Electoral Bonds: Danger to Democracy

IF there was any further proof needed about the toxic nature of electoral bonds, it has been provided by the revelation that both the Reserve Bank of India and the Election Commission had strongly objected to the proposal. The Huffington Post has carried reports based on RTI queries that set out the objections raised by the RBI and the Election Commission and how the government summarily rejected their views and even lied about the Election Commission’s comments in Parliament.The objections of the Election Commission to the amendments being proposed to various laws to facilitate electoral b

Ayodhya Verdict: Problematic Issues

THE Supreme Court verdict has provided a final resolution to the Ayodhya dispute. This judicial route was the only way to settle the matter in a secular republic governed by the rule of law as there was no possibility of a negotiated settlement.

Who Used the Spyware?

THE news of the hacking of WhatsApp accounts of various activists, journalists and politicians in India through the use of the Pegasus spyware owned by an Israeli company NSO is disturbing and condemnable.

A Significant Strike Struggle

THE strike by the workers of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has emerged as one of the most significant struggles against privatisation. 48,000 employees of the TSRTC have been on an indefinite strike for over a month, from October 5. The unity and determination of the striking workers in the face of brazen threats by the chief minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, police repression and victimisation have been remarkable. The workers went on strike demanding merger of the RTC with the government, pay revision, recruitment to various posts among other demands. The demand f

Eyeless in Kashmir

THE Modi government has taken the outrageous step of sending a group of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to visit Kashmir on the eve of its being formally reconstituted as two centrally-administered union territories. The visit is totally out of line because 22 out of the 27 MEPs belong to far-right parties and are known to have right extremist views.

To Make a Bigot into an Icon

THE BJP’s election manifesto for the Maharashtra assembly election has proposed that Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the father of the Hindutva concept, be conferred the title of ‘Bharat Ratna’. This is part of the ongoing strategy of the BJP-RSS combine to legitimise the Hindutva ideology and to create icons out of rabid communal figures such as Savarkar. In order to do that, the RSS and the BJP are busy myth-making about Savarkar being a great freedom fighter and nationalist par excellence. It is necessary to debunk this myth-making and expose the designs of the Hindutva forces in this regard

NRC – A Divisive Game

DAY in and day out, Home Minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders are declaring that a National Register of Citizens (NRC) has to be prepared for the whole country. It is widely assumed by the public and even political parties that an NRC for the whole of India is being contemplated, when actually the NRC process has already been announced. It will begin with the enumeration for the National Population Register (NPR). The notification was issued by the Registrar General of Citizen Registration in July that the central government has decided to prepare and update the National Population Re

RSS Chief’s Fascistic Talk

THE Vijayadashami address of the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has revealed glimpses of the fascistic ideology which permeates the RSS. The RSS chief took exception to incidents of mob killings being termed as “lynchings”. He said “By branding such incidents by words such as ‘lynching’, denoting traditions which were alien to Bharat and belong elsewhere, efforts are underway to defame our country and the entire Hindu society and create fear among the so-called minority communities”.This single sentence exposes the doublespeak and rabidly communal outlook of the RSS.

Onwards to Struggles

THE attacks on the working class and all sections of the working people have been intensifying since the Modi government came back to power in May 2019. The economic slowdown and the deteriorating economic conditions are a product of the neo-liberal policies pursued by the Modi government in the past five years. In order to get out of this crisis, the government has announced policies and changes in regulations to provide more concessions to the corporates and foreign capital. The tax cuts for corporates to the tune of Rs 1.45 lakh crore is the latest instance.

The Modi-Trump Show in Houston

THE spectacle that Narendra Modi put up at Houston before a 50,000 strong audience of Indian-Americans has, once again, underlined the subservience that Modi has brought into Indo-US relations. The Modi-Trump joint appearance in the stadium was nothing but a platform offered to Trump to woo Indian origin Americans in view of the forthcoming presidential election campaign. In a first, for an Indian prime minister, Modi virtually endorsed Trump for president by repeating the slogan, ‘Abki Baar Trump Sarkar’, which was earlier voiced by Trump himself during the last presidential elec

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