Opinion

When “Why?” Becomes a Threat: Is West Bengal’s Democratic Space Shrinking?

West Bengal’s recent clashes over classrooms, universities, the press and cultural institutions raise a larger question: what happens when political power enters spaces meant for independent thought? The incidents may not be connected, but together they reveal how easily institutional autonomy and dissent can come under pressure.

‘Assalamu Alaikum, Inshaallah, Jazakallah’: Peace, Hope and Gratitude Don’t Cancel Out Your Merit

Dr Bushara Bano’s use of “Assalamu Alaikum”, “InshaAllah” and “Jazakallah” has sparked controversy. But can three expressions of faith overshadow an IPS officer’s qualifications, competitive achievements and professional record? The debate raises a larger question about identity, neutrality and merit in public service.

You Can Crack IIT. Can You Crack Its Caste System?

IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakode’s suicide has revived questions about caste discrimination, merit and student rights in India’s elite institutions. As allegations of harassment and casteist abuse emerge, the larger concern is whether campuses meant to nurture talent are becoming hostile spaces for marginalised students

What Is India’s Youth Asking For: Cultural Identity or the Right to a Future?

India’s youth have always questioned power, from the student movements of the 1970s to the Anna movement. Today, programmes in Ujjain and Indore raise a new question: is young India seeking cultural identity, political recognition or something more basic — the right to shape its future?

BRICS Isn’t Beijing’s Game. It’s India’s Strategic Autonomy

India’s BRICS engagement is not about choosing China over the West but protecting its strategic autonomy. As the global order turns multipolar, India must retain strong ties across competing blocs while defending its independent foreign policy and ensuring that national interests, not Western approval, shape its international choices.
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Retaliatory Muslim violence will only help the Hindutva forces

The communal provocations by the ruling Sangh Parivar forces and retaliatory Muslim violence faced different responses from ruling parties in states in tune with...

Bengaluru to Bengal: digital media-triggered communal flare ups follow a sinister pattern

With the advent of religious right wing BJP at the central power in 2014 as well as many states, communal violence in India now follows a familiar pattern. On-street provocations and rampages by Hindutva forces as happened in East Delhi early this year notwithstanding, smart-phones and online social media platforms like Facebook and Whatsapp have become the major instruments for sustained hate campaigns against Islam and its followers as well as for street mobilizations of lynch-mobs and rioters, often remotely controlled as it was evident in countless incidents from UP to Jharkhand. Muslim violence in response to digital incitement, though still sporadic, also uses the cyber communication for counter-mobilization as incidents of recent mob frenzy in Bengaluru as well as earlier mayhem in Bengal’s Baduria-Basirhat have underlined. The first of the two-parts article exposes the murderous political game that has turned a section of our tech-savvy but culturally ignorant youth into the digital force multiplier as well as foot soldiers for these merchants of death. The virtual collaboration of the Facebook authority with the Hindutva regime has made the  design more sinister.

Saga of Justice: Then and Now

The story of a judge shaped my initial consciousness about our judicial system. The Patna High Court had a judge belonging to Gangpalia in 1960s...

Jharkhand will always be indebted to Dhoni

In 1997 I toured the national capital, New Delhi. It was quite common there to hear the word ‘Bihari’ being used as a slang...

NEP and Higher Education: The Inevitable Nightmare

Unlike primary and secondary education, higher education is where the greatest members of a society are nurtured. If the purpose of secondary education is...

Continuous lockdown in Kashmir: Despaired Children

The world has seen a new order after Covid-19 which broke down on 31 Dec 2019. It has paralysed the whole system that has...
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