As leaders of all Western nations descended upon Vatican City early last month, there was little doubt they had come as much to pay respects to the departed Pope as to ensure that a White European succeeded as Bishop of Rome. In the weeks preceding Joseph Ratzinger’s elevation, some Cardinals … Read More
The honour of the Himalayas is at stake. Just four years after Pakistan’s ignominious defeat at Kargil, its military oligarchy appears set to achieve its goals by other means. The UPA’s ‘Open Borders’ policy is creating an untenable situation in the country and in the absence of a sharply articulated … Read More
Now that the hullabaloo over the US denial of a visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [Images] has died down, it would be worth our while to scrutinise the actions and motivations of Narendra Modi’s tormentors, which resulted in this denouement. Because while political analysts admit that the post-Godhra … Read More
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
