South Asia

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities demolished the Barkat Ali Shah Baba Dargah in Mumbai under heavy police deployment. The action reportedly followed a notice seeking legal papers and came amid the civic body's anti-encroachment drive. Most ancient places of worship do not have “documents to prove their existence.”

Authorities reportedly carried out a heavily guarded overnight operation in Varanasi riding roughshod over history in a crude bid for clearing land for an ambitious transport hub project linked to Kashi railway station.

A joint statement signed by more than 140 activists, academics, former ministers, artists and scientists has warned of “all out fratricide” in India following violent attacks on opposition leaders in West Bengal.

The All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) along with the Delhi Solidarity Group (DSG) and Wullar Bachav Front have strongly condemned the reported brutal attack, demolition of the houses, harassment, and attempts to evict members of the Gujjar Bakerwal community in Jammu region a few days ago.

The legacy of colonial historiography and further amplified by Hindutva rhetoric has trapped our historical consciousness in the world of kings and dynasties, erasing public memory of our modern agrarian and working-class struggles.

Jharkhand brings together many of the communities most vulnerable to bureaucratic exclusion—migrants, Adivasis, displaced families and informal workers. The Special Intensive Revision will therefore be far more than a routine electoral exercise. The question is not only who gets verified, but whether those already on the margins are asked once again to prove their place in India's democracy

Cyrus Behramji Puranafurniturewala writes a satirical letter to the acclaimed historian, Ramachandra Guha, complimenting him on his critique of the Gandhi siblings. He adds his own sharp observations, cultivated in the by lanes of tony Colaba, to the discourse that has captured the imagination of society.

The Supreme Court’s May 27, 2026 verdict upholding the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) settles the legal question of constitutional authority but leaves unresolved concerns on absence of due process and independent functioning by the ECI, the arbitrary abuse of process and access: questions of unreasonable and unchecked mass deletions etc.