Hijab row: Liberals are picking the wrong battle to settle scores with the BJP
A few years ago liberals were falling over themselves to defend modernity in the face of misogyny. They cheered as women mounted an audacious attempt to literally scale one of the last standing citadels of patriarchy: the platform from where the Shani deity beneficently showers his blessings over the faithful offering prayers at the Shani Shignapur temple. The […]
Read MoreShould Hijab be allowed in Karnataka’s classrooms? No. Respect secular institutions
Following protests over some pre-university colleges disallowing students from wearing the hijab and saffron shawls to class, the Karnataka government has dug in its heels, saying it has powers under Section 133 (2) of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983 to give a school the right to prescribe a compulsory uniform style of attire. The clarification […]
Read MoreVirtue signallers are falling over themselves to brand India “illiberal” under Modi but gloss over decades of left illiberalism
A Dharam Sansad organized by Sadhus on the fringe and some notorious professional headline-hunters calling for “armed action” against the minority community is vexing the usual brood of virtue signallers. In supplications to the Supreme Court, in letters to the President, in editorial columns and on social media, the ignominious Dharam Sansad is being held […]
Read MoreThere’s no blame in shifting the flame: Moving the Amar Jawan Jyoti to the National War Memorial better reflects the Republic’s self-image
Millions of Indians watched the poignant ceremony that saw officers in full ceremonial regalia undertaking the solemn and symbolic merger. But even as the epochal moment was playing out a rancorous protest erupted behind the scenes. More than one critic of the Modi-led NDA acerbically observed that a “power drunk” Prime Minister, after toying with […]
Read MoreHas India turned into a barricade nation? The Kafkaesque instrumentality desensitises commuters and forces them to bow to the state
Most often you don’t even see them until it is too late. Each year several hundred commuters all over India crash into haphazardly deployed clunky rectangular frames of wrought iron mesh and girders also known as police barricades. Each mangled mishap victim ends up as yet another nameless and faceless statistic notched up to state […]
Read MoreKisan netas have hubris, BJP didn’t: Why did GoI really repeal farm laws, how do we assess farmer leaders and is protest politics going to cost India?
Protesting farmers, who’ve been holding a blockade around India’s capital for a year-and-a-half, are in a state of delirium after succeeding in getting the NDA to rollback the three contentious farm laws – but they are going nowhere. Emboldened, they are now on the hunt for more. They will continue their agitation till they get […]
Read MoreWhat if Dalits want Team India to take the knee? BCCI should never have genuflected at the altar of woke gesture politics in the first place
After dancing along the jagged precipice of cultural “wokery” the Indian cricket team is back on its feet again. Aside from the forgettable opening game against Pakistan in all its subsequent encounters at the T20 World Cup, it did not “take the knee” in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s wise to have […]
Read MoreTheir means may no longer justify the ends: From Singhu to Lakhimpur Kheri, the farmers’ agitation is failing the protest test
A fresh set of questions are being asked of the ‘free state’ of Singhu. This time the inquisitor is the Supreme Court. Set up on the borders of Delhi by aggrieved farmers, opposed to the three contentious farm laws, Singhu’s raison d’être is being challenged. On October 4 the apex court issued notices to 43 […]
Read MoreThe reloading of ‘clash of civilisations’: When Samuel Huntington’s thesis lost credibility in the West, it thrived in the Islamic world
“Why do they hate us?” That question was posed by bewildered Americans who watched in horror as the gleaming twin towers of Western industriousness were eviscerated by Islamist terrorists. In the days after the 9/11 attacks many attempted to supply answers. One of those answers found favour with neoconservatives in then American President George W […]
Read MoreHow GoI can send a message to Taliban: Implement CAA, even if it can’t help minorities in Afghanistan now. The symbolism is important
Taliban has been let out of the dungeon. And some leading regional powers are obscenely courting this blight, which is reimposing a repressive, regressive, Islamist dogma on Afghanistan. It hasn’t taken very long for the unbridled bigotry of Taliban to embolden other Islamist extremists in Afghanistan and beyond. Bleak future for minorities The head of […]
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