At a time when it is fashionable to repose confidence in inter-faith dialogue, it is not easy to prick the feel-good factor this evokes and question the utility of such an enterprise. Peaceful coexistence between different faiths, howsoever large or small the number of their adherents may be, can never … Read More
Seemingly, all roads led to Vatican City last week. Virtually all political eminences of the Western world, as also national and spiritual dignitaries of other countries and religious traditions, flocked to pay respects to the Bishop of Rome, shepherd of the Roman Catholic Church, who had one of the best … Read More
On 6 December 1992, when top BJP leaders expressed panic over the collapsing Babri edifice, I was one of the few to perceive that the Hindu movement was in deep trouble because those riding to the pinnacle of public esteem for espousing a centuries-old civilizational contest had no genuine desire … Read More
America’s decision to deny Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi a diplomatic visa and revoke his tourist/business visa on the pretext of the demands of its International Religious Freedom Act, 1998, raises critical questions about what constitutes religious freedom. The statement that the Act authorizes the President to deny entry to … Read More
In a virtual indictment of the BJP for indifference towards the growing anxieties and legitimate aspirations of the Hindu community, the RSS has officially advised its political offspring to set up its own organizational base. While it is too early to say if this marks a genuine parting of ways … Read More
Two successive assaults on Indian democracy by Governors hailing from minority communities exemplify how this country is hostage to a secular-minority determination to inflict political subordination on the Hindu community. While moves for a hat-trick in Patna were thwarted after Rashtrapati Bhavan rang a warning bell, the possibility of tinkering … Read More
Some months before he died in February 1980, R.C. Majumdar recalled how the veteran freedom fighter K.M. Munshi “believed that a government sponsored institution can never document history in an honest manner. I realized this truth in the later years. The federal government built an editorial board to document India’s … Read More
This very month, three years ago, Hindu pilgrims returning to Gujarat from Ayodhya were burnt alive in a bogey of the Sabarmati Express, in what was widely perceived as an act of communal aggression. Secular apologists of Islamic fundamentalism were quick to explain to a shocked nation that there were … Read More
Tsunami victims of Samanthapettai near the temple town of Madurai saw the dark side of Christian charity as missionaries stomped out of their village without distributing relief after residents refused their faith-for-food deal (ANI, 16 January 2005). The 200-odd homeless villagers, coping with hunger, trauma and disease, felt blessed when … Read More
As 2004 bowed out, snarling with apocalyptic fury, citizens living or holidaying along the Indian coastline found unexpected islands of hope and refuge as unseen powers stepped in to save lives apparently destined for burial at sea. The picaresque Vivekananda Rock in the middle of the sea off Kanyakumari, hit … Read More
