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).
WHERE IS INDIA HEADED? SABKA VIKAS TURNS INTO HAMARA VIKAS, TUMHARA VINASH
Editors
Recent moves by the government and the BJP suggest that in preparation for the forthcoming elections next year the Modi/Shah duo is opting to polarize the electorate on religious majority-minority grounds as part of its electoral strategy. Since the tall promises made by Modi in 2014 of “acchhe din” (good times) and “sabka vikas” (development for all) have turned out to be mere “jumlas” (fakes), and the BJP seems to be losing popularity in its key strongholds in the north and west as evidenced by its defeat in several by-elections, Modi and Shah seem to have decided to fall back on their tried and trusted strategy of consolidating the (upper caste) Hindu vote, demonizing their political opponents as anti-national, and “othering” the religious minorities who are not going to vote for BJP. Read more…
STIFLING DISSENT
Anupama Katakam
In a bizarre turn of events after the violence that broke out on January 1 during the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, five rights activists have been arrested for their alleged links with naxalites. According to the police, the “Elgaar Parishad” meeting that saw hundreds of Dalits congregate in Pune on December 31, 2017, was funded by naxalites. Read more…
POTENT ANTIDOTE
Purnima S. Tripathi
The RLD’s victory in the Kairana Lok Sabha byelection proves that majoritarian triumphalism, which has taken root since the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, can be defeated with grass-root level social engineering and by making minority votes matter. Read more…
AIIB SHUT DOWN! REJECT NEOLIBERAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL!
We, representatives of social movements, adivasis, dalits, women, farmers, fisherfolk, forest workers, trade unions, civil society organisations from across India, together with solidarity groups from Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas, who have gathered at the Peoples’ Convention on Infrastructure Financing in Mumbai, 21-23 June, 2018, declare that International Financial Institutions have no role and function to play in today’s democratic polity and should be shut down immediately. Read more…
THE BJP’S DANGEROUS END GAME IN KASHMIR
Prem Shankar Jha
The BJP wishes to use Kashmir as a cornerstone of a bid to return to power in 2019. Read more…
MODI AND DISSENT
A.G. Noorani
The state has turned a libeller with intimidation as its weapon, inspiring mobs and using them as its tools. To what depths will Narendra Modi and Amit Shah not stoop in 2019 when the prize is the Prime Minister’s job? Read more…
PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE FOR DEMOCRACY AND SECULARISM (PADS)
Press release
Isolate and Defeat Perpetrators of Lynching: A Lynching Nation Cannot be Democratic.
PADS statement against recent cases of public lynching in different parts of the country: Read more…
BOOK REVIEW: MAN WITH THE WHITE BEARD
Harbans Mukhia
Shah Alam Khan is a professor of orthopaedics at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. That is, he sets old people’s bones and enables them to stand up from their chairs and walk. Not one you would expect would write some soul searching poetry and now an evocative novel that brings you closer to the deepest sorrows brought home to us by human cruelty as well as the most heartfelt joys of being compassionately human. Read more…
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