Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
EDITORIAL: APRES BIHAR
Vinod Mubayi and Raza Mir
The triumphal drive of the Hindutva chariot, which began in May 2014, has been slowed by the massive victory of the Grand Alliance in the Bihar election. The very Gandhian type of civil disobedience exhibited by Indian writers, artists, scientists and intellectuals who have returned very publicly their awards and honors in protest at the intolerant and thuggish acts of the Sangh Parivar has further tarnished the luster of the Modi regime; the poor fellow now has to run abroad to gather approbation from the likes of the British Tory Cameron or the hawkish Israeli Zionist Netanyahu. Read more…
GROWING INTOLERANCE
Neha Dabhade & Irfan Engineer
Recently in an interview at an award function, Amir Khan, mentioned that his wife, Kiran asked him whether they should leave the country. To Amir Khan, the statement of his wife was disastrous and indicated growing intolerance in the country. Though we condemn any such sweeping statement coming from a celebrity idolized by millions in the country, one must without politicizing the statement, reflect over the context it was made in. The Indian Prime Minister in London rightly pointed out, “India is full of diversity. This diversity is our pride and it is our strength. Diversity is the speciality of India.” (Indian Express, Nov 14, 2015). Read more…
MEASURE OF THE MAN – WHY MODI LOVES HOOPLA
Bharat Bhushan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come back to India somewhat rejuvenated, his love for the grandiose nurtured by the attention, admiration and adulation bestowed on him by British Indians and the British Prime Minister himself, at London’s Wembley Stadium. Read more…
GENDER BENDER IN BIHAR: WHY WOMEN VOTED AGAINST MODI IN THE RECENT BIHAR ELECTIONS
Ruchira Gupta
For 20-year-old Nageena, a college student in Patna, life is about possibilities. She dreams of becoming an engineer.
For the first ten years of her life, she ran ragged on the dirt path of a red-light district in Forbesganj, Bihar. Her home, a mud hut had no doors, no roof, no toilet, no drinking water and no electricity. She could not read right or write, used to feel hungry all the time, was scared to go to the local school. Read more…
BANGLADESH: TRUTH BE DAMNED – THE ’OTHER’ IS ALWAYS THE CULPRIT
Mahfuz Anam
The PM blames Khaleda, the BNP chief blames Hasina, the killers continue to kill, the victims’ families live in fear, people remain confused and angry, friends of Bangladesh watch in disbelief and the smile of our enemies grow wider. So what more needs to happen to wake us up to the challenges we now face in our ’Sonar Bangla’? Read more…
THE SANGH AND THE STRUGGLE FOR INDIA’S FREEDOM
Teesta Setalvad
On November 28, 2015, two days ago, the general secretary of the CPI-M, Sitaram Yechury, made an impassioned speech while speaking on the occasion of the Constitution Day debate, in the Rajya Sabha. Challenging this government governed by the ideology that aspires to a theocratic nation, he said that the motive behind this government’s observance of Constitution Day was that it wished to ‘re-write history” and “worm its way” into the history of the national movement and the struggle for India’s freedom. Communalism Combat brings to you a thoroughly researched investigation by Teesta Setalvad into the role of the Hindu right in India’s battle for freedom against British rule. This is part of the introduction to Beyond Doubt – A Dossier on Gandhi’s assassination published by Tulika Books in January this year. Read more…
HERE’S THE REAL REASON THE RAM JANMABHOOMI MOVEMENT IS DEAD
Aakar Patel
In December 1988, I was at MS University in Baroda when Arun Shourie arrived to praise the Hindutva leadership. He was then a Ram Janmabhoomi enthusiast and made a speech to a packed auditorium stressing how reason able its demands were. Hindutva was not about vandalism, he assured us. Why , Muslims could even dismantle their mosque and take it away , he said, (as if it were made of Lego) because to them the land beneath wasn’t sacred. For Hindus on the other hand, he insisted, the construction of this temple was an article of faith. Read more…
NEPAL APPEALS TO U.N. TO HELP LIFT ECONOMIC BLOCKADE
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 2015 (IPS) – A coalition of independent Nepali citizens – including diplomats, journalists, women’s rights leaders, medical doctors and former U.N. officials – is calling on the international community and the United Nations to take “effective steps” to help remove an “economic blockade” imposed on Nepal. Read more…
SRI LANKA: THE OTHER OPPRESSED MINORITY
Ahilan Kadirgamar
25 years since the eviction of 75,000 Muslims by the Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka’s North, the livelihood concerns of this marginalised section remain neglected. It is time for the political elite — both Sinhala and Tamil — to probe their own consciences and evolve a more inclusive resettlement framework. Read more…
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