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.

The Taj Story & Resurgence of a Myth, the ideological engineering of a Brahmanical narrative of pseudo-history

Tejo Mahalay & Mina Bazar: P. N. Oak’s Pseudohistory demeaning both Muslims & Rajputs, is both Communal and Casteist; P. N. Oak’s legacy is not one of historical revision but of ideological engineering. His “Tejo Mahalay” myth and “Mina Bazar” fantasy are not just anti-Muslim—they are anti-Rajput and fundamentally Brahminical

Babri Mosque Demolition: When the Indian State succumbed to majoritarian propaganda

Reassertion of obliterated historical facts has always been a project of the powerful majority and this crucial piece, once again, exclusively in SabrangIndia, counters this propaganda

How Muslims treated non-Muslims in early Islam

Every discussion about the treatment of non-Muslims under Muslim rule tends to revolve around one subject — the Jizya, or the so-called “discriminatory” poll tax

What Indian Cities Owe to Islam

The cities created in the Deccan by Muslim leaders introduced the concept of public space to the Indian world.

Distortions in the syllabus of history books, an uncomfortable perspective

The normalisation of an everyday majoritarianism, Neo-Hindutva, has been facilitated by the silence of the Muslim liberal; an urgent challenge is being able to move out of the confines to reaffirm wider processes of secularization as a counter

The true story behind a ‘real’ photograph of Rani Lakshmibai

A seven-year-long forensic search that went from India to...

Emergency regime and the role of RSS

The RSS’ claim that they were the main force of ‘resistance’ during the 15-month period of the Emergency is not borne out by record

On the 50th anniversary of India’s formal ‘Emergency’, how the RSS betrayed the anti-emergency struggle

How the authoritarian proto-fascist RSS not only in a sense supported India’s formal Emergency (1975-77), filed mercy petitions for early release from prison but also –in sharp contrast—played no part in the fierce and challenging struggle for India’s freedom against colonial rule

Mughals deleted from curriculum: history as political tool

The new education policy 2020 is being implemented gradually....

Mahabodhi Vihar, Gaya: a conspiracy of silence across the political spectrum

Despite several months-long agitation for the management of the shrine to be handed over to Buddhists, none from the opposition parties, be it the INC, RJD, SP or TMC have leant any voice to this demand

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Sit Where We Stand: The segregated back rooms for sanitation staff in urban spaces

The absence of dignified break rooms for sanitation staff in urban spaces is a visible residue of caste-exclusionary practices that have become normalised. Women who work here—whether in universities or elsewhere—are often left with no option but to rest on bathroom floors.

After some dithering, Odisha government rejects premature release of Graham Staines murder convict Dara Singh

Odisha Chief Minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, had in 2022, when he was a BJP legislator supported demands for Dara Singh’s early release, a demand vocalised by Sudarshan TV’s editor, Suresh Chavhanke

Six Years Behind Bars, Still No Trial: Umar Khalid’s long wait for justice

Six years after his arrest, Umar Khalid remains in custody without trial, while successive bail pleas continue to be contested

Deaths, Denials and Delayed Action: The Balaghat crisis

From malnutrition and disease to protests and court intervention, Balaghat’s Adivasi villages reveal a crisis that the administration appears to have recognised only after the deaths became impossible to ignore  

Why Swatantra Bhardwaj is a pawn in our politics

As a fellow Bihari and a native of Darbhanga, my heart goes out to the middle class parents who pawn jewellery and mortgage ancestral property to send their ladlas and ladlis to a big city…