N Sukumar and Shailaja Menon The NEP 2020 has been rolled out amidst the Corona pandemic with the grandiose dreams of unleashing India’s potential as a world teacher (Vishwaguru). Ironically, a few months back police stormed the library of Jamia Millia Islamia, thrashed students and vandalized the reading space. No one knows when the culprits …
Who Will Mourn the Walking Dead? A Requiem for Jamlo Makdam
Shailaja Menon and N. Sukumar In the past several weeks, scenes reminiscent of Partition has flooded our collective consciousness; men, women and children clutching their meager possessions, desperate to avail any means of transport and reach home. A tribal girl, Jamlo Makdam1 died on the arduous trek from Telangana to her village in Chattisgarh. …
Forging the New Indian ‘Genius’: the RSS roadmap
N. Sukumar and Shailaja Menon I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity ~ B.R. Ambedkar The RSS-BJP combine has fine tuned its political strategy and chameleon like forge their words to suit different occasions. Apparently the conductor of the grand orchestra is located in Nagpur. In his public utterances, PM Modi …
Exiling Intellectuals: From HCU to JNU
N Sukumar & Shailaja Menon In 1962, Paulo Freire created culture circles in Northeastern Brazil to support 300 sugarcane workers to teach each other how to read the word and their world in 45 days, which enabled them to register to vote. These Culture Circles that began with Sugar Cane workers, catalyzed thousands more. Each …
The ‘Nation’ at War with the Students
N. Sukumar and Shailaja Menon “The backward classes have come to realize that after all education is the greatest material benefit for which they can fight. We may forego material benefits, we may forego material benefits of civilization, but we cannot forego our right and opportunities to reap the benefit of the highest education to …
The Buddha Smiled: Lessons from Bihar’s Victory
N. Sukumar and Shailaja Menon “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned” ~ The Buddha In May 2014, the pervasive idea was that Moditva has triumphed and before long the Gujarat Model would usher in Ram …
Hindutva and its False Consciousness
N. Sukumar and Shailaja Menon If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. ~ Luke 6:29 Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. ~ Mathew 7:12 The poster boy of …
Fencing ‘THE HINDU’: The Laxman-Rekha over Food
N. Sukumar and Shailaja Menon In an internal circular, leaked on the social media, The Hindu, one of India’s leading newspapers, banned the consumption of non-vegetarian food in its canteen1. The circular precisely points out that “All are aware that non-veg food causes discomfort to the majority of the employees who are vegetarian.” Hence, the …
Polluted Minds and ‘God’s Own Country’
N Sukumar and Shailaja Menon One of Kerala’s enlightened souls, Sree Narayana Guru, had proclaimed, “One Caste, One Religion and One God” for mankind, thus ushering in a radical transformation of society. The state also witnessed momentous struggles to liberate society from the shackles of caste and untouchability. The Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924-25, a historic …