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: THE 80-20 COMMUNAL POLARIZATION FORMULA KEEPS PAYING OFF FOR BJP IN UP
Vinod Mubayi
In the run up to the recently concluded elections in UP, several commentators had opined about the possibility of the Samajwadi Party (SP) coalition defeating the BJP. The combination of extreme joblessness, price rise and the problems caused to farmers by stray cattle (awara pashu) due to the strict ban on cow slaughter would, it was felt, lead to a lack of support for the ruling party in the state. In addition, the farmers movement had dented the BJP’s support among the Jats in western UP, an area that had been the site of widespread communal violence earlier and had given rich returns to the BJP in previous elections. However, while the SP did increase its tally of seats in the UP Assembly, more than doubling its previous strength, the BJP, overall, won with a comfortable, albeit reduced, majority.
Read more…LAL SALAAM (RED SALUTE) TO DEPARTED FRIENDS AND COMRADES- SOME PERSONAL REMINISCES OF AIJAZ AHMAD AND SUDHEER BEDEKAR
Vinod Mubayi
It is difficult to write in a public space about close friends who have passed on. Particularly when they happen to be well-known public intellectual figures with whom one shared over many years moments of joy, laughter, debate, and, simply, companionship.
Read more…TEXAS DOCTOR DEMANDS “RETRIBUTION” AFTER KASHMIR FILES FILM
Pieter Friedrich
“Retribution,” declared Rajiv Pandit, a doctor based in Dallas, TX, in response to a call to “pay… back 100 fold, in their own coin,” those allegedly responsible for the 1990 Kashmir Pandit Exodus portrayed in the recent film, “Kashmir Files.”
Read more…HINDU SYMBOLISM SURROUNDING ADITYANATH’S SWEARING-IN SIGNALS A NEW RASHTRA
Sunil Kashyap
Ajay Singh Bisht, is popularly known as Yogi Adityanath, took oath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh today, at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. In the run-up to the ceremony, office bearers of the BJP, on written instructions from the party, organised pujas at temples across the state. The incumbent chief minister reportedly invited over fifty priests and seers personally, including prominent members of the Ram Janmabhoomi trust, which is overseeing the construction of the temple in Ayodhya, as well as priests from Varanasi, Mathura and Vrindavan.
Read more…GRADED INVISIBILITY: THE PLIGHT OF SOUTHASIAN WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE ARAB GULF
Namrata Raju
In Wayétu Moore’s fictional novel, She Would Be King (2018), the author reimagines the birth of Liberia as a homeland for free slaves through a sophisticated marriage of history and magical realism. The book describes a woman named Charlotte, a slave on a Virginia plantation, who died without realising her predicament, and experienced what it was like to be completely invisibilised by society.
Read more…IMPLODING ISLAND: SRI LANKA ON BRINK OF RUIN
R.K. Radhakrishnan
Rank mismanagement is driving Sri Lanka to ruin. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s irrational policies coupled with serious economic problems have impoverished the nation, which is also reaping the fruits of playing India against China for a decade.
Read more…DEFECTION OF KEY ALLY GIVES OPPOSITION THE VOTES TO OUST IMRAN KHAN
Salman Masood and Christina Goldbaum
Days away from a no-confidence vote in Parliament, Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan is facing mounting pressure after a key ally in his political coalition joined the opposition on Wednesday, giving his opponents the votes required to remove him from office.
Read more…IN THE FACE OF ORCHESTRATED HATRED, SILENCE IS NOT AN OPTION – AN APPEAL TO INDIA’S CONSTITUTIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Published in South Asia Citizens Wire SACW 03-27-2022
In the wake of alarming developments in India, senior journalists and media persons from all over India, have issued this Collective Appeal to all Constitutional Institutions in India. We request you to give it the widest possible coverage on media and social media platforms.
Read more…FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES REMEMBER PIERRE BEAUDET (1950-2022)
Judy Rebick
“Pierre was a great leader, an extraordinary thinker and had a big heart. The world will miss Pierre greatly.”
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