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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.

Idea Exchange: Romila Thapar Answers Gopal Guru on Dharma and the Past

Historian Dr. Romila Thapar replies to Prof. Gopal Guru's...

Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Scathing Attacks on Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra

Babasaheb Ambedkar is equally critical of the Muslim League...

Finest Literature was the Inspiration for Our Films: Dilip Kumar

  Munshi Premchand, Saratchandra Chatterji, Bandkimchandra, Tagore, Iqbal, Josh, Kanhaiyalal...

Mangal Pandey Martyrd Today, 159 Years Ago: 1857

The Man who Fired the First Salvo that then...

Open Letter to the ‘Head Chopping’ Billionaire Baba Ramdev

Image Courtesy: Economic TimesBaba, At the outset I must congratulate...

Withdraw Police, Suspend VC, Order Probe: 300 International Academics on HCU

Statement of SolidarityOver 300 International  by Academics, Activists, Artists...

Good Friday question: Was Jesus really nailed to the cross?

Jesus’s crucifixion is probably one of the most familiar...

ICC order: 40 years in prison for former president, Bosnia-Serbia for genocide, war crimes

Karadžić in court. EPA/Robin Van LonkhuijsenFormer Bosnian Serb leader...

भगतसिंह, सुखदेव और राजगुरू की शहादत पर डा अम्बेडकर

  समसामयिक विचार (जनता, 13 अप्रैल 1931) भगतसिंह, सुखदेव और राजगुरू इन...

Sangeet, Sapna aur Samvidhan: Diverse Tastes that animate India

Dedicated to Charul and Vinay and their music: the recollection...

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Reporter attacked on DU Campus, DUJ condemns assault

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Outside the World, Outside the Page: Why We Are More Receptive to Dalit Suffering than Dalit Anger

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Former bureaucrats protest the “steady lowering of statutory safeguards for protecting India’s Environment and Forests” in an open letter to the government; both government and the judiciary need to prioritise the ecological security of our country and the health and life of its citizens over the false narrative of more roads, more buildings, more townships, more mines, more industries, more destruction of the natural world that is currently seen as progress.

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