History

Vande Mataram and the 2026 Amendment: From voluntary honour to penal coercion

While the slogan Vande Mataram galvanised millions during India’s struggle for liberation from the clutches of colonial rule, this essay demonstrates that the 2026 Amendment –that the BJP has orchestrated--does not represent historical continuity, but rather a contemporary majoritarian redefinition of a complex national symbol.

Gandhi’s Conscience Keeper

True political and moral authority is rarely forged in...

Rath Yatra retraced: Evidence presented to the Liberhan Commission

Sheaves of documentary and other evidence was presented before...

Gandhi and Tagore: Reverence, Argument and Intellectual Courage

The CJP protests at Jantar Mantar have brought back...

Debunking the ‘Quit India Was Useless’ Myth

In his viral video, Prakhar Shrivastava, a pro-Hindutva commentator on history, calls the Quit India Movement a “super-duper flop.”  Shrivastava’s claim is similar to the decades of the extremist Hindu organisations’ arguments downplaying 1942. Viceroy telegrams, Churchill’s private remarks, and Bose’s own broadcasts say otherwise.

51st Anniversary of Emergency in India: While the RSS supported the Emergency, it now ruthlessly presides over an ‘undeclared Emergency’

The RSS shakha, well documented for its recounting of a manipulated history has, over past decades laid claims to being part of the wider democratic struggle against the Emergency; archival documents from independent sources, civil servants and writers, as also its own archive clearly document otherwise.

Delhi: Between Protection & Prayer: Stories of revered sites now under the protection of ASI

In Delhi, some monuments are not just remnants of the past. They continue to function as places of prayer, remain part of neighbourhood life, and exist within an ongoing struggle over who owns them, who maintains them, and who decides how they may be used. The authors examine the layered complexities involved

Syama Prasad Mookerjee: ‘Patriot’ or collaborator of British Rulers & Muslim League?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrating victory in West Bengal assembly elections at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi (May 4, 2026), stated that “the soul of Syama Prasad Mookerjee must be at peace today”. Earlier too Modi had described him "a statesman, thinker and a patriot who devoted his life towards strengthening national integration". 

Rethinking the ‘Rajput State’: The Neemuchana & Tiladi agrarian movements

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.

Bhojshala Judgment: MP High Court declares Dhar site a Saraswati Temple, ends Namaz rights at complex

Relying on ASI findings, historical records and the Ayodhya framework, the Court held the structure was built over a pre-existing temple and Sanskrit learning centre linked to Raja Bhoj

Extremist Theology: From Syed Qutb’s ‘Milestone’ to al-Baghdadi’s ‘Caliphate’

The rise, theological architecture, and ideological erosion of the movement led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

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Penguin’s Shenanigans

Penguin has repeatedly crossed the line between due diligence and outright censorship. Small publishers, who have a lot more to lose, seem to have more of a spine.

Four decade-long misogyny of a law academic? Tahir Mahmood’s defence of Manusmriti echoes in his criticism of the 1985 Shah Bano verdict

The author argues that the positions of the legal scholar, Prof. Tahir Mahmood over forty years --defending the Manusmriti in 2026 and his opposition to maintenance for Muslim women at the time of the Shah Bano verdict in 1985 –reveal a cohesive, conservative worldview that normalises gender hierarchy under the guise of legal protectionism.

Press bodies condemn alleged assault on women journalists at Saket Police Station, seek inquiry and action

Press Club of India, NWMI, Editors Guild of India and other journalists' organisations demand an independent and impartial investigation after Shaheen Khan and Nafisa Khan alleged assault during and after their detention by Delhi Police

Jauhar & the Politics of Distraction: How the Right and so-called liberals often complement each other

The selectiveness of medieval Muslim or medieval Rajput history in contestation is not just deliberate effort to alienate these two communities but is also a Brahmanical viewpoint that refuses to subject Peshwa or Maratha history to a similar brand of selectivity

When purdah becomes prison

Kerala's Grand Mufti Aboobacker Musliyar and the Misreading of Qur’an