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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.
A Tiny Book that Captures Powerful Idea(s) of India
Two internationally renowned public intellectuals, historian Romila Thapar and literary theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak met in 2017 and conversed about The idea of India and how it has evolved historically. The conversation was published as a book, seven years later in 2024. Writer and academic Zahira Rahman reviews the book highlighting its insights and historical relevance.
When The Marathas Came To Jammu?
How war-wearied Maratha soldiers embraced Duggarland and made it their home?
“Ae Watan Mere Watan” – A Brief Introduction to the film by Yogendra Yadav
I normally do not write on films. But “Ae...
Uncovering Historical Truths: Were the Mughals anti-Hindu?
CJP Team -
Fact-Checking claims with Citizens for Peace and Justice to debunk myths: Did the 'Anti-Hindu Mughals' destroy temples in Azerbaijan?
The Fire next time: an impassioned plea to the nation for communal sanity
From the archives of Communalism Combat, No. 20, March 1996
Speak aloud about injustices: Women leaders recall Rani Chennamma’s fight for freedom
Ending month-long campaign in order to celebrate the legacy...
Lest we ever forget: Maulana Azad whose death anniversary is today, February 22
On the 55th death anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a doyen of India’s freedom struggle, India’s first Union Minister for Education and a man whose contribution the present far right regime wants to erase from all record, we must always remember the man who was President of the Indian National Congress twice. In memorium
The sound of music
This was an exclusive in depth interview done in 2008, 16 years ago with the indomitable Ameen Sayani who passed on February 20,2024 at the ripe old age of 91. Teesta Setalvad speaks to Ameen Sayani about the 4 decades old journey in politics, music and life with nuggets of India’s freedom struggle in which Sayani’s mother was a close associate of Gandhiji. A product of the New Era school Mumbai, Sayani’s is a tale more precious in the re-telling
Reason, emotion and history
First published on: June 10, 2022(In March 1994, as...
UP court awards land with Muslim shrine and graveyard to petitioners claiming it to be a Mahabharata site
A fifty year old dispute over a shrine of a Muslim saint and a Muslim graveyard was recently resolved after the court ruled that the land held Lakshagriha, a site that was featured in the Mahabharata. This comes even as the UP government is promoting a land some 20 kilometres away to be Lakshagriha.
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Christian families assaulted, humiliated and forced into Durga Puja rituals in West Bengal village
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Jamia students reject conditional election assurance, two continue hunger strike
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Two Election Commissioners complained over work allocation changes; RTI records reveal why Cabinet Secretariat declined action
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