The Hindu mind, it has been said, is subtle when it analyses, simple when it believes. Though intended as a barb, the statement has some merit. Hindu intellectual subtlety is without parallel; surrender to the Divine is the hallmark of faith. The American mind presents a stark contrast: crude when … Read More
Even as the public uproar following the Deoband Dar-ul Uloom’s fatwa annulling the marriage of 28-year-old Imrana after her alleged rape by her father-in-law refuses to die down, at least two other cases have come to light in which the victims of a similar tragedy had their marriages terminated … Read More
Since West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is more mature than his Assam counterpart, there has been no unseemly controversy over Governor G.K. Gandhi’s warning that the State is sitting on an “infiltration time bomb” (Pioneer 21 July 2005). Mr. Gandhi has informed President Kalam that unchecked infiltration is creating … Read More
Evangelists are targetting the sacred site of Tirumala and in a direct affront to the Hindu community, which has for centuries regarded all seven hills as holy, have starting gathering on the slopes in groups for public prayers. Even though an officer of the State-controlled Tirumala Tirupati Devasathanam (TTD) which … Read More
In the cyclical battles between the Devas and the Asuras, there are moments when the latter, ensconced in an overweening arrogance, appear all-powerful and invincible. The wise know their fall will be sudden, dramatic, and complete. And so it shall be with the so-called Revolutionary Leader of Tamil Nadu, who … Read More
As in the United States after 9/11, so also in Britain after 7/7, the Sikh community bore the brunt of the first backlash against the London blasts with a gurdwara in Kent being set on fire. Prime Minister Tony Blair called a high level meeting to discuss “community tensions” as … Read More
Startling as the Imrana rape case and its aftermath have been, some issues have crystallized with the controversial Islamic verdict that has stunned the entire country. We would do well to examine the tragedy and its denouement dispassionately to arrive at a reasoned understanding of how the continued operation of … Read More
There is an irony in the tectonic upheavals currently besieging the BJP. A party that once rode the crest of a national political quest to give Indic civilization due honour in the public arena is itself convulsed by a clash of ideologies. An elemental struggle is on between those who … Read More
Secularism today ranks foremost among India’s burden of bad ideas, a term coined by Prof. Shiva Bajpai to debunk the ill-founded Aryan Invasion Theory, which held academics in thrall for a century before being flung into the dustbin of history. The term secular entered India’s political vocabulary as a device … Read More
BJP President L.K. Advani’s startling endorsement of Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s secular credentials is less damaging than his hallucinations about the common civilizational heritage of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – successor states of undivided India. This politically popular but untrue dogma of ‘one people’ divided by machiavellian politicians needs to … Read More
