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: DAMNED IF THEY DO, DAMNED IF THEY DON’T: THE DILEMMA OF INDIA’S OPPOSITION PARTIES IN THE MODI ERA OF ONE NATION, ONE PARTY, ONE LEADER AS THE COCKROACH JANTA PARTY EMERGES AS A POTENTIAL OPPOSITION
Vinod Mubayi
After the national elections in 2024, when the BJP lost its majority in Parliament it was able to cling to power by forming a coalition with the help of two regional parties, the Telugu Desam party of Andhra Pradesh and the Janata Dal (U) party in Bihar. Ever since then the BJP seems to have decided that in any state where it has a presence, either as a ruling party or as a major opposition, it is going to ensure its electoral victory, by whatever means necessary. It is only in the more economically advanced southern states of India, such as Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, where the BJP has a small or minimal presence, that it has not made a play to gain power. In most other states, particularly in the Hindi belt of the north but now extending to the west and the east, the BJP is winning elections by hook or by crook and becoming the ruling party.
Read more…THE DANCING GIRL
Anuradha Bhasin
A nude statue and a fig leaf republic: The Mohenjo-Daro Dancing Girl controversy. Covering the ‘nude’ bronze statuette in pink dress or a digital garbs just can’t hide the truth.
Read more…WHY LAGAAN SURVIVES AT 25
M.J. Vijayan
The film is a mirror reflecting our opportunism, weakness and vulnerabilities.
I watched Lagaan again, not on a laptop, but in a cinema hall, with my 17-year-old son Ashvin sitting beside me. The immediate provocation came from my friend Suhasini Mulay, who played Yashodamai, Bhuvan’s mother, in the film. Suhasini asked me to take Ashvin to watch the film on a large screen, as it completed 25 years. I took that suggestion seriously.
Read more…“IMPRISONMENT WILL ONLY MAKE OUR MOVEMENT STRONGER:” MAHRANG BALOCH SPEAKS FROM PRISON
Akbar Notezai
A Pakistani Anti-Terrorism Court sentenced Dr. Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shah to life imprisonment on 22 June 2026 in what has widely been recognized as political victimization and an attempt to silence Baloch voices demanding accountability from the Pakistani state.
Read more…EVIDENCE LEAVES LITTLE ROOM FOR DOUBT; PALESTINIAN CHILDREN WERE DELIBERATELY TARGETED: JUSTICE S. MURALIDHAR
Iftikhar Gilani
When Justice Srinivasan Muralidhar accepted the assignment as Chair of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, he knew that every conclusion would face scrutiny from governments, lawyers, and human rights organisations across the world.
Read more…FROM THE FILES: UNVEILING THE RSS: EXPOSING THE LARGEST FAR-RIGHT NETWORK IN HISTORY
Felix Pal
“THE SANGH DOES NOT CONTROL, neither directly nor remotely,” Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, insisted during a conclave in August. The organisational fountainhead of the Hindu Right is celebrating its centenary this year. In a series of public events to mark the milestone, Bhagwat took on the air of an aloof parent, as if eager to distance himself from his children. The RSS is at the centre of a sprawling network of organisations, but Bhagwat claimed that Sangh affiliates “are independent, autonomous and they gradually become self-dependent.” In several of its public materials, too, the RSS repeatedly disavows a relationship with organisational progenies that fall outside the approximately three dozen affiliates it officially acknowledges.
Read more…HOW POWER, CASTE AND POLITICS PERVERTED SRI LANKAN BUDDHISM
Tisaranee Gunasekara
IN OCTOBER 2025, a group of Theravada Buddhist monks in Texas began a walk for peace across the United States. Led by the Vietnamese-American monk Pannakara, and accompanied by a former street dog from India named Aloka, they gained global attention on social media over their journey of nearly four months. In Sri Lanka, the monks and Aloka became popular sensations. It was perhaps the first time many a Sri Lankan Buddhist had seen a group of monks following the Buddha’s code to the letter: living a simple life, with no possessions beyond what they could carry, and walking long distances, often barefoot and through inclement weather, just as he is believed to have done.
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