the  world  in  the  midst  of  pompous  demonstrations  of  Prime  Minister  Modi’s  suzerainty  over  India,  and  outreach  beyond  its  borders.  Coming  down  to  brass  tacks, G-20  is  an  exclusive  club  of  elite  capitalist  states  which  promote  neo-liberal  economic  policies  at [Read More…]

by 05/04/2023 Comments are Disabled India
A  bureaucrat-turned- minister  in  a  mess

A  bureaucrat-turned- minister  in  a  mess

Our  high  profile  minister  of  external  affairs,  S.  Jaishankar,  who  is  vociferous  both  at  home  and  abroad,  appears  to  have  landed  up  in  a  mess.  Some  of  his  recent  remarks  regarding  both  current  and  past  events  have  stirred  up  a  controversy.  Not  only  Opposition  parties,  some  members  from  his  own  former   bureaucratic  fraternity  have  also  expressed  reservations  about  his  frequent  [Read More…]

by 28/03/2023 Comments are Disabled India
Demystifying   the  halo  around   `Naatu  Naatu’     and  RRR

Demystifying the halo around `Naatu Naatu’ and RRR

The  bagging  of  the  coveted  golden  statuette  by  the  musical  score  `Naatu  Naatu’  at  the  Oscars  Academy  Awards  ceremony,  has  quite  predictably  set  our  people  dancing  in  ecstasy,  and  united  both  the    ruling  and  the  Opposition  politicians  in  flaunting  the  award  as  a  symbol  of  India’s  superior  status  in  the  global  cultural  arena.  As  Anurag  Thakur,  the  Information  and  Broadcasting [Read More…]

by 18/03/2023 Comments are Disabled Arts/Literature
Narendra  Modi’s   tutelage  under  Asaram  Bapu

Narendra  Modi’s   tutelage  under  Asaram  Bapu

Linking   the  name  of  prime  minister  Narendra Modi  with  the  god man  Asaram Bapu  who  is  now  behind  bars  for  raping  a   girl  devotee  of  his,  may  offend  the  sentiments  of  Modi’s  devotees.  But  facts  are  too  stubborn  to  be  stamped  down  under covers. Let  us  therefore  go  back  to  the  past,  reveal   a  few  facts  and  examine  the   relationship [Read More…]

by 25/01/2023 Comments are Disabled India
Copyright  of  Hitler’s  agenda,  infringed  upon  by  Narendra  Modi

Copyright  of  Hitler’s  agenda,  infringed  upon  by  Narendra  Modi

I  am  raising  a  serious  issue  that  touches  upon  a  person’s  legal  right  of  exclusive  possession  of  his/her  personal  creation  –  whether  a  scientific  formula,  or  a  literary  piece,  or  even  a  political  programme.  This  is  known  as  copyright,  or  patent  in  relation  with  certain  products.  If  anyone  uses  that  material  without  the  permission  of  its  original  author,  or  fails [Read More…]

by 10/01/2023 Comments are Disabled India
War  in  Ukraine  –  Shades  of  the  past  and  portents   of  things  to  come

War  in  Ukraine  –  Shades  of  the  past  and  portents   of  things  to  come

Latest  news  from  the  battlefields  of  Ukraine  indicate  that  the  war  game  is  moving  in  uncertain  and  unpredictable  directions, and  nothing  is  happening  in   terms  of  a  final  score  –  either  by  the  Russians  who  have  invaded  Ukraine  or  the  Ukrainians  who  are  defending  their  territory.  Russia’s  recent  decision   to  withdraw  its  foot  soldiers  from  Kharson  could  be  a  temporary [Read More…]

by 18/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Quirks  of  the  Indian  judicial  system

Quirks  of  the  Indian  judicial  system

Way  back  in  1922 ,  the  Bengali  author  of  comic  literature  Sukumar  Ray  (father  of  the  famous  film  maker  Satyajit  Ray),  composed  a   poem  entitled  Act  21,  lampooning  the  system  of  justice  in  India  under  British  colonial  rule.  He  of  course  had  to  invent  another  country  to  disguise  the  object  of  his  satirical  barb  –  by  describing  it  as  the [Read More…]

by 16/11/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Leftist  response  to  the  war  in  Ukraine

Leftist  response  to  the  war  in  Ukraine

While  the  war  rages  on  in  Ukraine,  how  is  the  Left  facing  the  multi-dimensional  complex   challenges  thrown up  by  the   war   and  the  ravages  that  it  is  heaping  upon  its  people ?  The  writer  Arundhati  Roy,  in  a  lighter  vein  has  summed  up  the  Left’s  dilemma   as  “tortuous  yoga  asanas  –  some  pretty  drastic  seeing  and  unseeing –  depending  on [Read More…]

by 01/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
India’s   neo-Nazi  `Concentration  Camps’ 

India’s   neo-Nazi  `Concentration  Camps’ 

The  term  `Concentration  Camps’   was  used  to  describe  the  notorious  prisons  run  by  the  Nazis  in  the  1930-40  period  in  Dachau,  Buchenwald,  Auschwitz  and  other  places  in  Germany,  and  occupied  territories  in  Europe.  The  plight  of  the  prisoners  who  were  held  there  had  been  well  documented  by  later  researchers  who   delved  into  the  records  of  those  camps  and  interviewed  the [Read More…]

by 02/10/2022 Comments are Disabled Human Rights
Bidding  goodbye  to  CJI  N.V.  Ramana  and  reviewing   the   judgments  passed   under  his  stewardship

Bidding  goodbye  to  CJI  N.V.  Ramana  and  reviewing   the   judgments  passed   under  his  stewardship

On  the  eve  of  the  retirement  of  Chief  Justice  N. V.  Ramana  from  the  Supreme  Court,  it  may  be  worthwhile  to  examine  both  his  individual  performance,  and  the  functioning  of   the  apex  court  under  his  supervision  during  his  tenure  of  sixteen  months  from  April,  2021  till  the  end  of  August,  2022,  when  he  is  due  to  retire. The  issues  being [Read More…]

by 20/08/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Can  the  new  President  `fulfil  the  dreams  of  the  poor’ ? 

Can  the  new  President  `fulfil  the  dreams  of  the  poor’ ? 

After  taking  the  oath  of  office  of  the  President  of  India,  Droupadi  Murmu  said:  “My  election  is  proof  of  the  fact  that  the  poor  in  India  can  have  dreams  and  fulfil  them  too.”   Her  speech  at  the   oath  taking  ceremony  was  a  moving  narrative,  recalling  her past   struggles  from  humble  origins  and   her  daily  toil  during  her  childhood.  She  described [Read More…]

by 12/08/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Prime  Minister  makes  India  stink  in  world  public  opinion

Prime  Minister  makes  India  stink  in  world  public  opinion

   “He  (Narendra  Modi)   gifted  ittar  (perfume  derived       from  natural  sources)  bottles in  zardozi  box,  crafted  in  Lucknow,  to  French  President  Emmanuel  Macron.”  (The  Times  of  India,  June  29,  2022)     “Here  is  the  smell  of  the  blood  still:  all  the  perfumes  of  Arabia will  not  sweeten  this  little  hand.” (Shakespeare:  Macbeth). The  above  two  quotes  sum  up  the  record [Read More…]

by 19/07/2022 Comments are Disabled India
BJP  style  of  observing  Bakrid

BJP  style  of  observing  Bakrid

The  Muslim  religious  practice  of  Bakrid –  being  observed  in  July  this  year  –  is  in  commemoration of  an  event  in   past  history  that  is  shared  by   both  Islam  and  Christianity.  Members  of  both  the  communities  assert   their  devotion  to  a  preacher  known  as  Abraham  among  Jews  and  Ibrahim  among  Muslims.  Note  the  similarities  in  the  phonetic  pronunciations. According  to [Read More…]

by 11/07/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Remembering  Lenin  when  watching  Ukraine  today

Remembering  Lenin  when  watching Ukraine  today

 Russia’s  President Putin,  in  a  speech  on  February  21,  2022,  said:  “Modern  Ukraine  was  entirely created  by….Communist  Russia.  The  process  began  immediately after  the  revolution  of  1917.”  He  then  described  the  state  as  “Vladimir  Ilych  Lenin’s  Ukraine.”  Putin  was  harking  back  to  the  Romanov  empire  of  the  past,  when  Ukraine was  under  the  Tsarist  regime.  Putin  is  today  keen  on [Read More…]

by 27/06/2022 3 comments World
 Supreme  Court  of  India  –  from  ambivalence  to  ambiguity  through  procrastination

 Supreme  Court  of  India  –  from  ambivalence  to  ambiguity  through  procrastination

Justice  D. Y.  Chandrachud,  heading  a  Supreme  Court  vacation  bench,  while  hearing  an  appeal  by  a  lawyer  on  May  23,  flared  up  in  an  outburst  of  anger  saying  that  it  had  become  a  “fashion”  to  make  allegations against  the  judiciary.  He  added:  “The  stronger  the  judge,  the  worse  the  allegations.”  (THE  HINDU,  May  24).  Why  is  the  honourable  Justice  Chandrachud [Read More…]

by 29/05/2022 Comments are Disabled India
A monstrous embryo swelling in the womb of Bharat Mata    

A monstrous embryo swelling in the womb of Bharat Mata    

            “A   strange  dusk  has  descended  upon  the              earth  today/ ….. Those  whose  hearts               are  devoid  of  any  love  and  affection,  never              swayed  by  any  sense  of  pity/ These  are  the              people  who  advice  us   now  as   to  how  the                      world   must  move./   And  those  who  still  feel             it’s  better   to     believe  in[Read More…]

by 05/05/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Putin  and Modi  –  Comrades-in-arms

Putin  and Modi  –  Comrades-in-arms

In  the  background  of  the  present  war  in  Ukraine,  much  is  being  written  by  political  commentators  about  the  reasons  why  the  Indian  head  of  state  Narendra  Modi  has  taken  an  outwardly   neutral  stand  towards  his  Russian  counterpart  Vladimir  Putin  –  a  position  which  can  be  described  variously  as  ambivalent,  or  even  crypto-friendly.  India’s  abstention  from  voting  in  favour  of  resolutions [Read More…]

by 20/04/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Rights and Duties

Rights and Duties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a rather controversial comment, while addressing a Hindu religious women’s organization called the `Brahmakumaris’ on January 21. He reminded his listeners: “In the last 75 years, we only kept talking about rights, fighting for rights and wasting our time. The issue of rights may be right to some extent in certain circumstances, but neglecting one’s[Read More…]

by 08/02/2022 1 comment India
India’s `Gestapo’  –  National Investigation Agency (NIA)

India’s `Gestapo’  –  National Investigation Agency (NIA)

India’s  counter  terrorism  task  force  NIA  (National  Investigation  Agency)  has  come  into   limelight  recently  –  but  for  the  wrong  reasons.  Neglecting  their  original  task  of  pursuing  serious  crimes  like  terrorism,  the  NIA  personnel   have  barked  up  the  wrong  tree.  Incapable  of  nabbing  the  real  terrorists,  they   are  trying  other  methods  to  justify  their  perpetuation  in  the  present  system.   They  have [Read More…]

by 26/12/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Saffronization  of  the  army  and  militarization  of   the  government

Saffronization  of  the  army  and  militarization  of   the  government

The  outpouring  of  grief  over  the  tragic  death  of  General  Bipin  Rawat  is  manifesting  itself  in  an  ugly   belligerent  form,  which was  never  witnessed in  the  past  on  similar  occasions,  like  the  passing  away  of  army  stalwarts –   Sam  Manekshaw,  Arjan  Singh   and  Sundarji.  The  present  state-sponsored  display  of  national  mourning  over  Bipin  Rawat’s  death  is  fast  degenerating   into  an [Read More…]

by 23/12/2021 Comments are Disabled India
UN should brand Hindutva terrorist groups

UN should brand Hindutva terrorist groups

Salman Khurshid’s observation comparing Hindutva with jihadist Islam has quite predictably raised the hackles of the Sangh Parivar. To go back to the context in which he made this observation in his book, `Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhood in Our Times,’ he was referring to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992. Describing the change that was taking place[Read More…]

by 03/12/2021 Comments are Disabled India
National Human Rights Commission – from a toothless tiger to a grovelling poodle

National Human Rights Commission – from a toothless tiger to a grovelling poodle

The former chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Justice H. L. Dattu, during his tenure there (February 2016 – December 2020 ), described it as a `toothless tiger’, while giving vent to his frustration at his inability to deliver justice to victims of human rights violation. He blamed the built-in regulations that were imposed on the NHRC by[Read More…]

by 26/10/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Recalling a forgotten episode from Lakhimpur Kheri’s past history of protest

Recalling a forgotten episode from Lakhimpur Kheri’s past history of protest

Lakhimpur  Kheri,  situated  in  the  northern  Terai  region   of  Uttar  Pradesh  and  bordering  Nepal,   has  all  of  a  sudden  caught  the  attention  of  national  political  parties  and  media  –  due  to  the  violent  clashes  there  on  October  3  during  the  demonstration  of   farmers  agitating  against   three  unpopular  farm  laws  of  the  Modi  government.  The  clashes  resulted  in   the  killing  of [Read More…]

by 12/10/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Can Indians trust their laws and judges?

Can Indians trust their laws and judges?

The two common utterances regularly heard in our public discourse are – (i) “The law will take its own course” (by the prosecution); and (ii) “We have faith in the judicial process” (by the prosecuted). But both these assertions need to be questioned, given the experiences of common Indian citizens in their sufferance from laws on the one hand, and[Read More…]

by 06/10/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Handover ceremony at Camp Anthonic, from US Army to Afghan Special Forces, Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 2, 2021.

Afghanistan – Ominous echoes from the past

Developments in Afghanistan, prior to and after its takeover by the Taliban, remind us of the political realignment of global powers in Europe on the eve of the 2nd World War. Although a tiny state (covering 652,000 km – slightly smaller than Texas – with a population of 26.5 million), Afghanistan might well be the pivot on which the reconfiguration[Read More…]

by 03/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
The spread of the MODI virus – dancing the `Tandava Nritya’

The spread of the MODI virus – dancing the `Tandava Nritya’

While we are all worried about the spread of new variants of COVID-19 (whether we describe them as Delta or by some other name) all over the world, we tend to ignore the invasion of Indian society by another variant of COVID -19 which may be described as the MODI virus. It is a pandemic affecting every nook and corner[Read More…]

by 08/07/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Tango Dance in Bengal

Tango Dance in Bengal

What we are witnessing in Bengal today reminds us of the saying: `It takes two to tango’, implying that in a dispute it is not one alone, but the other is also responsible. During the electoral campaign in the state, the Trinamul Congress (TMC) chief minister Mamata Banerjee coined the slogan: ‘Khela Hobey’ (It will be a game). Her rival[Read More…]

by 28/05/2021 Comments are Disabled Kashmir
Two decades of an Indo-Pak collaborative experiment – Pakistan- India- People’s- Forum- for- Peace-and-Democracy

Two decades of an Indo-Pak collaborative experiment – Pakistan- India- People’s- Forum- for- Peace-and-Democracy

In September 1994, a few Indian and Pakistani social activists and professionals gathered together in Lahore, and came out with a statement stating their intention to set up a forum through which interaction could be established between the common people of the two countries. This led to the formation of the Pakistan-India-People’s – Forum -for- Peace-and-Democracy (PIPFPD). This article is[Read More…]

by 26/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Gandhian antecedents of the anti-`love-jihad’ campaign – and Gandhi’s later act of  atonement

Gandhian antecedents of the anti-`love-jihad’ campaign – and Gandhi’s later act of  atonement

   The  term  `love- jihad’  is  being  used  by  the  activists  of  the  Sangh  Parivar  to  target  inter-religious  marriages  between Muslim  men  and  Hindu  women.  They  accuse  the  Muslims  of  seducing   Hindu  women  and  converting  them  to  Islam.  But  then,  how  would  they  justify  the  marriages  between  the  BJP’s  Muslim  leaders  and  their  Hindu  wives  –    with  Mukhtar  Abbas  Naqvi [Read More…]

by 18/03/2021 1 comment India
Narendra Modi as a political artiste

Narendra Modi as a political artiste

`The show goes on’ – is a popular saying. The shows conducted by our Prime Minister – whether in public space or within Parliament – are excellent illustrations of his versatility as an `artiste’ (the term used to describe talented professional singers, dancers and other performers). His recent tearful performance on the floors of Parliament , on the occasion of[Read More…]

by 17/02/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Time  for  a  new  Civil  Disobedience  Movement

Time  for  a  new  Civil  Disobedience  Movement

Politicians  of  all  hues,  are  celebrating  the  birth  anniversary  of  Gandhi  this  month.  A  leader  of  one  political  party  has  recalled  his  legacy,  by  rightly  emphasizing  the  `Gandhian  agenda’  of   “more  openness,  freedom  and  a  life  of  dignity  and  respect.”   (Ram  Madhav:  `Gandhi’s  True  Legacy.’  Indian  Express,  October  2,  2020).  Ironically,  it  is  his  own  party  that  is  in  power [Read More…]

by 09/10/2020 Comments are Disabled India
Prime  Ministerial  Code  of  Conduct

Prime  Ministerial  Code  of  Conduct

  In  this  pandemic  season  of  coughs  and  colds,    Prime  Minister  Narendra  Modi  has  shown  exemplary  courage .  With  one  single  sneeze,  he  brought  forth  the  lightening-swift  measure  of  lockdown,  taking  everyone  by  surprise.  Following  it,  in  his  social  conduct  and  official  policies,   he  has  been   strictly  adhering  to  the  protocol  of  the  lockdown  to  fight   Coronavirus.   Let  us  take [Read More…]

by 05/05/2020 1 comment India
A new class of `anti-nationals’ – victims of COVID-19 paranoia   

A new class of `anti-nationals’ – victims of COVID-19 paranoia   

  The  term  `guilty  by  association’   had  been  a  part  of  discourse  in  criminal  jurisprudence  for  years.  It  implies  the  categorization  of  any  one  as  guilty  who  has   been  associated  with  the  accused  criminal ,  even  though  not  directly  participating  in  the  crime.   Today,  in  the  paranoid  environment  of  the  coronavirus  pandemic,  the  term  has  been  extended  to  include   common [Read More…]

by 06/04/2020 Comments are Disabled India
India’s citizenship laws resemble South Africa’s Asiatic Registration Act

India’s citizenship laws resemble South Africa’s Asiatic Registration Act

At a time when Delhi was burning in the fire of communal riots sparked by the provocative speeches of leaders of his own party as evident from video reports, it was ironical that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have invited President Trump to visit, of all places, Sabarmati, the ashram where Gandhi prayed for peace and non-violence – the very[Read More…]

by 03/03/2020 Comments are Disabled India
Time for a mid-term poll -in response to reverberations from Shaheen Bagh and other parts of India

Time for a mid-term poll -in response to reverberations from Shaheen Bagh and other parts of India

The  protestors  in  Shaheen  Bagh  in  the  national  capital  are  being  targeted  by    police-protected   revolver-wielding  Hindutva  fanatics,   and  those  in  other  cities  across  the  country  are  being  prevented  by  the  police  from  demonstrating in  the  streets.   Nevertheless   their  voices  are  reverberating  from  all  corners  of  India  to  the  corridors  of  the  United  Nations  and  the  global  institutions  of   Europe.  They [Read More…]

by 03/02/2020 Comments are Disabled India
Premonitions   and  predilections  while  entering   2020  

Premonitions   and  predilections  while  entering   2020  

The  new  year  greets  us  with  the  murderous  rampage  by  the  Hindutva  brigade  in  the  JNU  campus  against  students  and  teachers  who  have  been  protesting  against  the  authoritarian   policies  and  acts  of  the  BJP  regime.  The  practice  of  assaults  and  lynching   against  Muslims   and  Dalits  in  the  public  space  since  Narendra  Modi’s  coming  to  power,   was  extended  to  students  of  [Read More…]

by 10/01/2020 Comments are Disabled India
Rape  as  violent  misogyny  and  `Encounter  killing’   as   state  lynching

Rape  as  violent  misogyny  and  `Encounter  killing’   as   state  lynching

It  is  ironical  that  we  have  been  observing   December  10  as  the  World  Human  Rights  day   following   two  most   egregious  incidents  of   violation  of  human  rights  in   India   –  one  by  a  gang  of  rapists  and  the  other  by  the  state  police,  each  occurring  within  a  couple  of  days.  In  Unnao  in  Uttar  Pradesh,  a  survivor  of  gang  rape  was [Read More…]

by 16/12/2019 Comments are Disabled Human Rights
Calling  Modi’s  Bluff

Calling  Modi’s  Bluff

 Results   of  the  latest  state  assembly  elections  in  Haryana  and  Punjab,  and   some  by-elections  in  other  states  indicate  a  slight  awakening  from  the   slumber   in  which  the  Indian  electorate  had   sunk,   since  the  last  Lok  Sabha  polls.   It  seems  that  not  all  voters  are   willing  to  be  taken  in  by  the  media-fashioned  image  of   Narendra  Modi   as   their  messiah,  and [Read More…]

by 26/10/2019 Comments are Disabled India
Kashmir  is  no  longer  an  `internal  affair’ 

Kashmir  is  no  longer  an  `internal  affair’ 

Despite  all  the  cringing  efforts  made  by   our  newly  appointed  foreign  minister  S.  Jaishankar  to  cajole  the  UN  and  the  European  Community   to  fall  in  line  with  the  Modi  government’s  claim  that  developments  in   Kashmir are  India’s  `internal  affair’,  the  exposure   of   the  horrid  happenings  in  Srinagar  and  other  parts  of  the  Valley  through  the  international  media  is  making  Modi [Read More…]

by 11/10/2019 Comments are Disabled India
Indian   Mass  Psychology 

Indian   Mass  Psychology 

                                                           The variety of post-mortem reports coming out from the analysis of the Lok Sabha election results is quite confusing. Each contradicts the other. Some psephologists are silent, others are bragging about[Read More…]

by 01/07/2019 2 comments India
An  indulgent  democratic  system  that  fosters  `religious  fascism’  –  both  in  the  brain  and  the  brawn

An  indulgent  democratic  system  that  fosters  `religious  fascism’  –  both  in  the  brain  and  the  brawn

“Tolerance toward that which is radically evil now appears as good because it serves the cohesion of the whole on the road to affluence or more affluence…In a democracy with totalitarian organization, objectivity may fulfill a very different function, namely to foster a mental attitude which tends to obliterate the difference between true and false, information and indoctrination, right and[Read More…]

by 22/06/2019 Comments are Disabled India
Need  for   UN   Observers   to  monitor  India’s  parliamentary  elections

Need  for   UN   Observers   to  monitor  India’s  parliamentary  elections

Candidates  of  the  Opposition  parties  as  well  as   Independents  should  immediately  approach  the  UN   to  send  observers  to  India  to  conduct  an  independent  survey  of  the  coming  month  long  Lok  Sabha  polls.  The  BJP-ruled  Indian  state  is  fast  approaching  the  status  of   authoritarian  regimes  which  manipulate  the  electoral  process   to  perpetuate  themselves in  power (as  in  some  countries in  South-East [Read More…]

by 11/04/2019 Comments are Disabled India
Shaking  one  hand   with  Andre  Vltchek,  and  keeping  the  other  hand  on  my  heart

Shaking  one  hand   with  Andre  Vltchek,  and  keeping  the  other  hand  on  my  heart

  Let  me  begin  by  congratulating  Binu  Mathew  on  his  probing  queries  during  his  interview  with  Andre  Vltchek,  which  brought  out  a  powerfully  honest  narrative  from  this  world-known  public  intellectual,  who  dares  to  describe  himself  as  a  “..Revolutionary  and  Internationalist.’ Since  these  two  issues  –  revolution  and  internationalism  –  had  been  a  part  of  my  life  since  the  1950s,  both [Read More…]

by 14/12/2018 3 comments Life/Philosophy
Witches' Sabbath

When  Reason  Sleeps  

 ‘El   sueno   de  la  razon  produce   monstruos’   (The  sleep  of   reason  produces  monsters)   –   Francisco  Goya,  the  famous  Spanish   artist,  in  his  note  to   his  etchings  called  `Los  Caprichos’,   made  in  1799. Goya’s  words  –  and  his  paintings  that  he  did  later  (during  1820-23)   depicting  a  dark  vision  of  his  surrounding  reality   –  arouse  ominous  echoes  in  our  society  today. [Read More…]

by 24/11/2018 1 comment Life/Philosophy
New Delhi: Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Information & Broadcasting, M  Venkaiah Naidu interacting with the media on GST, in New Delhi on Friday. PTI Photo(PTI7_7_2017_000043B)

Will  #MeToo call Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu?

The  courageous  all-India  Me-too  campaign  has  nailed  powerful   male  personalities  ranging   from  film  directors  and  actors   to  media  journalists  and   political  leaders.  I  expect  the  veteran  Congress  politician  Renuka  Chowdhury  to  join  the  campaign,  since  according  to  her  own  account  she  had  suffered  sexist  remarks  from  no  less  a  person  than   India’s  present  Vice-President   Venkaiah  Naidu. To  recount,  in  March [Read More…]

by 28/10/2018 3 comments Patriarchy
Under  `House  Arrest’   in  Indian  democracy

Under  `House  Arrest’   in  Indian  democracy

The  term   `house  arrest’  does  not  find  any  mention  in  the CrPC (Criminal  Procedure  Code)   or  the IPC  (Indian  Penal  Code).  But  certain   judges  have  invented  this  term  to  justify  their  decree,  presumably   by  falling  back  upon   an  Article  in  our  Constitution.   Article  142  empowers  the  Supreme  Court  to  “pass   such  decree  or  make  such  order  as  is  necessary  for [Read More…]

by 05/10/2018 1 comment Human Rights
Biographies    of   two   politicians   –   separated  by   eighty   years

Biographies    of   two   politicians   –   separated  by   eighty   years

September   17,  2018  was  the  sixty-eighth  birthday  of  the  Indian  Prime  Minister   Narendra  Modi,  on  which  occasion  a  new  edition  of  a  670  page  coffee  table  biography  was  released.  Entitled  ‘Narendra  Modi  –   A  Charismatic   and  Visionary   Statesman,’   it  is  co-authored  by  an  Indian,   Dr.  Adish  C.  Aggarwala,   and  an  English  woman,  Sarah  J.  Marchington.  It  was  first  published  in [Read More…]

by 26/09/2018 Comments are Disabled Book Review
Rat  poison

Rat  poison

  There  is  a  nation-wide  scare  about  a plot  to  kill  our  beloved  prime  minister  Narendra  Modi-ji  by  Maoists.  Thanks  to  the  ever  alert  police  force  of  Maharashtra  –  and  aided  by   our  even  more  alert  national  investigative  agencies  –  the  conspirators  have  been  apprehended  before  they  could  carry  out  their  plot.  But  it  is  a  matter  of  grave  concern [Read More…]

by 05/09/2018 2 comments India
Open  letter  to  Pune  Police  Commissioner

Open  letter  to  Pune  Police  Commissioner

Dear  Shri  K.  Venkateshan I  feel  terribly  sorry  about  your  future  career.  You  missed  a  chance  of  winning  a  police  medal  –  or  even  a  Padmashri.  Even  though  you  got  custody  of   the  five  rights  activists  (Varvara  Rao   Gautam  Navlakha,  Sudha Bharadwaj,  Vernon  Gonzalves  and  Arun  Ferreira) –  you  failed  to  bump  them  off  in  a  false  `encounter’,  the  oft-repeated [Read More…]

by 01/09/2018 Comments are Disabled Human Rights
Demystifying  the image  of  the  prodigal  son   of  the  Sangh  Parivar

Demystifying  the image  of  the  prodigal  son   of  the  Sangh  Parivar

“One  owes  respect  to  the  living;  but  to  the  dead  one  owes                        nothing  but  the  truth.”   –  Voltaire  (Lettres  sur  OEdipe) Obituaries  arepourng  in  after  the  death  of  Atal Bihari  Vajpayee,  who is  being  paid  respects to by  all  leaders  across  the  national  political  spectrum .  He  is  being  hailed  as  a  charismatic  prime  minister,  a  great  orator,  a  ruler  [Read More…]

by 25/08/2018 Comments are Disabled India
The  need  for   `teaching  lessons’

The  need  for   `teaching  lessons’

I  welcome Dr  Prem  Singh’s  article:  The  era  of  `teaching  lessons’ as  a timely intervention  in  the  current debate  over  how  to  resist  the  goons  of  the  Sangh  Parivar,  particularly  in the  context  of  their  recent  attack  on  Swami  Agnivesh.  I   however  find  a  few  problems  with  his  position  and  the  implications  flowing  from  it. First,  he  seems  to  be  upset [Read More…]

by 31/07/2018 1 comment India
Tale  of  two  portraits   –  a la  Dorian  Gray

Tale  of  two  portraits   –  a la  Dorian  Gray

In   Oscar  Wilde’s  famous  story,  the  hero  Dorian  Graypledged  his  soul,on  the  condition  that   the  painted  portrait  of  his  as  a  handsome  youth  must go  through  the  ageing process  on  the  canvas-in  exchange   of  his   right  to  enjoy  eternal  youth in  real  life.It was  a  wishful  deal  betweentwo  traditional  forms  –  art  as  fixed  imageon  the  one  hand ,  and [Read More…]

by 07/07/2018 Comments are Disabled Communal Harmony
Beyond  The  Impeachment  Debate

Beyond  The  Impeachment  Debate

Now  that  the  Rajya  Sabha  Chairman  Venkaiah  Naidu  has  dismissed  the  proposal  submitted  by  some  seventy -odd  Opposition  legislators  to   impeach  Supreme  Court   Chief  Justice  Dipak  Misra,  the  debate  over  the  issue has  to  be  extended   beyond  the  legalese  of  the  arguments  in  which  our  eminent  jurists  had  been  indulging  all  these  months,  into  the  arena  of  commonsense  arguments  where[Read More…]

by 02/05/2018 1 comment India
The  Body  And  Dress  Code  In  Indian  Political  Discourse

The  Body  And  Dress  Code  In  Indian  Political  Discourse

The   exchange  of  banters  between  the  outgoing  veteran  Congress  MP  Renuka  Chaudhury and  India’s  Vice-President  Venkaiah  Naidu in  the  Rajya  Sabha,  during  the  ceremony  to  bid  farewell  to  her  and  other  retiring  MPs ,  has  taken  an  ugly  turn.  In  her  farewell  speech  Renuka  Chaudhury  while  addressing  Naidu (who  is  also  the  Rajya  Sabha  Chairman),  in  a  self-deprecating humorous  vein [Read More…]

by 22/04/2018 1 comment India
  BJP’s  Appropriation  Of  The  Telengana  Liberation  Struggle  Of  1946-48

  BJP’s  Appropriation  Of  The  Telengana  Liberation  Struggle  Of  1946-48

    The BJP last year observed September 17, as Liberation of Hyderabad Day’, celebrating the Indian government’spolice action’ (a euphemism for what was actually a military invasion) in 1948, which led to the integration of the Nizam’s princely state into the Indian Union. It claims that its political ancestors (members of the Arya Samaj, Hindu Mahasabha, RSS and other[Read More…]

by 27/01/2018 1 comment India
Open  Letter  To  The   Honourable  Chief  Justice  of   India

Open  Letter  To  The   Honourable  Chief  Justice  of   India

Your  honour May  I,  as  an  ordinary  citizen  of  India,  request  you  to  enlighten  me  as  to  whether  some  of  the  recent  judgments  of  the  Supreme  Court  over  which  you  preside,  have  emanated  from  schizophrenia,  amnesia  or  megalomania  ? To  quote  a  few  instances  –  in  a  judgment  delivered  by  you  as  Supreme  Court  judge  on  November  30,  2016,  you [Read More…]

by 11/12/2017 Comments are Disabled India
After  One  Hundred  Years  Of  The  Russian  Revolution,  Where  Does  The  Left  Stand ? 

After  One  Hundred  Years  Of  The  Russian  Revolution,  Where  Does  The  Left  Stand ? 

The  history  of  the  1917  Russian  Revolution  and  its  aftermath,  can  be  divided  into  four  phases  –  (i)  the  historical  circumstances   surrounding  the  1917  revolution  that  led  to  the  seizure  of  power  by  the  Bolsheviks;  (ii)    the  post-revolution  experiments  in setting  up  a  socialist  system  in  Russia  under  the  leadership  of   Lenin  in  the  1920s,  and   by  Stalin  from  the [Read More…]

by 15/11/2017 2 comments World
`’Surrendered’  Maoists   Tried  By  `Surrendered Judges’

`’Surrendered’  Maoists   Tried  By  `Surrendered Judges’

Nandini  Sundar’s  case  study  of  Podiyam  Panda’s plight  as  a  victim  of  the  police  plot  to  show  him  off  to  the  press  as  a  surrendered  Maoist’  (re: Questionable  legality  of  the  Surrender  Process  in Chhattisgarh’  in  the  Counter-currents website  of  May  23,  2017),  not  only  re-iterates  the  well-established  notorious role  of  the  Indian  police  in  framing  innocent  people,  but  also  throws [Read More…]

by 12/07/2017 1 comment Human Rights
Army  Top  Brass  Who  Talk  Through  Their  Caps

Army  Top  Brass  Who  Talk  Through  Their  Caps

  The  well-known  social  scientist  and  historian,    Partha   Chatterjee  (in  his  article  ‘In  Kashmir,  India  is  witnessing  Its  General  Dyer’   that  came  out  on  the  news  portal  The  Wire  some  time  ago) ,  is  receiving  more  hate-mails  than  accolades,  judging  by  the  responses  carried  by  that  website.  This  is  expected,  given  the  militaristic  jingoism  that  has  been  generated  by  the [Read More…]

by 20/06/2017 1 comment India
Indo-Pak  Confrontation:  A Suicidal  Militaristic  Adventure

Indo-Pak  Confrontation:  A Suicidal  Militaristic  Adventure

 Official  reactions  to  the  recent  incidents  on  the  Indo-Pak  border  ( killing  of  Indian  jawans,   the  death  sentence  passed  on  an  Indian  national  by  the  Pakistan  judiciary , the  incessant  cross-border  firings),  follow  a  predictable  pattern.  At  the  diplomatic  level,  the  foreign  secretaries  of  the  two  states,  perpetually  miffed  with  each  other,  exchange  angry  notes.  At  the  military  level,  the [Read More…]

by 13/05/2017 1 comment South Asia