Thousands of people have turned out in protests across India against a wave of attacks on Muslims by mobs that accuse them of killing cows or eating beef (June 28). In some places, protesters read poems penned by Mahatma Gandhi and the posters spoke out that the mob lynchings are examples of “false nationalism.” Waving […]
The rise of so-called fringe groups whose sole agenda seems to harass the minorities is on the rise in Madhya Pradesh. Members of Matrushakti, a female wing of the VHP, and Bajrang Dal (responsible for the gruesome burning alive of the Australian national Graham Staines and his two small sons in Orissa(Odisha) a decade or […]
Bhopal: Harassment of Christians grows more frequent in BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh. A Catholic nun and four girls accompanying her were on June 13 forced out of a train in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, reports Matters India (14 June). Government Railway Police detained them at Satna station in the state after right […]
ISLAMABAD : If you are a rationalist, and living in Pakistan, beware! A Pakistani man has been sentenced to death for committing blasphemy on Facebook, lawyers said Saturday (June 10), the first conviction on charges arising from social media. Judge Shabbir Ahmad Awan handed down the verdict in Bahawalpur, around 600km south of capital Islamabad, […]
A sweeping ban on trading cattle for slaughter, imposed by India’s Government to appease its ultra conservative Hindu vote-base, is being seen by the nation’s meat and leather industries as an attempt to destroy businesses ultra conservative Hindus do not agree with. Other critics argue the ban is an attempt to control what people eat, […]
I begin on a self-indulgent note. “How is Amartya?” asked my uncle Shidhu (Jyotirmoy Sengupta) — cousin of my father — in a letter written from Burdwan Jail, on August 22 of 1934, before I was one. He complained about the name “Amartya”, given to me by Rabindranath Tagore, and argued that the great Tagore […]
Shillong-based filmmaker Tarun Bhartiya has returned his national award, ‘the Rajat Kamal’, in solidarity with other authors and filmmakers who are protesting the growing intolerance in the country. The state is rapidly becoming a ‘Hindutva Reich’ he asserted. Bhartiya, writing to President Pranab Mukherjee, explained why he’s decided to return the national award for best […]
ALIGARH: He said that under the RSS, India is becoming mirror image of Pakistan. Irfan Habib is unfazed that he’s stirred up the hornet’s nest by his comparison of RSS and ISIS, in which he had claimed that both organizations were just as idiotic and ignorant. The historian, who is professor emeritus at Centre of […]
The year was 2012. Water dripping from the feet of Jesus on a crucifix in a Bombay suburb was being hailed as a ‘modern miracle’. Hundreds of feverish Catholics, including nuns and religious and other curious residents flocked to the shrine in a nondescript Mumbai suburb to watch the hypnotic drip. Some even drank the […]
