धार्मिक कट्टरपन
November 18, 2016
An excerpt from Ram Puniyani's latest book, Ambedkar, Hindutva and RSS
As the country came forward to celebrate the 125th birth Anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Babasaheb Ambedkar, (14th April 2016) there was a sort of competition amongst different political and social groups to hold the anniversary programs. While dalit groups have been organizing these programs all through, lately many other...
November 18, 2016
The militant groups attacking Pakistan are an extension of the philosophy of the State.
A few of us had met for drinks at a friend’s farmhouse on the outskirts of the city of Kasur, which borders Lahore. We knew we just had to visit the shrine of Baba Bulleh Shah before heading back to Lahore, for a visit to Kasur is incomplete without seeing this Sufi shrine in the heart of the city...
November 17, 2016
The spread of fascism in the 1920s was significantly aided by the fact that liberals and mainstream conservatives failed to take it seriously. Instead, they accommodated and normalised it.
Image: PA/Roman Pilipey
The centre right is doing the same today. Brexit, Trump and the far right ascendant across Europe indicate that talk of a right-wing revolutionary moment is not exaggerated. And...
November 16, 2016
A revaluation of our institutions is in order
Photo Credit: Rajib Dhar/Dhaka Tribune
Let’s give it to the urban elite: We have yet again survived another crisis without having to resort to a much needed debate on democratic norms and institutions.
Some houses and temples have again been burned. People have again been victimised. It’s not a very surprising routine,...
November 16, 2016
Muslims in India should speak out against any act of violence on Hindus committed by members of the majority population in Islamic countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Tuesday.
He was a addressing a gathering in New Delhi at a seminar on — Role of Muslim Youth in Strengthening Democracy — organised by National Tricolour Association of...
November 15, 2016
Tens of millions of people around the world remember to this date, where they were and what they were doing when the twin towers fell. As they do when Mr. Barack Obama, a black man, became the most powerful man in the world. Strangers rejoiced on the streets of little towns around the world. Not because they thought that their lives would be suddenly better, or that the complex political and...
November 14, 2016
The Jumm’ah (Friday prayer) gathering on November 11th was unusually quiet and everyone seemed to be deeply reflective. Unusually so. Even those who are usually chatty seemed quieter than normal. Given that we don’t have a mosque in the area where I live, we meet in a hotel room to pray, every Friday. The Imam there pointed out, like others throughout the country have, that there is...
November 14, 2016
A year after the deadly 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, and France is still grappling with its relationship with its minorities.
Fraternity is often forgotten. Didier Jansen/flickr, CC BY-NC
After it emerged that some of those who carried out the attacks were French nationals, many renewed longstanding criticisms that the outdated French “republican model” of...
November 12, 2016
अगर सुप्रीम कोर्ट के हिसाब से हिंदुत्व जीवन जीने का एक तरीका है तो इस्लाम और ईसाई या कोई अन्य धर्म क्यों नहीं?
भारतीय राजनीति पर इन दिनों भयानक साया मंडरा रहा है। मौजूदा भारतीय राजनीति के प्रमुख खिलाड़ी अपनी पार्टियों, कार्यक्रमों और घोषणापत्रों के जरिये ऐसे मौकापरस्त और वर्चस्ववादी समाज के विचारों को आगे बढ़ाने में लगे हैं, जो भारतीय राजनीति की बहुलतावादी परंपरा के बिल्कुल खिलाफ हैं। ये...
November 12, 2016
The targeting of minorities by Islamists anywhere in the Muslim world must be denounced by religious and political leaders in our country
Image: Star/ Focus Bangla
Hundreds of people ransacked temples and vandalized homes of the Hindu minority in the Brahmanbairs district of eastern Bangladesh. Over 100 Hindu homes and 17 temples were vandalised and looted since October 30 in...