SECULARISM, DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

INSAF Bulletin 213 January 2020
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).

EDITORIALS: IS THE TIME FOR BJP’S FASCIST TAMASHAS OVER?

Vinod Mubayi

 

The unprecedented countrywide protests against the CAA and NRC are the opening salvos in what is bound to be a long struggle against BJP’s fascist governance over the last 5 years. It is encouraging that many of the protests are being led by students and youth, which augurs well for the vitality of the opposition to the Sangh Parivar’s agenda in the next few years. Read more…

INDIA NEEDS A PROPER REFUGEE LAW, NOT A CAA SUFFUSED WITH DISCRIMINATORY INTENT

Rajeev Dhawan

 

Perhaps, the most interesting comment on India’s Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) was made by two Pakistani Hindus who protested that the CAA will worsen their lives instead of helping them. There are many minorities who prefer to live in Pakistan as their home and watan. Read more…

INDIA: INTIMATIONS OF AN ENDING

Arundhati Roy

 

While protest reverberates on the streets of Chile, Catalonia, Bolivia, Britain, France, Iraq, Lebanon, and Hong Kong, and a new generation rages against what has been done to their planet, I hope you will forgive me for speaking about a place where the street has been taken over by something quite different. Read more…

WHY I WILL NOT REGISTER WITH THE NRC

Sidharth Bhatia

 

This might be a futile act of personal defiance that could have perilous consequences, but think about it: what if millions of people stay out of the exercise? Read more…

BY PROTESTING A LAW THAT DIVIDES AND DISCRIMINATES, WE ARE FORGING NEW MAPS OF BELONGING

Chitra Padmanabhan

 

The CAA, which treats the modern-day equivalents of people like Badshah Khan as ‘illegal immigrants’, and the ‘all-India NRC’ which jeopardises the status of millions of Indians have energised a new moment of dissent. Read more…

THE RAM JANMABHOOMI-BABRI MASJID IMBROGLIO

Rakesh Shukla

 

On 9 November 2019, the Supreme Court of India held that the disputed Ayodhya site should be handed over to the Hindus in its entirety and directed the central government to construct a Ram temple on the site. The decision comes nearly 27 years after the destruction of the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992 by karsevaks, and more than a century of contestation. Read more…

VIOLENCE AS PARENTHESIS

Gopal Guru

 

The response of the central government and its supporters to the protests that were organised against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) has brought into focus the complex nature of violence. In the current context of the protests, there seems to be a few points that we need to take into consideration. The government, in its attempts to underscore the social importance of peace, seeks to condemn the act of violence. Read more…

STATEMENT BY MONTREAL ACADEMIC COMMUNITY AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY IN INDIA, CAA, NRC

We, the members of the Montreal academic community, stand in solidarity with students exercising their fundamental right to dissent and protest across India. Read more…

SOLIDARITY WITH PROTESTS IN INDIA FOR THE CONSTITUTION & FOR SECULARISM

Sunday 22nd December, Montreal

 

For a democratic, secular and inclusive India!! Read more…

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