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: WHY DID MODI EMBRACE GENOCIDAL NETANYAHU?
Vinod Mubayi
If there is one word that captures all the nuances of Modi’s visit to Israel it is simply this: Shameful.
Prime Minister Modi spent two days in Israel, a country universally condemned for committing genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and threatening to do the same to the Palestinians in the West Bank. Modi’s “best friend” Netanyahu has been branded a criminal for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and there is a warrant for his arrest in any country that accepts ICC’s jurisdiction. Israel is also under investigation by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a court on which Justice Bhandari from India serves, on a charge of committing genocide in Gaza. Yet Modi embraced Netanyahu in a warm hug as he descended from the aircraft on arrival in Israel and both continued to shower encomiums on each other in their time together.
Read more…BIG BROTHER IN THE PROMISED LAND (A COMMEMORATIVE POEM)
Sunder and Sonati
Big Brother’s off to
The Promised Land
Read more…SOUTH ASIAN COUNCILLORS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY AND PEACE
Hon. Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh
Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Republic of India
Hon. President Mohamed Muizzu, Republic of Maldives
Read more…FROM WASHINGTON TO DELHI, THE SHADOW OF EPSTEIN
Brinda Karat
The release of documents from the Epstein files has done more than expose the depravity of one man. The documents illuminate the dark truths of a new model of “bonding” between political power, corporates, financial institutions, the wealthy and the influential. Structural class-based bonding is hardly new, nor are criminality and impunity treated as entitlement. But the files show how deep the rot is — the elimination of even the semblance of morality as a reference point in systems devoted to private profit.
Read more…WHY SOUTHASIAN DIASPORAS ARE REJECTING FAR-RIGHT POLITICS
Inderjeet Parmar
With 2026 already underway, the Southasian* diaspora in the United States and United Kingdom stands at a pivotal crossroads. Rising far-right populism, economic anxieties, imperial overreach, and resurgent racism have placed these communities, once again, under intense pressure.
Read more…ANOTHER FALSE DAWN IN BANGLADESH
Ikhtisad Ahmed
It was never in doubt that an alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) would triumph in the country’s general elections, which concluded on 13 February. As expected, with 212 of 300 seats, it secured a supermajority large enough to amend the constitution.
Read more…AHEAD OF ASSAM’S ASSEMBLY ELECTION, HIMANTA BISWA SARMA RAMPS UP THE HATE
Angshuman Choudhury, Manoranjan Pegu
As Assam’s 2026 assembly election approaches, Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and chief minister of the Indian state, has been deploying rhetoric described by his political opponents – and not without reason – as “genocidal”. On 9 February, the Assam wing of the BJP posted on X a video edited to suggest Sarma shooting at two visibly Muslim men, while slogans such as “No mercy” and “Foreigner free Assam” played across the screen.
Read more…THOUSANDS OF REFINERY WORKERS IN INDIA STRIKE AGAINST 12-HOUR WORKDAY
Abdul Rahman
Thousands of workers at the public sector refinery and petrochemical complex in Panipat, Haryana, are on strike in opposition to an extension in working hours at the complex. Beginning on Monday, February 23, the strike was joined by thousands of contractual workers who have complained they are being forced to work 12 hours instead of the stipulated 8-hour days, without being paid overtime wages.
Read more…CASTE AND THE DELUSION OF “MERIT” IN INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION
Namit Arora
THE GREAT ENGINEERS of medieval India were mainly Shudras. Members of the lowest varna in the caste hierarchy, the Shudras produced a steady supply of architects, builders, stonemasons, bronze sculptors, goldsmiths and other professionals. Sometimes called the Vishwakarma community, these artisans and craftsmen worked in hereditary guilds.
Read more…PRIME MINISTER MODI HUMILIATED INDIA DURING HIS VISIT TO ISRAEL
Eitay Mack
Whatever the reason for the visit, Prime Minister Modi humiliated both himself and India. He acted and spoke like the leader of a minor state visiting a global power, desperate to curry favour.
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