Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
EDITORIAL: THE MOTHER OF DEMOCRACY ON TRACK TO BECOME THE FATHER OF AUTOCRACY
Vinod Mubayi
The current Indian regime led by the BJP and its leading figure Mr. Narendra Modi never tire of bragging about India/Bharat, as the mother of democracy. Although the record of the last decade that the BJP has been in power casts serious doubt on the veracity of this claim, recent events of the last week leave little doubt that India is fast becoming the Father of Autocracy. Freezing the bank accounts of the largest opposition party and jailing an opposition Chief Minister of Delhi (the National Capital Region) on flimsy, if not non-existent, evidence on the eve of national elections are not democratic actions to say the least. Rather, they are more like the acts of a despot who wants to prevent any chance of his opponents dislodging him from power.
Read more…ELECTORAL BONDS: WHY IT IS A GIANT SCAM
Meghnad S
Highlights
Electoral bonds will ensure anonymity. Since it is a bearer bond with no names on it, donors can be assured that their names will never be revealed. Even loss-making entities can donate infinite amounts to political parties. Donations to political parties through foreign sources are now allowed.
THE AFGHAN QUESTION AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF PAKISTANI IDENTITY
Zehra Hashmi
On October 3, 2023, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry announced that all migrants living without legal status in Pakistan had twenty-eight days to leave voluntarily or face deportation. This announcement was primarily directed at the four million Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan, of whom 1.7 million are undocumented.
THE BHIMA KOREGAON CASE AND WHAT IT TELLS US ABOUT DEMOCRACY
Ziya Us Salam
At a raid on Bagaicha, the training centre and home of Jesuit priest and activist Father Stan Swamy in Ranchi, in August, 2018, the Pune police told him that he was a suspect in the Bhima Koregaon case. This shocked him, recalls Prakash Louis who has put together details of Swamy’s subsequent arrest and death in custody in a book, Fr Stan Swamy: A Maoist or A Martyr?.
SAVARKAR: INVENTING HINDU SUPREMACY
Mihir Dalal
To understand Narendra Modi’s India, it is instructive to grasp the ideas of the Hindu Right’s greatest ideologue, the world of British colonial India in which they emerged, and the historical feebleness of the present regime.
DECODING MODI’S STATEMENT ON MUSLIM LEAGUE ‘IMPRINT’ ON CONGRESS MANIFESTO
Modi’s Statement Aimed at Polarising Electorate
Now, in 2024, Modi is curiously discovering the ‘imprint’ of Muslim League in Congress manifesto. It is indeed beyond comprehension to see any link between the Muslim League of pre-independence period and the Congress manifesto.
LONG READ: CHEQUES AND IMBALANCES: THE TAMING OF THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA
Eram Agha
ON THE EVENING of 22 March, there was unusual activity at the Election Commission of India’s headquarters, on Delhi’s Ashoka Road. At about 5 pm, various representatives of opposition parties had started trickling onto the premises. A team of television reporters was already in place. Various leaders of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance arrived, including Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress, Derek O’Brien of the All India Trinamool Congress, P Wilson of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
IF THE Z.A. BHUTTO TRIAL COULD BE DECLARED UNJUST, WHY NOT BHAGAT SINGH?
Chaman Lal
The Pakistan Supreme Court recently ruled that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was unjustly tried and executed, A similar case to be made to re-open the trial of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, hanged in Lahore on 23 March 1931 – a story that continues to capture the attention of rights activists and researchers in India, Pakistan and the South Asian diaspora.
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