Ayodhya is an ancient city of India situated near Faizabad in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. According to the religious scriptures, Ayodhya used to be the capital of the ancient Kosala Kingdom and the birthplace of Hindu god Rama. Ayodhya (Awadh) has been regarded as one of the seven most important pilgrimage sites for Hindus (Times of India, n.d.). The Ayodhya dispute arose as it is believed that a temple was[Read More…]
This 5th August (2020) the Prime Minister of India did the ground breaking ceremony (Bhumi Pujan) for Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The Prime Minster compared the 15th August; when India got freedom to the 5th August, when according to him Lord Ram was liberated. Also he said that as all the people rallied behind Mahatma Gandhi to get India freedom;[Read More…]
On December 6th, 1992, it was not just Babari Masjid that was razed to the ground but also the spirit of the Constitution of India. Those of us, who have followed these cases and the vicious movement led by the Sangh parivar in the 1990s for the Ram Janam Bhumi know that they had least faith in the judiciary. After[Read More…]
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 beginning, Kashi Mathura are next on the line). Supreme Court despite giving the same land to those who demolished the Mosque did call it a crime. The Ram Temple was[Read More…]
The event of Bhoomi Poojanof of Ram-Mandir in Ayodhya on 5 August 2020 marks the beginning of the politico-social endorsement of majority communalism in the country. In the articles/news stories/editorials/party releases/comments etc. written with reference to the Constitution and the Republic of India on this subject, one common thing could be discerned. That is, no intellectual or leader has accepted[Read More…]
How does a poet respond to the situation of a city under siege? For a poet, a crisis can trigger a tenacious journey even in the midst of a siege. The Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish’s Memory for Forgetfulness tracks the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon in which Beirut, where he lived, was bombed. “Beirut, [is] surrounded by Israeli tanks and official Arab paralysis,” he wrote. Beirut is holding on to its nerves as it strives to “protect the radiance of its meaning as the capital[Read More…]
Ground breaking ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya at the very site where Babri Masjid once stood was regrettable for more than one reason. This event was made possible by a dubious verdict of the Supreme Court of India, a verdict that went against many of its own findings. Supreme Court ruled that the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992[Read More…]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not just in his personal capacity, but in his capacity as the Prime Minister of 130 crore Indians quite unexpectedly re-defined Rama totally in a different way than how the RSS/BJP have shown him to us for the last thirty years since 1989. He did that at Ayodhya and at the Ramajanma Bhoomi temple Bhoomi poojan[Read More…]
The RSS-BJP government of India led by a seasoned RSS whole-timer, Narendra Modi has miserably failed in providing basic amenities, employment, education, security and peace to 138 crores of Indians (out of which approximately 80% are Hindus ) but on last August 5, he had a joyous news to share with the people of the country. While laying the foundation[Read More…]
Last week, Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, dressed like a priest-king in a saffron scarf and a silver crown performed a sacred ritual in the Ayodhya to found a new Hindu temple on a site where, for hundreds of years, the historic Babri Masjid (mosque) once stood. The state-sponsored ceremony was meant to show the transformation of India from[Read More…]
The mainstream media — particularly Hindi newspapers — instead of critiquing the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for performing Bhoomi pooja (groundbreaking) of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, is chanting Jai Shri Ram. It has again failed to uphold the constitutional principle of secularism. On August 6, a day after Bhoomi pooja ceremony, almost all Hindi newspapers carried pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi[Read More…]
Sixth December, 1992 – The day India lost its secular character and opted for majoritarionism as its ruling philosophy. The quilt of India made from its myriad beliefs, religions, languages, customs and traditions was torn to shreds by an insane crowd of zealous fanatics egged on by a short-sighted selfish leadership of Bhartiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh.[Read More…]
Co-Written by Arundhati Dhuru and Sandeep Pandey Ram has been described as Maryada Purushottam, the most virtuous among men. He left his kingdom merely because he didn’t want to hurt the sentiments of his step mother and went on a 14 years exile. It was not in his character to enter into a dispute. He had to enter into a[Read More…]
One of the memorable productions of Ebrahim Alkazi was Dharmavir Bharati’s Hindi play Andha Yug whose title and theme are so relevant to the dark times we live in. It was directed by the doyen of Indian theatre in 1963 against the backdrop of Purana Quila, the fort, and was witnessed by Jawaharlal Nehru. The story hints at the perils[Read More…]
Those who expect political class to be a ‘revolutionary’ and ‘radically’ ‘secular’ live in great illusion and should form their ‘own’ outfits which their own families will not support. Intellectualism and politics, frankly do not go together. Politics is sentiments, emotions and all the Saas-Bahu masala that we love to watch on TV screens. The reason why I am writing[Read More…]
It boggles my mind, astonished to observe as to how those Indian Muslims who support Erdogan on the Hagia Sophia, oppose Modi on Ram Mandir? How do you oppose a Hindu Rashtra here, whilst welcoming Islamic states abroad, where Muslims are in a majority? Thus it is often said that, where Muslims are in a minority they demand & support[Read More…]
Thiruvananthapuram: In a joint statement prominent individuals from sociopolitical , cultural and religious spheres of Kerala called on those adorning constitutional positions to stay away from the groundbreaking ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya . The occasion should not be misused for narrow political gains. Prime Minister of India, a secular country, Governor and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh should[Read More…]
All India People’s Front’s Political Resolution When the Hon’ble Supreme Court gave a verdict on the Ram Mandir / Babri Masjid dispute, the democratic civil society, despite agreeing / disagreeing with it, had expressed the desire that a dispute be resolved and now the political establishment will not try to mix religion and politics. It will try to solve the[Read More…]
Chandigarh, 5 August (2020) With Hindutva forces pursuing of the upper-caste Brahmanic ideology for over a century aiming to reshape India into a Hindu Nation, the Democratic-Secular Indian Republic today stands formally transformed into a Hindu Rashtra as Prime Minister Modi laid down a 40-kg silver brick at the foundation, marking the beginning of Ram Temple at Ayodhya. The Sikh[Read More…]
Grand foundation laying ceremony at Ayodhya is a blow to the secular credentials of India. The fact that 3 constitutional dignitaries PM, UP CM and UP Governor, tasked with duty to protect and preserve the constitution, attended a religious ceremony is attack on constitutional values. This is in clear disregard with the oath which they take, “ to bear true[Read More…]
‘Hey Ram’ were the last words of Mahatma Gandhi; the father of the nation. He uttered these words on 30th of January 1948 while taking bullets from his assassin; a Hindutva terrorist called Nathuram Godse. The Hindutva politics of hate filled bullets from the Beretta automatic pistol that killed Mahatma Gandhi. This was the first onslaught on the secular and[Read More…]
The sovereign-democratic Indian Republic came into existence on January 26, 1950 coinciding with the promulgation of a historic constitution which in its Preamble declared its firm commitment to “JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual[Read More…]
C.L.R. James, a prominent Trinidadian Historian, and Socialist, is well known for his contribution to the historiography of the study of events. He once said, “An artistic, a social event does not reflect the age. It is the age”. These words reflect the influential role that certain events can have on the course of a nation’s history and its people.[Read More…]
A statement by the Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia Denouncing the Celebration of Ram Janmabhoomi on August 5th at Times Square, NYC: While the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, the BJP-led government is forging ahead with its dangerous agenda of destroying the syncretic culture of India and compromising the Indian Constitution itself. An outlandish celebration of[Read More…]
In 2018, Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, earlier known as Professor Guru Das Agrawal when he used to teach at Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, wrote four letters to the Prime Minister when he went on a fast for 112 days demanding a law for conservation of Ganga before he succumbed on 11th October at All Indian Institute of Medical[Read More…]
To Shri A K Bhalla Union Home Secretary Dear Shri Bhalla, I write this in continuation of my previous letter dated 26-3-2020 regarding the need to comply with the lockdown restrictions in order to prevent the spread of COVID. It is unfortunate that several persons occupying high positions have time and again violated the lockdown restrictions laid down by your[Read More…]
After the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Ram temple trust the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who over saw the Babri Msjid destruction, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharati, who actively participated in that act, said that the Other Backward Classes (Shudra/ OBCs) are as much Ram Bhakts as Dalits are and demanded for inclusion of an OBC member[Read More…]
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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…]
