The Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Delhi has done three surveys with a foreign journalist based in Delhi that has some startling revelation that reflects on the freedom of the press in India. The three surveys conducted from 2020 to 2022 were shared with the Ministry of External Affairs but there was no response from the ministry that further puts a[Read More…]
Bengaluru: Names of 9,159 Muslim voters in the Shivajinagar constituency in Bengaluru have been removed from the voters’ list. This removal is done based on a complaint filed by a private agency named Chilume which has links to the BJP. The complaint was filed on November 16, 2022, and the action was taken by the Election commission in January 2023.[Read More…]
Some cow vigilante belonging to Bajrang Dal kidnapped Junaid (35) and Naasir (25) when they were traveling from Bharatpur Rajasthan to Bhiwani in neighboring Haryana and burnt them alive on suspicion of being cow smugglers. The charred remains of Junaid and Nassir were found in a Bolero in which they were traveling. “Eyewitnesses say the ‘gau rakshaks’ and the Crime[Read More…]
New Delhi: A report by Delhi-based think tank Lokniti-CSDS and Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung finds that 46 % of Hindus and Muslims who follow various media sources perceive news coverage of PM Modi as biased. They also believe that the Modi government is portrayed too favorably in the Indian news media. Only about one in five news consumers responded that[Read More…]
There are ominous signs that the Indian diaspora community is asserting the aggressive brand of Hindutva identity in the countries of their wellbeing. The Hindus- Muslim communal clashes in Leicester, UK, Hindu -Sikhs clash in Melbourne Australia, and the bulldozer march in New Jersey, US are some of the disturbing developments. These events signify that the Indian diaspora community wants[Read More…]
Lack of trust in the news media is the news these days. The reasons are; rampant misinformation, the rise of authoritarian governments, the dominance of social media, etc. are adding to the lack of trust in the news media. To discuss these issues, experts gathered in Honolulu at the recent East-West Center International Media Conference. Here I am putting up[Read More…]
There are many instances where untruth has triumphed. The latest case of “Asatyameva Jayate“ is Supreme Court’s judgment on Teesta Setalvad, R B Sreekumar, and Sanjiv Bhatt. The judgment was pronounced on a simple case of an appeal against an order of the Gujarat High Court which rejected the revision petition filed by Zakia Jafri widow of late Ahsan Jafri. [Read More…]
It was on June 25, at around 4 PM, that the arrest drama of the civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad began. This is narrated by Teesta’s journalist friend Rukmani Sen who was present during the events that progressed to the activists’ arrest. Tao know about click; https://rukminiatwork.wordpress.com/about/ Teesta received a call in the morning from Noida’s office of ATS asking her[Read More…]
A three-member Delimitation Commission has submitted its report on redrawing assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir on May 5, 2022. The delimitation panel has earmarked 47 assembly seats for the Kashmir division and 43 for the Jammu division after freshly redrawing the electoral map of Jammu and Kashmir. A gazette notification to this effect was issued by the panel headed[Read More…]
The recent communal clashes reported during the Ram Navami festival from the different parts of the country suggest that the Hindu zealots have taken over the law order in their hands. They unleashed a reign of terror on the Muslim minority and there is none to stop them from doing so. This suggests that India has outsourced law and order[Read More…]
The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022, intends to link demographic and biometric information with the identification of citizens in an attempt to make all the natural citizens of India to be looked at as ‘suspects.’ The law is draconian and against the principle of civil liberties human right and against the tenets of Indian constitution. It is apparent that with[Read More…]
The open call for genocide against Muslims by some self-styled Hindu leaders at the recent ‘Dharam Sansad’ (Religious Parliament) at Haridwar has stirred a hornet nest. It has evoked a sharp reaction against the government’s complicity to shield such perpetrators of hate crime and more its inability to punish those disturbing communal peace. However, at another level, it has[Read More…]
Chennai, December 12, 2021: Tamil Nadu’s celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer Zakir Hussain was insulted and abused inside the premises of Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple in Srirangam near Tiruchirappalli, by some self-styled custodian of Santan Dharma on Friday. Ranganatha Swamy temple is one of the important temples of the Vaishnavite tradition in Tamil Nadu and attracts devotees from across the country. Zakir[Read More…]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally apologized to the nation when he announced on TV to repeal three Farm laws that he vociferously defended for the past year saying “Today, I apologize if some farmers did not understand what we wanted to do through the farm laws. We have decided to repeal the three farm laws. We will withdraw all these three[Read More…]
US-based sociologist Ashutosh Varshney, an expert on BJP politics has coined the term Jim Crow Hindutva to describe the current wave of Hindu nationalism fang in the country. The author compares the current brand of BJP politics with the American politics of the late 19th century with regard to race that was called ‘Jim Crow’ south syndrome. Ashutosh Varshney is[Read More…]
This may not be news for those who have little connection with US domestic politics, but those who are closely watching the house of Uncle Sam it’s apparent that Hindutva forces are challenging the core US values in its home turf. This is an interesting development that needs to be closely watched as America’s melting pot culture is having[Read More…]
With fresh bouts of farmer protest gaining momentum, currently the Modi government is riding the high Horse of arrogance and the farmers are equally determined to conduct the ‘Ashwameda,’ the Vedic Yag of horse sacrifice. The current farmers protest is much deeper than the repealing of the three farm laws and fixing MSP prices. The bottom line is that the[Read More…]
After the anti CAA protest at Saheen Bagah in Delhi, the farmers protest is the second protest in Delhi that is currently underway in 2020. Thousands of farmers from Haryana and Punjab have marched towards Delhi to press the central government to repeal the recently enacted farm laws. They are stopped at Haryana Delhi border by the Delhi police using[Read More…]
The Line of Actual Control (LAC) at Pangong Tso remains poised on a razor’s edge. India- China animosity is high, mutual trust is nonexistent, and all past agreements and mechanisms that provided the basis for managing the border dispute have gone for a toss. The situation is slipping fast towards a point of no return, but a war that looks[Read More…]
Injustice against Indian Muslim by the BJP government is a quite talk in many quarters in India, but never among those sitting in judgment and delivering justice. This silence is broken by a division bench of Justice Tanaji V Nalawade and Justice Mukund G Sewlikar of Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court who on August 21, 2020 made some[Read More…]
The Forum for Human Rights, an informal group of 21 concerned Indian citizens have come up with a report of the one year direct rule in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The informal group comprises six top level judges of India, six high level bureaucrats, three members from Indian armed forces, two members from human rights organization ,[Read More…]
There is a media ‘dangal’ going on in Tamil Nadu between those who believe in god’s party and those who do not. A fictitious pro god party is created with a mission to attack godless parties, as a devised political strategy in an attempt to capture power in the state. How far such political strategy to divide people between on[Read More…]
The suicide by a scribe jumping from the roof top of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on July 6, 2020 was shocking. Journalist Tarun Sisodia (37) was working with Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar and hailed from Bhajanpura locality of Northeast Delhi. He was admitted to the AIIMS with specific symptoms and tested positive for Covid-19. He ran[Read More…]
As news reports are coming that China is disengaging its forces from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the words of former National Security Advisor Shivsankar Menon comes as a handy quote. The former Ambassador to China says; China moves two steps forward and then takes one step backward, having a net gain of one step, each time it withdraws[Read More…]
Chennai: The Madras High Court judges, Justices PN Prakash and B Pugalendhi, hearing the custodial deaths of Jayaraj and his son Bennix on June 22-23 has observed that prima facie, it appears that there are sufficient material to make out a case for murder against the police officers stated to have been involved in these custodial killings. Jayaraj and his[Read More…]
Chennai June 24 – A Muslim group in Tamil Nadu is actively involved in conducting proper funeral rites of dead bodies mostly of Corona victims belonging to different faiths. The volunteers of Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), a Muslim non-governmental organization have performed the last rights of about 139 dead bodies belonging to different religions commencing from March 25,[Read More…]
The woe of the victim families of the Gujarat riots of 2002 continues unabated. Even 18 years after that horrendous communal program the victims are living in utter neglect. Close to two lakh people were displaced in the 2002 Gujarat riots. These people remained displaced for more than a year then some Muslim relief organizations, along with a few local[Read More…]
Anti-Muslim propaganda fails to die in India. After the Tabligi Jamat now Muslims of Malappuram district of Kerala is being targeted for killing of a pregnant elephant that was apparently done to death by eating pineapple laced with explosives. According to forest officials, the wild elephant had left the forests of the Silent Valley in Palakkad district and wandered into[Read More…]
Indian Muslims always get a bad press and the blame is put on the community for not doing anything spectacular that may give them positive coverage. This is a hackneyed narrative that is going on since independence against the largest minority of the country. Muslims has been on the receiving end, searching souls, looking for faults within themselves which aren’t[Read More…]
Every Indian had few questions in their mind, when they turned on their TV sets at 8 PM on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, to listen to the Prime Minister Narandra Modi. Their questions were; will there be extension to lock down 3.0? What government has achieved in containing the Covid-19 and what are its future plans? What efforts government is making to revive[Read More…]
In the shadow of Covid- 19 locked down, there has been a spate of arrests being made in Delhi, mostly against the peaceful anti-CAA protesters and also against alleged instigators of communal riots in North-East Delhi. This is an alarming development happening in the national capital that too under the watchful eyes of the Home Minister and the National Security[Read More…]
Chennai April 15, 2020: On March 22, at 5 PM when the nation clapped and beat the vessels to cheer up those fighting the Corona war did anyone thought about Home Guards who are on the forefront to take cudgels with the unseen enemy? In a candid interview, Mr. Manjit Singh Nayyar, Assistant Commandant General for the Home Guards, listed[Read More…]
Chennai April 13, 2020: Guru Nanak College at Velachery here has opened its doors to migrant workers from across the country stranded due to COVID-19 lock down. Most of these migrant works were stranded at the Central station and caught in a situation of nowhere to go due to the sudden announcement lock down in the country. In such crucial[Read More…]
India’s Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, once the world’s largest read daily, with close links to the right wing Hindu outfits called “Sangh Parivar” is hate Muslim media factory. The vernacular newspaper with wide circulation in the communal tinderbox, Uttar Pradesh indulged in creating Islamophobia and communal polarization of the society when Covid- 19 pandemic‘s curve is steeply rising in the[Read More…]
The government’s response to the global Covid19 pandemic has been the best so far. But it would be futile to look at the government to come to the rescue when the impact of this pandemic will be at its peak all over the country. In such a case individuals, groups and communities need to support each other to overcome this[Read More…]
It is hard to remember that just a few weeks ago; our country was in motion, a moving anarchy that is how many westerners call India. There were protests all over the country over citizenship issue CAA, NPR and NCR. There was communal riot in Delhi where Hindus killed Muslims and vise-versa. Human divided themselves into religion and gunned for[Read More…]
Chennai March 3, 2020: In wake of discretion of mosques and killing of ‘Imam’ at the recent riots in Delhi, some Muslims in ‘Vaniyambadi,’ a town about 200 km from Chennai, organized a ‘Visit My Masjid’ programme at Masjid-e-Khaderpet on Sunday March 1, 2020. This was done to strengthen inter-faith relations and build a constituency of peace and communal harmony[Read More…]
Indian government by abrogating Article 370 has put the entire population in Kashmir valley in deep pain and agony. Since October 5, 2019 the people of the valley are subjected to untold hardship and they are silently suffering the pain without any hope of redemption. In the post Article 370 abrogation phase some uneasy questions are being asked about the[Read More…]
There are some dominant features of the contemporary India that needs to be narrated to understand the nature and direction of change that our country is making in a push to redefine nationalism and the bench marks of patriotism. A short summery is that these dominant features of contemporary India, screams loudly that the words like humanity, democracy, justice are[Read More…]
Muharram is first month of the Islamic New Year. This month holds special place for the Muslims all over the world due to killing of Imam Husain in the battle of Karbala (Iraq) on the 10th day of Muharram. Husain was grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and son of Caliph Ali. Muslims mourns the first 10 days of Muharram month[Read More…]
In a heartwarming instance of communal harmony, the Hindu residents of Mari village, in Nalanda district of Bihar have given their heart and soul to take care of an old mosque left abandon by the Muslims in their village. According to media report, in Mari village, due to scourge of unemployment Muslim population has slowly eased themselves out of the[Read More…]
The abrogation of Article 370 that binds India to Jammu and Kashmir by the current BJP government has come as a rude shock to those who believed in the famous slogan “Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat, Insaniyat” as a road map to tackle the problems of alienation in the restive state north of India. The BJP government with a sledge hammer of brute[Read More…]
A Facebook post by Sreedharan that “my Umma (mother) has honored the summons of Allah, please pray for her soul…if there is heaven, my Umma will surely find a place there,” has caught many eyeballs. It appeared it was a cry of a Hindu child for her Muslim mother. There was definitely curiosity raised through the FB post. In deeper[Read More…]
The 100 years old mosque in village Hedon Bet, Machhiwara Tehsil in Ludhiana still stands tall, despite zero Muslim population in the village. The Mosque that was built in 1920 lies abandoned for want of worshipers. Thanks to village elders the mosque has not been demolished or being encroached upon by the land grabbers. The elders of the village refuse[Read More…]
The 2019 parliamentary election mandate is shrouded in suspense, mystery, uneasiness and unhappiness among large section of the people in the country. The clean sweep by the BJP is not accepted by many people and there is a clamor all around, that the BJP has won the polls through EVM manipulation calling the new government as EVM Sarkar . The needle of[Read More…]
The results of the 2019 general election have dissatisfied a large number of Indians. The message that has come out from the mandate 2019 is that the secular democratic and socialist forces have been marginalized in the country. There are few clear cut narratives that come out from the mandate 2019. The way people have voted for the BJP in[Read More…]
Punjab faced the full fury of the communal violence in 1947 during the Partition of India. The state witnessed an extremely turbulent and traumatic situation in the run up to the independence and Partition of the country. The transfer of power from British to the dominion of India and Pakistan accompanied large scale transfer of population from both sides of[Read More…]
A Professor from Madras University was describing the background of Champaran Satyagrah of 1917, at an International Conference on India Vietnam Relations through the Prism of Gandhian and Ho Chi Minh Philosophies at Centre of Southeast Asia and Pacific Studies Sri Venkateshwara University Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh on March 18, 2019. As the learned Professor was speaking why Mahatma Gandhi[Read More…]
Ayodhya issue is an explosive mix of history, religion and politics. Can the Ayodhya land dispute mediation panel make any dent in crafting a compromise among the disputing parties is the fundamental question? This method of arbitration has made the case too simple, because if any such compromise has to have reached, it could have been done long ago, and[Read More…]
India and Pakistan seem to have just got over playing “War War” on the February 26 and 27, 2019 testing aerial capabilities of each other and in the end declaring victory. In the absence of hard evidences and credible sources, both the sides have sold their own version of the story to save their faces and let the people make[Read More…]
There are two significant opinions on Kashmir situation expressed by two eminent personalities from Chennai whose opinion matters in the aftermath of the Phulwama terror attack on February 14 that killed 42 security personals, gives a southern perspective to the Kashmir tangle. The first comment came from actor-turned-politician, Kamal Haasan who when asked to comment on the Pulwama suicide attack[Read More…]
At a time when venom against Indian Muslims is being splashed all over in the Social Media holding them responsible for the terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14, 2019, in which 42 CRPF Jawans were martyred in a dastardly terror attack, a Muslim lady IAS officer in Bihar has silenced such ‘Indian vultures’ by adopting[Read More…]
The terror attack on the CRPF convoy at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir is the most ghastly among all such attacks that so far has happened in the restive state. Every Indian’s heart goes out to the families of the security personnel who were killed or injured in that dastardly attack. The family members of the victims of this barbaric[Read More…]
The damaging report published by The Hindu Newspaper provides the clinching evidence that PMO was hobnobbing with the negotiations in the purchase of Rafael aircraft from France. In other words it’s the PM who was presiding over the act of corruption using his high office. ‘The Hindu’ reportage by N. Ram that “Government waived anti-corruption clauses in Rafale deal” and[Read More…]
The jail for life conviction of Delhi Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti-Sikh riot case is too little and too late judgment by the Delhi High Court. The Sikh’s killings occurred a day after Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards October 31, 1984. There were other Congress leaders, besides Sajjan Kumar like HKL Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler and[Read More…]
The Ayodhya case is now ready for hearing by the Supreme Court from October 29, 2018. This is happening after a hiatus of almost eight years when the legal proceedings was last heard with a shoddy judgment pronounced by the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court in 2010. This time when the uninterrupted hearing is going to happen, it’s for[Read More…]
Indian media has few pet topics that come with its own season. The universal themes for such season are Indian Muslims, Kashmir and Pakistan. Rape is another topic that has its own season though it comes in daily doses. Breaking the monotony of seasonal news feed a ‘new season’ has now in Indian media. This is allegation of sexual[Read More…]
India’s new social justice system through lynch mob that’s making hay while sun shines, has resonance in Bihar as well. This time their target was a helpless woman who was stripped and paraded naked on the streets of Arrah town. The most conspicuous part of this justice system was the mood of the lynch mob that was captured in their[Read More…]
Prime Minister Narandra Modi’s 72 Independence day speech from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort was a damp squib affair. It was just a talk the talk with no meaningful take away. Millions of Indians were expecting that he will come up with pointed achievements that have been made under his rule. However, the high sounding words of[Read More…]
The ugly face of Hindutva terrorism has once again come to limelight with the arrest of three persons in Maharashtra for conspiring to carry out “terror activities” in several of places of the state. According to Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), it has recovered 22 items from the accused home in Pune. These include; 20 crude bombs, two gelatine sheets, a note[Read More…]
The horrifying news from a state sponsored shelter home at Muzafarpur town in Bihar has lowered the national esteem beyond imagination. All over the country there has been shock and dismay at this shameful news. No one believed that even such kind of ghastly act can take place in a state run shelter home. Now, when the heat and dust[Read More…]
There is spate of lynching incidents reported from different parts of India. Many of them are attributed to fake news that is discovered much after the damage is done. The Supreme Court of India has become agog to such frightening reality and had ordered the Centre and the States government to take immediate steps to stop the dissemination of misinformation[Read More…]
The withdrawal of Bhartiya Janata Party’s support from its ally the People’s Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir has plunged the state into a quandary. The Governor’s rule and the promulgation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) have pushed the state into uncertainties. Where do we go from here is story for another day to tell here[Read More…]
In an era of profound distortion of news and storytelling, the most pertinent question that is being asked is; ‘what is News now’? Notwithstanding the debatable facts, the fact remains that we are witnessing new trends and upheavals in the media industry particularly transformative issues in the business of news. Today we are facing an increasing focus on the intersection[Read More…]
Rama Navmi is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birthday of Lord Rama. The festival is a part of the Hindu calendar that typically occurs in the months of March or April every year. The festival is an occasion for moral reflection for many Hindus. Traditionally, a Vashnavite’s, day is marked by reading of Ramayana and other stories of Lord[Read More…]
Two snapshots of visual communication haunt me all the time. One is of the lynch mobs calling themselves as neo patriots and other the You Tube Videos of two Brahmin saints who were sunk deep into Islamic music and epitomised the syncretic cultural tradition of India. The first need no explanation as they are staple diet in the Indian[Read More…]
There is much attention on the plight of the Roghingas in the media these days. Rohingas are an ethnic population of over one million Sunni Muslims living in Myanmar’s Northern Rakhine state. They are being persecuted by their own government and the United Nations has called them as the world’s most persecuted community. Since last one decade, scores of Rohingyas[Read More…]
The case related to annulment of interreligious marriage between a Muslim groom and Hindu turned Muslim bride by the Kerala High Court has caught the imagination of the entire nation. This national interest in this case is because it has reached the Supreme Court where some high profile lawyers of the country are arguing for and against, bringing out[Read More…]
Nord Stream sabotage was to undercut Germany, says Seymour Hersh 
It Will Be Hard And Cost A Lot Of Blood For Ukraine To Kick Out Russians, Says Top U.S. General 
Saudi – Iran rapprochement: A chance for peace 
Day 30 of the NREGA Protest: Students and Activists Detained by the Delhi Police 
An Irrational Verdict? 
Trump Rot at the EPA 
AUKUS, the Australian Labor Party, and Growing Dissent 
Palestinians Don’t Exist? 
The Long Arm of Washington Extends Into Africa’s Sahel 
Radio Fatherland!! 
Bellies of the Rich Swell Further on the Back of Hunger 
The Big Picture And The Small – Part II 
2500 people urge Chief Minister of Karnataka to protect farmers, pastoralists and Dalits from Supreme injustice 
Our Global Water Crisis 
3.5 Million March Across France Opposing Macron’s Pension Reform 
Election Commission of India must question the presence political nominees on BEL’s and ECIL’s Boards 
Ihan Omar Introduces Legislation to Combat Islamophobia 
Narendra Modi’s Cricket Coup 
The Big Picture And The Small 
Prophesies, Then and Now – My Life at World’s End 
How the Cuban Government and Its People Collaborated on the Family Code 
Stop Criminalizing Journalism and Human Rights Activism: Release Irfan Mehraj and Parvez Khurram 
Politics of Bhagat Singh’s trial 
The Tragedy of Footpaths: Impressions of a Pedestrian in Bangalore 
Altruism exists in nature, Reciprocal altruism in humans U.S. Trying To Cover Up Its Role In Nord Stream Sabotage, Says Seymour Hersh 
Open Letter To Rahul Gandhi, Indian National Congress Party 
Future Scenarios in Ukraine West Sends Depleted Uranium Weapons to Ukraine: MEP to Warmongers – “You Make Me Sick!” 
Sri Lanka’s unconvincing response to Universal Periodic Review’s forthright findings 
Kisan Mahapanchayat stages massive rally in Delhi 
The betrayers of Julian Assange 
The Truth About Our Failure to Curb Carbon Emissions 
They’re liars, Mexico’s President on U.S. 
Grameena Pedala Sangham, Telangana State conference, is an important mile-stone 
Imperial Visits: US Emissaries in the Pacific Enough is enough. Restore parliament 
Disgrace at the New York Times 
‘Israel is (Not) Back to Africa’: How African Countries are Challenging Israeli Plot on the Continent 
A Highway to Peace or a Highway to Hell? The Vast Power of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
