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.

Babri Masjid demolition case: The long road to justice

Tracing the course of the criminal case that is distinct from the civil suit in the Ayodhya dispute

What Bhagat Singh would have fought (for) in 2020 India

Romila Thapar on Bhagat Singh’s 112th Birth Anniversary, September 28, 2019. We are re- publishing this today, on the 113th Birth Anniversary

Babri Masjid demolition case: Verdict likely on September 30

The case is separate from the Ayodhya land dispute case, and is being heard by a special CBI court in Lucknow

Most dangerous thing is the death of our dreams: Pash (9 September 1950 – 23 March 1988)

Had he lived, written his poems of resistance in India today, he would have been called an “urban naxal’, jailed like Varavara Rao, or gunned down like Gauri Lankesh.

Did Savarkar, Syama Prasad Mukherjee and RSS betray the Quit India Movement?

On the eve of the 78th anniversary of the glorious Quit India Movement [QIM] we must evaluate the role of the Hindutva gang in India's anti-colonial freedom struggle

Deeno Daan, Rabindranath Tagore, about a temple, 120 years ago

Is this a coincidence that exactly 120 years ago, on this very day, Yesterday, Rabindranath Tagore wrote a poem "Deeno Daan". It was about a temple.

Several ‘secular’ people applauded the Babri demolition: Ravi Gupta

In this interview from 1994, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) former Chairman Ravi Gupta tells Communalism Combat co-editor Teesta Setavad, how he saw varying forms and degrees of not only religious, but also caste and class discrimination become apparant after the Babri Masjid demolition

Newsrooms, Living Rooms and Class Rooms: Evolution of the Ayodhya Narrative

How a corrosive refashioning of India took place in our personal and social spaces

If Premchand has really touched Modi, why are so many scholars rotting in jails?

July 31 marks 140th birth anniversary of a renowned Indian author, the late Munshi Premchand.

Unsung martyr: Udham Singh who avenged the Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Image Courtesy:desidime.com It was 80 years ago (July 31, 1940)...

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‘Free the Temple’, ‘Protect the Faith’, ‘Take Up Weapons’: How September’s festivals became stages for anti-Muslim hate

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‘Solidarity Is Not a Crime’: Mumbai activists protest alleged police harassment over Palestine event

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The West as Enigma: Why Muslims Must Understand the Occident on Its Own Terms

The ideas of Shariati, Mawdudi, Qutb, and Nadwi provide important critiques of Western materialism, imperialism, and secularism, but remain largely reactive in their approach.