Nirban Ray On June 7th, the Chief of the banned armed outfit Kamatapur Liberation Organization (KLO) warned Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee before her visit to North Bengal that – “Mamata Banerjee should not come to Koch-Kamatapur. She cannot interfere or oppose the formation of Koch-Kamatapur state. The situation will be horrible if force is applied. …
Are Jignesh Mevani and his left allies ignorant of Ambedkarite politics?
Vinod Kumar Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was an economist, a fact which has been neglected by Indian academia, as well as not recognised by the left liberal intellectuals of this country. During the freedom movement, Ambedkar’s academic contribution was not only intellectual, but also a fight against the unjust colonial economic arrangement which was …
Bride Buying in Haryana – A Case Study
Krishna Gupta In places like Ferozpur Namak Village in Nuh Tehsil (Haryana) where this case study was conducted, it is impossible to find a local mate for each man with the kind of skewed sex ratios prevalent. Decades of unchecked sex-selective abortions have made the once fertile state of Haryana suffer a drought of brides, …
Beyond Conventional Political Binaries
Omprakash Mahato Yashwant Sinha, in the ‘United India Opposition Rally’ held in West Bengal on 19 january 2019, stated that the coming together of opposition parties is not to defeat ‘one person’. It is a fight between two ideologies. The ideologies that will uphold the constitutional ethos; that will protect secularism from the religious …
Unravelling casteism in a Marxist town of West Bengal
Balaka Chattaraj What comes to our mind when we hear the word caste? Well, the answer will be different for each person. But mostly if the person is from Kerala and West Bengal caste is so-called and it doesn’t exist. I grew up in the typical Bengali culture in a small town called Raniganj. In …
The Junaid Conundrum!
Bobby Kunhu The celebration of the arrest of the prime accused in the Junaid Khan case as a kind of closure is very troubling and playing right into the hands of Hindutva politics. We would do well to remember that after the increase in the spate of violence in the name of cow protection, …
রিটার্ন টু আম্বেদকর (Return to Ambedkar)
Essay 4. ‘What Babasaheb Ambedkar Means to Me’ মহীতোষ মণ্ডল (Mahitosh Mandal) অসুস্থতার কারনে ২০১৫ সালে রুবি হসপিটালে ভর্তি হই । জীবনের প্রথম অপারেশন ।জীবনে প্রথম হসপিটালে রাত কাটানো । স্বাভাবিকভাবেই তীব্র একাকীত্ব ও ভীতি ঘিরে ধরেছিল । সঙ্গে ছিল একটা ট্যাব আর তাতে আম্বেকরের কয়েকটা টেক্সটের পিডিএফ । ট্যাব ঘাঁটতে ঘাঁটতে খুলে …
How should a Brahmin-Savarna respond to a Dalit voice?
Mahitosh Mandal Speak you too,speak as the last,say out your say. ~ Paul Celan, ‘Speak You Too’ I have not stated my question as ‘How DOES a Brahmin-Savarna respond to a Dalit voice?’ Had I framed it this way, the answer would have been a factual one derived from real-life experiences. If we observe the …
From Chuni Kotal to Ruma Das: The price of Bengal’s casteist education system
Drishadwati Bargi & Georgy Kuruvila Roy The recruitment of candidates under the West Bengal School Service Commission has always been tampered with political interference. Irrespective of political colour, the ruling party has always been perceived as giving undue favours to its members/supporters, often in blatant disregard of constitutional rules or morals or the socio-economic predicament …