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.

Redefining Indian Tradition Minus Christianity & Islam is Intellectual Dishonesty

I recently received information about a two-day national seminar...

Nalanda Mahavihar: Did Bakhtiar Khilji Destroy it?

The campus of Nalnda was inaugurated formally by Prime...

‘Flopped diversionary move’: Modi view on Gandhi popularity during polls

In an interview to ABP on 29th May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that "in the last 75 years, wasn't it our responsibility to make Mahatma Gandhi known across the world? Forgive me, but nobody knew Mahatma Gandhi till the film on him was released in 1982." 

Nehru’s Prescient Words During 1st General Elections Resonate Today

On India’s first PM’s 60th death anniversary today, amid a polarising election campaign, his utterances on upholding the Constitution and defeating communal forces resound.

When your past comes back to haunt you: Hindu Mahasabha & Muslim League

How Hindutva Parivar's 'ideological ancestors' supported the British & Muslim League against Indians

Absent in Elections 2024: Dalits and the historic battle for land

Caste, big capital, entrenched political influence continues to determine access to to land. Violence is the means to quell  India’s Dalit communities as they struggle to reclaim land that is tilled by them.Punjab, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu have seen emergent movements around Dalit land rights but these are not reflected in manifestos of political formations, yet.

Fiction as history and history honestly portrayed: a tale of two films and a documentary

In India today, fiction is being peddled as history. What’s tragic is that most Indians are falling for such propaganda. There has been a spate of motivated films financed and promoted by the Sangh Parivar, starting with the ‘Kashmir Files’ to the latest ‘Swatantra Veer Savarkar’.

Congress Radio, the power of revolutionary change: Lessons from ‘Ae Watan Mere Watan’, the film

Usha Mehta, a fiery satyagrahi, mesmerised by Gandhi, is the protagonist of this timely film; she with her two young colleagues, conceived and ran the underground ‘Congress Radio’ from Mumbai to both inform and unite fellow Indians left leaderless after the British crackdown on the Congress leadership following the historic quit India Rally at Gowalia Tank on August 8, 1942; “Karo Ya Maro” (Do or Die) was the powerful cry from the Indian people that day and Congress Radio, epitomises this unique contribution to the freedom struggle; it re-ignited the ‘Quit India Movement’ that challenged the oppressive British regime

Films building up  a majoritarian narrative: Swatantraveer Savarkar

Films are a very powerful medium which create a social understanding...

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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…