Is India sliding down the slippery road to anarchy?
When Bollywood bluebloods like Karan Johar must prove their patriotism and grovel before the ruling regime for protection, you know you’re in trouble. Like the writer Perumal Murugan before him, you know which side is winning: The thugs with muscle Mumbai, India – Oct. 19, 2016: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers at Metro Cinema in Mumbai, India, October 19, 2016.(HT) Perhaps we should have been more worried about the images on our TV screens in February when the nationalism debate was only warming up. On that February day when tricolour-brandishing lawyers and one BJP MLA proceeded, within the premises of a…
Is India sliding down the slippery road to anarchy?
When Bollywood bluebloods like Karan Johar must prove their patriotism and grovel before the ruling regime for protection, you know you’re in trouble. Like the writer Perumal Murugan before him, you know which side is winning: The thugs with muscle. Perhaps we should have been more worried about the images on our TV screens in February when the nationalism debate was only warming up. On that February day when tricolour-brandishing lawyers and one BJP MLA proceeded, within the premises of a Delhi court, to chase and beat up journalists and student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, we should have known that things…
The lack of transparency about Jayalalithaa’s health is worrying
Politicians in India have rarely been forthcoming about their health, taking refuge in the argument that they are entitled to their privacy. Do we as citizens have the right to know? People hold a portrait of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa as they pray for her well-being as they stand in front of a hospital where she was being treated in Chennai.(AFP File Photo) In hindsight, we know that at the time of Independence, Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam MA Jinnah had advanced tuberculosis and died just over a year later on September 11, 1948. Jinnah’s illness was a closely guarded secret,…
In sickness and in health
HT Image In hindsight we know that at the time of Independence, Pakistan’s Quaid-eAzam MA Jinnah had advanced tuberculosis and died just over a year later on September 11, 1948. Jinnah’s illness was a closely guarded secret, known only to a small inner circle. Today we ask: What if we had known back then? What would have been the course of history? Would India have been partitioned? Nearly 70 years later, we remain just as clueless and in the dark about the true state of the health of our politicians. In Tamil Nadu, speculation about the health of chief minister…
The lack of transparency about Jayalalithaa’s health is worrying
Politicians in India have rarely been forthcoming about their health, taking refuge in the argument that they are entitled to their privacy. Do we as citizens have the right to know? In hindsight, we know that at the time of Independence, Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam MA Jinnah had advanced tuberculosis and died just over a year later on September 11, 1948. Jinnah’s illness was a closely guarded secret, known only to a small inner circle. Today we ask: What if we had known back then? What would have been the course of history? Would India have been partitioned? Nearly 70 years later,…
We live disconnected lives as our connection to virtual world increases
Some call this an age of mass distraction. I pick up my phone to make a call and before I know it I’m swirling down the rabbit hole of pings and updates, phone call quickly forgotten only to be substituted by a hastily remembered text message much later. I struggle with information overload. That guy whose book I read and loved six months ago? I need to Google his name Commuters surf the Internet at a free wi-fi zone inside a suburban railway station, Mumbai, August 22, 2016(AFP) Even if you haven’t read Andrew Sullivan’s longish article called “I Used…
We live disconnected lives as our connection to virtual world increases
Some call this an age of mass distraction. I pick up my phone to make a call and before I know it I’m swirling down the rabbit hole of pings and updates, phone call quickly forgotten only to be substituted by a hastily remembered text message much later. I struggle with information overload. That guy whose book I read and loved six months ago? I need to Google his name. Even if you haven’t read Andrew Sullivan’s longish article called “I Used to be a Human Being” in New York Magazine, chances are you might recognise his Internet addiction. Sullivan,…
Memorials preserve history
Given their history, I’m wary about the construction of yet another memorial in India. But the idea of a national war memorial, poised to leap from intent to drawing board, 55 years after it was first proposed is exciting. When completed, it will honour the nearly 22,500 men from the armed forces killed in the line of duty. The government has invited submissions for designs for the memorial that is to come up near Delhi’s India Gate (incidentally, a British-built memorial to honour soldiers who died fighting for the Empire). This is an opportunity that not only democratises participation but,…
Memorials preserve history
HT Image Given their history, I’m wary about the construction of yet another memorial in India. But the idea of a national war memorial, poised to leap from intent to drawing board, 55 years after it was first proposed is exciting. When completed, it will honour the nearly 22,500 men from the armed forces killed in the line of duty. The government has invited submissions for designs for the memorial that is to come up near Delhi’s India Gate (incidentally, a British-built memorial to honour soldiers who died fighting for the Empire). This is an opportunity that not only democratises…
Annihilation of an old order
Atrocities against Dalits are hardly new, even if the sense of impunity to the gau rakshaks is. Dalits have been denied entry into temples, access to drinking water and beaten for the most minor ‘transgressions’. Beyond the politics lies the far greater moral question of social justice. How does any modern nation tolerate such widespread, blatant apartheid against its own citizens? T he yatra is on the move. Starting on August 5 from Ahmedabad, the Azaadi Kooch March (march towards freedom) will cover 350 km to converge at Una where it all began with a video of Dalits being thrashed…
Annihilation of an old order
HT Image Atrocities against Dalits are hardly new, even if the sense of impunity to the gau rakshaks is. Dalits have been denied entry into temples, access to drinking water and beaten for the most minor ‘transgressions’. Beyond the politics lies the far greater moral question of social justice. How does any modern nation tolerate such widespread, blatant apartheid against its own citizens? T he yatra is on the move. Starting on August 5 from Ahmedabad, the Azaadi Kooch March (march towards freedom) will cover 350 km to converge at Una where it all began with a video of Dalits…
March by Dalits: This could mark new beginning of annihilation of an old order
To dump the carcasses of cows outside administrative offices is a dramatic signal that sends an unambiguous message: Dalits can no longer be taken for granted To dump the carcasses of cows outside administrative offices is a dramatic signal that sends an unambiguous message: Dalits can no longer be taken for granted.(AFP Photo) The yatra is on the move. Starting on August 5 from Ahmedabad, the Azaadi Kooch March (march towards freedom) will cover 350 km to converge at Una where it all began with a video of Dalits being thrashed for skinning the carcass of a dead cow. Neither…