THE autobiography of Moyarath Sankaran, published by Chintha Publishers, brings to attention the life of a remarkable person – an intrepid freedom fighter, social activist and emerging Communist leader.

IT is unusual for this paper to discuss a movie. But Kaala is an unusual movie. Of course all movies end with the hero defeating the villain or the ‘victory of the good over evil’. In that sense, Kaala is also a usual movie. It is the timing, the issues that are discussed and the political symbolism that layer the movie, which makes it unusual. Discussing the technical details, the treatment of the plot or the performances of the actors, is not the intent here. The intent is to dwell on the politics of the issues and the symbolism employed in the movie.

THE CPI(M) held a two months campaign since April 2, 2018 against the continuous persecution of dalits and held a massive public meeting in Fulbagh, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. Through the meeting the CPI(M) demanded immediate release of innocent dalits, arrest of the murderers, a judicial inquiry by a High Court judge, compensation of Rs One crore to the families of the deceased and an ordinance to correct the Supreme Court order on the Prevention of Atrocities Act.

UNDER Marx’s editorship, the Rheinische Zeitung soon began to flourish. The Prussian authorities imposed strict censorship on the paper and demanded that it change its tune. For a while the paper, before publication, had to be submitted daily to the Government President for his approval. The intellectual level of the Prussian censor in Cologne – very reminiscent of our own censors of the Emergency period – was such that he struck out a notice for Dante’s Divine Comedy saying that it was impermissible to mix comedy with divine things.

EDUCATION must create minds free from superstitions, hatred and violence and become an important vehicle to cement national unity, social cohesion and religious amity. Our endeavour should be to inculcate moral, ethical and humanistic values in the individuals and the society.” These words are from the BJP’s elections manifesto for the 2014 parliamentary election. Now, four years down the line, it seems that either these words have a different meaning in the BJP’s dictionary or these too were ‘jumlas’ like everything else.