November 20, 2019
New Delhi, India (CNN)On the eve of India’s independence, the man who would soon become the country’s first Prime Minister outlined an aspirational vision.
India would be a nation where people of all religions had equal rights, privileges and obligations, Jawaharlal Nehru said in his now-iconic speech to the country’s parliament on August 14, 1947.
Now, over 70 years later, there are signs that Nehru’s hopes for the nation face perhaps their greatest threat.
On November 9, India’s top court gave Hindus permission to build a temple on a disputed centuries-old holy site in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which holds significance for both Hindus and Muslims.
Read more:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/19/asia/india-muslim-modi-intl-hnk/index.html?no-st=1574268548
November 18, 2019
‘The Sena can quickly reduce most solutions to violence.’
‘When in power, it will revert to this gene which is coded into it and we will no doubt produce entertaining and frightening moments,’ says Aakar Patel.
Read more:
https://www.rediff.com/news/column/why-congress-ncp-must-be-wary-of-the-sena/20191118.htm
November 18, 2019
You needlessly damage your global image and then do not use the obvious solution in plain sight.
The Aatish Taseer affair once again highlights how little grasp the Narendra Modi government has of, one, global image management and, two, effectively countering accusations hurled at it that may be easy to disprove.
Taseer, whose Overseas Citizen of India, or OCI, status was revoked recently, is a British citizen by birth, grew up in India, and currently resides in New York. The government stated that the reason for the revocation was that Taseer attempted to “conceal information that his father was of Pakistani origin”. But across the world, the timing was seen as suspicious. In May, Taseer had written a Time magazine cover…
November 18, 2019
Zakia Soman, the founder of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (an organisation of Muslim women in India), has been the wheel behind the mass movement demanding the law to criminalise the draconian practice of Triple Talaq.Soman, the epitome of pluralistic faith, remained untouched of hatred peddled in the aftermath of 2002 Gujarat violence while her activism brought together thousands of women to stand against religious prejudices, finally resulting into The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019.
In an exclusive interview with Countercurrents, she spoke to Ujjawal Krishnam.
Faultline today seems to be the degree of religious orientation which has diluted conscience. This is now allowing propagation of misogyny in the garb of religion…
The fact of patriarchy and woman subjugation…
November 13, 2019
The corporate-Hindutva alliance, which underlies the BJP government, is centralizing
Anti-colonial nationalism had sought to be inclusive. This was necessary for uniting a diverse people to fight an imperial power whose relative strength derived precisely from this diversity. Uniting people of such diversity in turn required discussions and negotiations, between the proponents of the anti-colonial, pan-Indian nationalism, and others belonging to different social groups, and regional-linguistic…
November 13, 2019
Ayodhya Verdict unravels a new sensibility and a distinctly different social reality, in several diverse ways. One aspect to be mentioned here is the extraordinary rush of appeals for peace in the country. With large battalions of police force deployed throughout the nation, the government and mass media and the social media sent out appeals again and again. The verdict was pronounced and of course, peace prevailed. But the sense of dread has grown phenomenally. The silences are scary especially when the prime minister himself responds to the verdict, when he had remained silent on numerous occasions of national importance.
Read more:
https://countercurrents.org/2019/11/death-of-secular-and-democratic-india
November 13, 2019
The Indian Supreme Court’s decision to allow the building of a temple for Rama on a disputed site is likely to intensify the Hindu nationalist efforts to turn India into a majoritarian nation.
By Hartosh Singh Bal
Mr. Bal is the political editor of The Caravan magazine in New Delhi.
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November 13, 2019
The Nov. 9 verdict of the Supreme Court that granted Hindus permission to build a Ram temple at the centuries-old Ayodhya holy site, ending one of the country’s most politically-charged land disputes, has evoked a mixed reaction from Indian-Americans.
The Hindu-American community and those supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have hailed the Supreme Court for delivering “a just and fair judgment,” and providing a “closure” and “victory” to both the Hindu and the Muslim communities. On the other hand, are the minorities, the liberals and the progressives, who call the verdict “flawed” and a “failure for democracy.”
According to the unanimous court judgment by a five judge bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice…
October 19, 2019
The Congress needs to take the “Gandhian approach” of public service and get 5,000 workers in every district dedicated to the cause of helping people to get its mojo back, technocrat-turned-politician Sam Pitroda said on Wednesday.
He said all Congress leaders must spend six months studying the father of the nation on his 150th birth anniversary to be ideologically equipped.
Pitroda, a long-time adviser of the Gandhi family and head of the Indian Overseas Congress, said the country is facing a “major conflict” for the idea of India.
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October 19, 2019
Prominent organizations and intellectuals laud Rutgers for supporting Audrey Truschke
Joint letter defends Truschke from vicious assault following comments about Hindutva’s roots in Nazism
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 09, 2019
The Alliance for Justice And Accountability (AJA), an umbrella coalition of progressive organizations across the United States, today announced the release of a letter signed by prominent organizations and intellectuals lauding Rutgers for defending Dr. Audrey Truschke in the face of a vicious campaign against her by organizations and individuals aligned with the Hindutva supremacist ideology. Signatories to the letter include prominent rights organizations such as Amnesty International (Houston), Advocates for Human Rights (Minnesota), Council for American Islamic Relations (Dallas-Fort Worth), as well as academicians like Dr. Martha Nussbaum and Dr. Yasmin Saikia….