K K Baburaj After hearing the news of BJP securing individual majority in parliament, I visited a friend of mine. His father, a retired teacher and a well-known leftist locally being an ex-leader of a left wing teachers’ association, started talking to me enthusiastically about the election results. “This result is a reply to the …
Saving Modi’s Image, BJP’s Way
Vivek Kumar BJP is very, very weak in Delhi elections? This can be proved on the basis of the fact that it has inducted individuals who do not have any party experience and who have crossed over from other political parties. Kiran Bedi has no political experience. However she has been declared as CM …
On Political Reservations for the Scheduled Castes: Reserved but Unequal?
Hugo Gorringe & Suryakant Waghmore In a recent interview with The Hindu1, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar suggested the abolition of political reservation for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) “as the people have started voting for Dalit candidates in elections without any bias”‘ (The Hindu, 9 Oct 2014). In this, and other aspects of the …
Myth Making: Modi and Media
Pramod Kumar A common refrain of the anchors/editors, during the discussions in the studios of news channels and even in print is that “Don’t shoot the messenger”. It is true that except for niche media houses which happen to be affiliated either to a political party or an ideology, the mainstream media had been diverse …
The Rise of BJP: Bitter Fruits of Fertile Brahminical Soil
Nidhin Sowjanya The 16th Lok Sabha elections have culminated in something that anyone who looks closely at the history and functioning of this Brahminical Hindu nation could have easily expected. These elections announced the victory, however incomplete, of the right wing Hindutva party- BJP. The sheer number of seats (282 on its own) and …
BTAD Massacre: What it means to be a Bengali Muslim in Assam?
Rafiul Alom Rahman The election results are out. Narendra Modi is all set to be India’s next Prime Minister. TV and phone screens are flooded with congratulatory ads, messages. Acche din aane wale hain! In Assam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 7 seats. In BTAD, Naba alias Hira Saraniya, the non-Bodo consensus …
Vanniyar mob attack Dalit cheri in Chidambaram after polls
Joshua Isaac Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. An organized mob of around 300 Vanniyar men attacked a Dalit Cheri, Vadakumangudi, in Chidambaram Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu, in the late hours of the evening today, April 24, 2014. According to eye witnesses, Vadakumangudi Cheri was attacked this evening at 7 pm by a Vanniyar mob …
‘I don’t want stable government’: Kanshi Ram
Dilip Awasthi and Javed M. Ansari December 31, 1993 In India, 50 per cent of the media is pro-BJP: Kanshi Ram He sits in an old chair in the corner of a sparsely furnished and dimly lit room in New Delhi, speaking in a commanding tone and bristling with a new confidence for, at …
Elephant Corridors
Vivek Kumar Why walking alone will always work for the BSP Canard, controversy, condemnation, criticism, caricature, the Bahujan Samaj Party chief, Mayawati, has seen it all in her long and tortuous journey to the top. But the fact is, as the 2014 Lok Sabha polls near, she poses the most formidable challenge to BJP …