1857: Then and Now

On May 10, 2007, India’s Parliament held a brief special session to mark the 150th anniversary of 1857, the country’s First War of Independence. Many MPs, including several Ministers, were conspicuously absent, and the meeting did not bother to remember the great martyrs of 1857......Full text

Investigate Terror Targeting of Mosques, Punish the Unconscionable Police Firing in Hyderabad Restore Peace, Reassert People’s Movements in Punjab

Andhra Pradesh and Punjab are both emerging centres of people’s resistance – against SEZs, against farmers’ suicides, and against other anti-people economic policies. Undoubtedly, the recent attempts to whip up communal tension in these states are aimed at distorting the people’s struggles.......Full text

The Message from Uttar Pradesh

Defying all predictions of yet another hung house, the UP elections have delivered a decisive verdict. After fourteen years of coalition rule, Uttar Pradesh has again enabled one single party to form government on its own and that single party is none other than Mayawati’s BSP. The SP has predictably emerged as the runner-up, but it is way behind the BSP......Full text

Wheat Imports: Subverting Procurement, Cheating Farmers

For the second year in the running, India is importing wheat.  Last year the government justified imports on account of lower production.   This year it is being justified in the name of higher prices for farmers. In order to meet the buffer stock requirements, the government has decided to import up to 50 lakh tonnes of wheat this year. ....Full text

Human Traffickers in Parliament

Every BJP Manifesto boasts of “Shuchita” (probity in public life) as a fundamental principle of its party. But the Hawala scam, the Tehelka expose of corrupt defence deals by NDA Government, the sight of BJP President Bangaru Laxman caught taking bribes....Full text

US Senators’ Threat Letter to PM: Nuke Deal Noose Tightens

The US Administration and ruling groups have begun tightening the screws on India to sign the Indo-US Nuke Deal on US terms in their characteristic blatant and brash way. The Hyde Act passed by the US Congress had left nothing to the imagination, and made it very clear that....Full text

Fascist Assault on Freedom

The dust on the sordid Fake Encounter saga had just begun to blow when came another instance of fascist overdrive in Gujarat. Earlier this month, goons affiliated to the ruling BJP-RSS-VHP combine barged into the Fine Arts Department of the MS University, Baroda, vandalizing the art work displayed by the post-graduate student....Full text

The Indian State’s Killing Squads

In the familiar pattern, within hours of the Mecca Masjid blasts, the police miraculously tell us which militant groups are involved. Almost every day our media obediently beams out images of ‘terrorists’ triumphantly displayed by their captors. For years since 2002, IPS officer Vanzara similarly displayed his trophies....Full text

1857 in the Eyes of Marx and Engels

Even as we celebrate its 150th anniversary, a consistent and more or less unified appraisal of 1857 continues to elude India’s historians and the broader intellectual community. Whereas sections of them, both on the left and on the right, see it mainly as a feudal reaction, some others call it simply a “sepoy mutiny”.....Full text

Advani and Savarkar: The Sangh’s Bid for Heroism via 1857

Lal Krishna Advani wrote a piece on May 10, the 150th anniversary of the 1857 war of independence (‘150 yrs of Heroism, via Kala Pani’, Indian Express, May 10). It is well known that the RSS and BJP and their ideological predecessors had nothing to do with the anti-colonial freedom struggle, and rather have a history of collaborating with the British colonizers.....Full text

Shahabuddin’s Conviction: People’s Victory Against Criminalisation of Politics

Fourteen years ago, the Vohra Committee submitted its recommendations to curb criminalisation of politics – but these never saw the light of day. R.K. Narayanan, as President on the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Republic in 2001......Full text