It would be interesting to recall in the context of the current India China relations that Liu Shaoqi’s book How to be a Good Communist was translated into Gujarati in the 1940s by Chandrakant Parikh, a full time CPI worker, in Mumbai. How much history has changed. Gujarat has come to this sad pass politically today. But it had a[Read More…]
When BJP national president Amit Shah descended on northern Kerala recently as part of his ‘save Kerala mission’, he brought along with him a gaggle of journalists to gauge the menace of “Red-Jihadi terror” in the state. The embedded journalists looked around with rubbernecking curiosity for mass graves of RSS men killed by CPM cadres. They, however, could not[Read More…]
My take on the situation in our country today is that the BJP must decide what it is – bird or beast. It must decide what its core ideology is. I am happy to do a Core Ideology Workshop for them and the RSS if they want. The problem is that they seem to be confused in this respect and[Read More…]
As was expected PM Narendra Modi shifted HRD minister Smriti Zubin Irani to less consequential position, the textile ministry, in the recent reshuffle of the council of minister. To have a particular minister in a particular position is the well established convention and the prerogative of PM in a parliamentary democratic system, on this ground the shifting is natural but[Read More…]
“Older!” … “Not: Old!” 
Arctic sea ice shrinks to its second-lowest annual minimum extent ever 
Assange’s Eleventh Day at the Old Bailey: Suicide, Hallucinations and Psychological Torture 
The UAE-Israel deal’s historicity is in the fine print 
(Un)Civil War? 
Strange Celebrations of the UN 75th Anniversary 
“Manifest Destiny” and the Mexican-American War 
A peacock, divine providence and we 
Iran – US Sanctions – Unilateralism – Turning the Clock Back to Before the Nuclear Deal 
Another Reason to Change Our Species Name! 
André Vltchek – Remembered 
You Can Ask Me….But 
Before teaching in English medium, first improve the shoddy text books 
A Moral Debate 
The End of Reality? 
RSS As A Terrorist Outfit: Evidences From Its Archives 
RTI: High Court admonishes irresponsible PIOs 
Assange’s Tenth Day at the Old Bailey: Bolting Horses, Death Penalties and Plots of Eviction 
On the GST issue, the Centre holds the baton 
Resisting Linguistic Hegemony: The Legacy of Punjabi Language 
Cutting Back 
Changing Our Species Name 
Sri Lanka’s Boiling Tamils And Failing Tamil Political Leaders 
Can the Social Sciences choose to be Reflexive in times of Crisis? 
In Praise of the Lioness of Law: Ruth Bidder Ginsburg and her Jurisprudence 
A Letter To God From Kashmir 
Black Wave – Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry 
The Caged Bird and the Free Bird 
TV journalism in India: Crying for TRP or Truth 
The Truth Hurts 
Who Is President Trump? 
Lynching of democracy in India 
Apartheid Reaffirmed 
Something’s Rotten About The Republic Of Reaction 
A gypsy’s account of the times gone by 
Increasing Incidence of Violence Against Women Forest Dwellers in Uttarakhand 
Why is Bengal still Caste-less? 
Body, Nation and Resistance in the times of COVID-19 Protests re-erupts in Portland 
Farmers Bills: Are They, Boon or Bane? 
This article is based on the 25th Chandrashekar Memorial Lecture delivered on 20 September 2020. The original lecture was delivered in Hindi and the event was organized by Punashcha, the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA) and Koshish. Friends, comrades gathered here; I am very honoured to be invited to deliver the Chandrashekhar Memorial Lecture this year but I cannot say[Read More…]
