Mainstream Weekly

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• An Existential Threat to Secular India

  6 December
  political notebook
  The Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992. The forces that demolished the historic mosque have become far stronger today and are threatening to demolish the entire edifice of India’s secular and democratic polity. The insecurity that the members of the minority community felt at that time has grown manifold. There is a pervasive fear among them. Witness the cold-blooded lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq of Bisada village near Dadri in UP in late September (...)

• Climate Change in India: Challenges and Solutions

  6 December
  by Sharat Poornima
  “The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs but not every man’s greed.”
  —Mahatma Gandhi 
  The idea of environmental conservation was built into India’s traditional culture. The ancient dictum in India “tyakten Bhunjitha” (concept of consumption along with sacrifice) indicates towards the method of checking the state of imbalance. With the scientific progress and technological development, man started utilising resources at a much higher scale. Large-scale (...)

• A Secularist Responds to Minister Rajnath Singh ....

  6 December
  by Ram Puniyani
  The celebration of the Constitution Day (November 26, 2015) marked the revival of the debate, on, rather questioning of the concept of, secularism yet again. Rajnath Singh, the Union Home Minister, repeated the arguments which the RSS Parivar has been raising time and again. He said that the perverse use of the term secularism is causing social tensions. As per Singh, secularism is the most misused term in the country and it is this misuse of the term which is causing (...)

• Patriots and Intolerance

  6 December, by Mukul Dube
  Some weeks ago, a friend and I were discussing the returning of the first few awards by writers. I said that the gesture was likely to have little effect as too few Indians cared for writers and their work. I added that what would be effective was something similar from the world of popular films. Sure enough, the actions of a couple of directors drew attention: but the real bomb-shell was the words of Aamir Khan, a major star, from a well-publicised platform.
  The reaction of the Hindu (...)

• Growing Intolerance

  6 December
  by Neha Dabhade and Irfan Engineer
  Recently in an interview at an award function, Aamir Khan mentioned that his wife, Kiran, asked him whether they should leave the country. To Aamir Khan, the statement of his wife was disastrous and indicated growing intolerance in the country. Though we condemn any such sweeping statement coming from a celebrity idolised by millions in the country, one must, without politicising the statement, reflect over the context in which it was made. The Indian (...)

• How Not To Counter Communalism

  6 December
  The following is a revised version of an article published in opendemocracy.net/ and the revision has been carried out by the author himself for its publication in Mainstream; we are, however, using it here with due acknowledgement. —Editor
  by L.K. Sharma
  Combating communalism is a creative enterprise. A few well-crafted statements or protest meetings would not be adequate to immunise a vast population against the communal poison. The civil rights activists who demonstrated in London (...)

• Not Sorrow but Atonement

  6 December
  From N.C.’s Writings
  The following piece, which was published as ‘Political Notebook’ in Mainstream (December 12, 1992), is being reproduced on the twentythird anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Its significance is heightened due to the ongoing offensive of the Hindutvavadi forces following the seizure of power at the Centre by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah-led BJP in May 2014. —Editor
  The vandalism that brought down the Babri Masjid structure on December 6 will remain a (...)

• Rubble

  6 December, by Gopal Gandhi
  You lifted one fistful of salt
  And an empire was shamed.
  Lift
  One fistful of rubble
  Now
  And pour it on our shameless heads.
  December 5, 1992 Gopal Gandhi

• In the Aftermath

  6 December, by SC
  The mosque was eloquent History,
  Everything else was shrouded in mythology.
  Yet they, under the spell of fiery oratory,
  Chose to chase the mirage of a myth,
  Pull down the building
  And build hatred in their hearts
  When I, a citizen of this vast land
  With the pulsating impulse of History behind me,
  Watched helplessly in speechless agony
  My dreams lie shattered,
  My country split
  And its future back to the tribal past.
  I know not how to atone for my immoral silence
  For History (...)

• Aamir Khan, P.B. Acharya, Gajendra Chauhan

  6 December, by Humra Quraishi
  MUSINGS
  What tolerance are we showing for Aamir Khan’s harmless little utterance along the strain that his wife, Kiran Rao, had contemplated moving out of here as she feared for the safety of their child in this atmosphere hanging heavy with intolerance? What tolerance are we showing for the flow of thoughts, of words, of sentiments, of emotions? What tolerance we are showing for dissent—for the sane voices of dissent? What tolerance are we showing for arts and artists and for their very (...)