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Why Secularism and Socialism missing in BJP Government Ads
Attempt to Undermine Secularism: Testing Waters! Ram Puniyani Words are not mere words; they do indicate our values and the basis of our association when it comes to the books like Constitution of India. Recently the controversy was created by dropping the words Secular and Socialist from Indian Constitution’s preamble in the advertisement released by…
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The Home of the So-called Pythagorean Theorem: Babylonia, Mesopotamia, China, India,… Vardhan’s and Tharoor’s Claims Refuted
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya In a recent speech delivered before the scientists attending the 102nd edition of the Indian Science Congress, Dr. Harsh Vardhan is reported to have said: “Our scientists discovered the Pythagoras theorem but we very sophisticatedly [!] gave its credit to the Greeks’ (The Times of India, 08 January 2015). Mr. Vardhan is not…
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Paris, Peshawar and Boko Haram – Religion, Politics and Violence
Ram Puniyani Massacre of hundreds of children in Peshawar by Pakistani Taliban, the atrocities, murders, kidnappings by Boko Haram, an Islamist group and the attack on Paris cartoon magazine Charlie Hadbo killing 16, have occurred in a short span of few months. The popular perception of relationship between violence and Islam got a further boost.…
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What’s in Store for Kashmiris if BJP is Part of the Government?
Ram Puniyani The recent (December 2015) verdict of Kashmir elections has been fractured, so to say. While PDP has emerged as the largest single party, the BJP is a close second with substantial percentage of votes. Interestingly BJP has secured most seats and major vote share from the Hindu majority Jammu region of Kashmir. Now…
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Resurgence of Godse Worship
Ram Puniyani Times are a changing; and changing fast. During last many decades most Hindu nationalists have kept the appreciation of their hero, Nathuram Godse under wraps. The programs appreciating his politics did use to make small news here and there some time; but as such it was a muted act not much publicized…
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How is Ghar Vapasi Different from Forcible Conversions?
Ram Puniyani Propaganda around conversions has been one of the major political tools during last few decades. It was Niyogi Commission report which investigated the conversions in Adivasi areas in 1950s, then the Meenaxipuram conversions of Dalits into Islam, the and then the gruesome murder of Pastor Graham Stewart Stains on the charges that he…
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The Wolf’s Footprints: Indian Materialism in Perspective – PART II
An Annotated Conversation with Ramkrishna Bhattacharya Krishna Del Toso Krishna Del Toso: Indeed, we meet with materialistic perspectives in texts belonging to quite different fields: Āyurveda, Mahābhārata, Upaniṣads… I would also add Ṛgveda and Atharvaveda just to stress antiquity of Indian Materialism in general. In this respect, one of the aspects that first impressed me…
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Are all Indians Sons of Ram?
Ram Puniyani During the anti colonial movement, Mahatma Gandhi emerged as the tallest of leaders and was called, ‘Father of the nation’ Rashtrapita. This term was first used by Subhash Chandra Bose in a Radio address in 1944 and later approved, accepted and upheld by majority of Indians. Of course he was not accepted…
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Social and Economic Aspects of the Bhagavad Gita – PART I
DD Kosambi The Bhagavad-Gita, “Song of the Blessed One”, forms part of the great Indian epic Mahabharata. Its 18 adhyaya chapters contain the report by Sanjaya of a dialogue between the Pandava hero Arjuna and his Yadu Charioteer Krsna, the eighth incarnation of Visnu. The actual fighting is about to begin when Arjuna feels revulsion…
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Supreme Court Judgment on Banning of EVR’s Booklet on Ramayana
In 1970 the Government of Uttar Pradesh passed an order, under Section 99-A of the Cr.P.C, forfeiting the book “Ramayana: A True Reading” (and its Hindi translation) authored by EVR, the legendary rationalist thinker and social activist from Tamil Nadu. The High Court of Allahabad quashed the Government Order. The Government of Uttar Pradesh filed…
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Indian Philosophy – Melody and Millstone: PART III
G Ramakrishna The murky record of idealism as a vicious weapon on the one hand and philosophical obscurantism on the other has a shining contrast in materialism. Once again the historical limitations of the ancient Indian materialist philosophers cannot be overlooked. The rudiments of materialism are quite clear in many anti-idealist schools of though and…
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Aligarh Muslim University, Raja Mahendra Pratap and Attempts of Polarization
Ram Puniyani Those resorting to communal politics have not only perfected their techniques of polarizing the communities along religious lines, but have been constantly resorting to new methods for dividing the society. On the backdrop of Muzzafar nagar, where ‘Love Jihad’ propaganda was used to enhance the divisive agenda, now in Aligarh an icon…
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Men and Godmen
G Ramakrishna India, like many other countries, has produced luminaries of great repute. They have blazed the path of their successors. The illumination that they have provided has been a beacon of light for many a pathfinder. Every age has its own ‘prophets’ who, through their identification with the struggling people and consciousness for a…
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Indian Philosophy – Melody and Millstone: PART II
G Ramakrishna A total rejection of idealism means the acceptance of a secular, rational and scientific approach, while idealism has religion-orientation, faith in the scriptures, and superstitions in most of its major forms, for its accessories (p 234). The other major contribution of the anti-idealist schools of thought consists of the defence of practice as…
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Asoka and the Basic Values in Indian Culture
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya To deliver the key-note address in a seminar with such a majestic title1 is an uphill task. The topic touches so many areas of such vast dimension that it call for a person of encyclopedic erudition, which I do not possess. So, instead of addressing each and every aspect of this grandiose title,…
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Transplanting Elephant Head on Human Body – The Magic of Mythological Fiction
Ram Puniyani One of the best parts of childhood for me was to enjoy the mythological tales and become aware of the world where Lord Hanuman could fly, as the emergency herbal treatment is to be delivered to his master’s brother; Laxman. Lord Ram travelling by Pushpak Viman (aero plane), Lord Ganesha being planted with…
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Targeting Nehruvian Legacy?
Ram Puniyani The debates about India’s partition, Gandhi murder and politics of Nehru have been a matter of ceaseless debates. Each political tendency has their own interpretation of these events, which in a way are landmarks of sorts in modern Indian History. As such the phenomenon of Partition of India and assassination of Gandhi are…
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Doctoring History for Political Goals: Origin of Caste System in India
Ram Puniyani Caste hierarchy is the major obstacle to the goal of social justice and it continues to be a major obstacle to social progress even today. There are many a theories, which have tried to understand its origin. The latest in the series is the attempt of RSS to show its genesis due to…
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Modi Sarkar: Politics through Culture
Ram Puniyani The change in the ruling dispensation (May 2014) has more than one aspect which is likely to affect the very social-cultural-political map of India. Narendra Modi won the last elections with an electoral success, 282 seats for BJP, with 31% of votes polled, which is a landmark for a party. There was a…
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The Belief in Rebirth and the Gospel of Gautama Buddha
Normal 0 T.A.P Aryaratne When we speak of Buddhism we mean the doctrine set forth in a certain collection of compositions, chiefly discourses, orally transmitted over a period of some five centuries before the Christian era began, and committed to writing towards the close of that period. From this fact we cannot justly conclude that…
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Hegel, Heine, Marx: Hanuman and Sabala
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya In ‘The British Rule in India,’ one of his contributions to the New-York Daily Tribune, 25 June 1853, Marx waxed both passionate and indignant: ‘We must not forget that these little [village] communities [in Hindostan] were contaminated by distinctions of caste and by slavery, that they subjugated man to external circumstances instead…
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Is the Face of Hinduism Changing?
Ram Puniyani Fali S Nariman recently made a very significant observation on the current political situation in India. The distinguished Constitutional jurist noted: “Hinduism has traditionally been the most tolerant of all Indian faiths. But, recurrent instances of religious tension, fanned by fanaticism and hate speech, have shown that the Hindu tradition of tolerance is showing signs…
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ISIS, Oil Politics and Peaking of Islamophobia
Ram Puniyani Just a month ago (August 2014) a group of Muslim activists-scholars organized press meets in various cities. They issued a statement condemning the brutal violence being committed by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). There statement carried a visual saying Islam Means Peace. The statement said “Indian Muslims Condemn the Brutal…
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Tools for Divisive Politics: Hate Speech and Patriarchy
Love Jihad propaganda spurs hate, not dialogue Ram Puniyani After the last general elections where Narendra Modi and his party won a majority overwhelmingly, the BJP has not been doing so well in subsequent by-elections. The Lalu-Nitish experiment is one model, but whether it will be replicated in different parts of the country is a…