Author: Esha Gupta
A unique effort to rethink Indian politics via prolonged public action is the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY), which travels from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. The Congress Party has now firmly planted its feet. It launched a massive outreach effort modelled after Mahatma Gandhi’s 1930 Dandi March, a direct action campaign of tax resistance and peaceful protests that eventually sparked calls for civil disobedience to overthrow colonial rule. The BJY makes us think of some of those well-known advertisements. The BJY is different from a typical padayatra. It takes place in a political environment marked by stark differences, escalating hatred, and expanding…
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Mahatma Gandhi are both figures from Indian history who were influential in the Indian independence movement. However, their ideologies and methods were quite different. Savarkar was a Hindu nationalist and a prominent figure in the Hindutva movement. He advocated for a Hindu-dominated India and was a vocal critic of Islam and the Muslim community. He also called for the use of violence to achieve Indian independence. Gandhi, on the other hand, was a leader of the Indian National Congress and a champion of nonviolence and civil disobedience. He believed in the power of peaceful protest and…
The challenges India confronts in demonstrating to the world that it is “such a rich and vibrant democracy of the globe,” in the words of the Prime Minister, as Chairman of the G-20 group, are made clearer by new evidence every day. Ordinary folks do not create obstacles; rather, the central government and officials at all levels of the ruling party do so. Just consider the most recent instances of Bollywood and political activity, which come from distinct but not necessarily remote realms. The first instance is the warning made by Madhya Pradesh’s Home Minister, Narottam Mishra, who is not…
With so many screaming headlines competing for our attention, including the barbaric murder in Udaipur, it was easy to overlook Prime Minister Modi’s sudden descent in Abu Dhabi. However, global observers, such as the online journal The Times of Israel, were aware of it. According to the journal: On Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the UAE, just weeks after a top Indian official’s remarks about the Prophet Muhammad sparked outrage in the Gulf.The one-day visit by Modi, who is returning to India after the G7 summit in Germany, comes after Gulf states protested earlier this month after…
The burning of Ravana’s effigy is just one of several activities that Dussehra celebrations include, proclaiming the victory of good over evil. After celebrating Durga’s triumph over the demon king Mahishasura, there will be extensive preparations for the immersion of the clay representations of her. Traditionally, millions of Indians both inside and outside of India participate in these celebrations. People from all different cultures visit the exquisitely adorned puja pandals, and the audiences for the Ram Leela presentations are as diverse as well. It has always been like this. But will that continue? Will there soon be “Hindus only” signboards…
We Indians often see modern China through the prism of western media and intelligentsia, failing to see the genuine nature of the enormous self-transformation that our neighbour has accomplished. Because it is concerned about losing its position as the world’s preeminent power, the West, and especially America, is worried about China’s growth today. Therefore, right-wingers in the USA and Europe see China as a threat, especially under its strong-willed leader, Xi Jinping. Washington has been exerting every effort to keep China in check, including using semiconductor technology for military purposes and acting provocatively in Taiwan, which China claims as its…
We are right at the top of one worldwide rating, regardless of where we may be in other categories. Even though 800 million people there still rely on government handouts for food, India has the dubious reputation of holding the costliest democratic elections in the history of democracy. The cost of the 2019 parliamentary elections has been pegged at USD 2 billion. The additional US $5 billion was spent by political parties and individual candidates. These sums will most certainly quadruple before the national election scheduled for 2024.Cancer at the very heart of our democratic process is the relationship between…