Its inclusive character notwithstanding, Sabarimala has several characteristics consistent with a denominational temple and should have been spared the humiliation that is currently agitating Ayyappaswami devotees across the country. In hundreds of Ayyappa temples, devotees are welcomed without distinction of gender, jati or even creed. At Sabarimala, Ayyappa, born from … Read More
Hindu rashtra (nation) is not rajya (state), though critics try to obfuscate the issue. A state is a politico-legal entity; a nation is a civilisational, cultural, and psychological entity, generally identified with an ancient or distinct geography linked to its people. Hindus form the bedrock and mainstream of the Indian … Read More
On a day when the Union Government coincidentally passed an ordinance criminalising the practice of triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat), providing relief to thousands of Muslim women living in fear of instant talaq and homelessness, and inching the country towards greater equality in civil laws, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghachalak Mohan … Read More
Once the bully on the block, Monsanto is on the run. Environmentalists will recall the early years of genetically modified (GM) crops when wind pollination contaminated the crops of traditional farmers and the company forced victim-farmers to pay for patent infringement, an atrocity upheld by the US judicial system until … Read More
On the education beat, one recalls an overwhelming sense of fatigue while covering events at which India pledged, with obvious insincerity, to achieve the universal goals of education for all by year X, ad infinitum. No one wanted to address the known obstacles. First, the absence of adequate investment to … Read More
When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was finally elected for a full tenure in 1999, his detractors began to acknowledge his virtues (liberal, poet, orator, consensus builder) and denigrate his party and parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Yet the slogan, ‘right man in the wrong party’, was inaccurate as Vajpayee founded … Read More
A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the murder and alleged rape of a nomad child in Jammu’s Rassana village has acquired urgency with the arrest of Talib Hussain, the man who publicly dictated who was guilty and should be arrested for the crime, and instigated the communal polarisation … Read More
As Pakistan goes to the polls tomorrow (July 25), it appears that the blurring lines between mufti and mullah will converge further, to the detriment of its struggling democracy. The economic crisis, aggravated by unserviceable debts from infrastructure related to the China- Pakistan Economic Corridor, could trigger a complete meltdown, … Read More
India’s foreign policy has its task cut out – to ensure the safety of the Hindu-Sikh community within Afghanistan or its safe repatriation to India (or migration elsewhere) with full citizenship and rehabilitation. In a positive move, New Delhi has issued long-term visas to members of Afghanistan’s Sikh and Hindu … Read More
Two Indians, both Muslims from Jammu and Kashmir, were killed by terrorists on June 15, but only one dominates the political mind-space. The death of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari is often cited by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders as evidence of Mehbooba Mufti’s inability to control the law and order … Read More
