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Honoring Hate: Public Felicitation of Riot Accused
Ram Puniyani Communal violence has tormented our country, more so from last three decades in particular. From the decade of 1980s its form has taken very menacing proportions and the country bleeds from time to time with the death of innocents, and at the same time takes place political ascendance of those behind engineering the…
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Modi on Rampage: Reckless Abuse of History
History is increasingly weaponized for contemporary political agendas in India. This article examines how communal politics abuses both ancient myths and modern historical events—from temple destructions to the tragedy of Partition—to undermine democratic nationalism. It offers a critical analysis of the long-term colonial, feudal, and ideological factors that truly drove Partition.
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National Seminar on Secularisation of India
The Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations will organize a National Seminar on “Secularisation of India” on November 24, 2013, at Ambedkar Bhavan Hall, New Delhi. This will be followed by a Parliament March and Dharna at Jantar Mantar on November 25, 2013
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‘Statue of Unity’ on One Side: Asthi Kalsh Yatra on the Other
Ram Puniyani In the last week of October-first week of November, we saw two contradictory processes. On one side the foundation stone was laid for the statue of first Deputy Prime Minister of India, Saradar Vallabhbhai Patel, being called as Statue of Unity. On the other side the BJP in Bihar was taking out ‘Asthi Kalash’ (Pitcher…
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The Psychic’s Soldering Iron
This article deconstructs the miracle claim of placing a red-hot electric soldering iron on human skin without burning. By pre-coating the hand with petroleum jelly, the performer utilizes latent heat of vaporization and a microscopic gas cushion to insulate epidermal tissue during brief contact. The illusion relies on thermal physics rather than divine invulnerability.
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Modi’s-Abusing History for Political Mileage
Ram Puniyani The Politics of Modi’ parent organisation RSS is based on distortion of history, medieval history in particular. to begin with the projection of kings through the prism of religion, to demonise Muslim kings based on distortions and falsehoods of History, and then in turn spreading hatred against Muslims of today has been the…
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Love Jihad: From Illusory Slogan to Potent Weapon
Ram Puniyani The country is yet to recover from the aftermath of Muzaffranagar violence (October 2013). This violence was engineered over a period of time in the areas of Western UP, where Jats and Muslims had thick social interaction, despite belonging to different economic strata. Communal violence has been instigated, engineered earlier on various issues…
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Engels, Dialectics and Buddhism
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya The book that has come down to us under the title Dialectics of Naure is strictly speaking not a book but an edited version of four folders containing miscellaneous notes and jottings left unfinished by their author, Frederick Engles. The material was never published in Engles’s life time although parts of it were…
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Explained Series: Books and Exhibition on Communalism Explained and Terrorism Explained
Ram Puniyani Friends, Violence under the garb of religion has been the major expression of the politics in current times. Sharad Sharma, and myself are working on ‘Explained Series’. The aim of the series is to present the phenomenon in the form of graphic presentations, Comic Books. Two books in this series are already out…
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The Healing Gashes of the Oracle
This article deconstructs the miracle claim of self-wounding and instant healing using a blunt knife. By combining iron(III) ions on the skin with thiocyanate or salicylate reagents on the blade, a performer generates blood-red coordination complexes. The water-soluble color is easily wiped away, proving the “blood” is inorganic chemistry, not supernatural immunity.
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Catching a Thief by Sorcery
A self-styled tantrik claims to identify thieves using a sacred stick planted in a dark room. After a frightening fire ritual, suspects enter alone to touch the stick. The top is secretly smeared with asafoetida. Innocent suspects touch it, while a superstitious thief avoids contact out of fear, revealing themselves through odorless fingers.
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Development of Materialism in India
The Pre-Cārvākas and the CārvākasThe historical trajectory of Indian materialism reveals a dynamic evolution from early bhūtavāda to classical Cārvāka thought. By challenging orthodox scriptural authority, rejecting metaphysical dogma, and refining epistemological criteria around perception and inference, these heterodox traditions offer a rigorous, rationalist critique that fundamentally reshaped the broader landscape of classical Indian philosophy.
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Formal versus Substantive Justice: Shinde’s Letter on Harassment of innocent Muslims
Ram Puniyani In his letter to all the Chief Ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde’s Centre’s Home Minster (30, 09, 2013), wrote that Government has been receiving complaints of harassment of innocent Muslim youth by Law enforcement agencies. He asked the state authorities to ensure that no innocent Muslim youth should be arrested or wrongfully detained in…
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“I Would Be Happy To See a Real Miracle Before I Die”:
In this concluding afterword to Volume 1, B. Premanand highlights how unscrupulous godmen exploit superstitions and evade legal action despite robust Indian laws. He emphasizes the necessity of cultivating a scientific temper, details his lifetime search for authentic paranormal phenomena, and outlines Abraham T. Kovoor’s famous One-Lakh Rupee Paranormal Challenge.
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All India Anti-Superstition Bill: Letter from Prabhakar Nanawaty
We reproduce an email received from Mr. Prabhakar Nanawathy, Editor of “Thought & Action”, the organ of Andhashradda Nirmoolan Samiti (ANiS, founded by Dr Narendra Dabholkar), which was instrumental in getting the anti-superstition bill passed by the Maharashtra Assembly. The Samiti is now planning to have a similar bill passed by our Parliament. You may…
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Our Pledge to Kashmir
Jawaharlal Nehru I must express my gratitude to the many hon. Members who, in the course of this debate, have spoken generously about the policy that the Government has pursued in regard to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. While we have had an abundance of generous acknowledgement of our policy, we have had criticism…
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Polarization with a difference: Muzaffarnagar Violence
Ram Puniyani Communal violence has been the bane of Indian society, more so from last three decades. One can see its coming up prominently from 1893 to begin with and then it went through different phases. It became stronger after 1937, peaked in 1946 and then the post partition holocaust shattered the lives of lakhs…
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Are Goan Catholics Culturally Hindu?
Ram Puniyani Identity issues are at the fore in current times. Those basing their politics on the identity issues have lot of assertions about who the ‘others’ are. There is a constant ongoing attempt to assimilate them in the umbrella of their religion and culture. Current times, where religious nationalism dominates, the scene is that…
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Kashmir: Let the People Decide
Jawaharlal Nehru The house will remember that a few days ago I made a fairly lengthy statement in this House about the affairs of Jammu and Kashmir State. I do not propose to weary the House by a repetition of what I said then. But at this stage, I should like to emphasize certain aspects…
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Business of Faith
Ram Puniyani Our society has seen severe turmoil’s in the name of religion during last three decades in particular. While on one side we see that issues related to religion’s identity are trying to occupy the center stage, we also are witnessing the emergence of thousands of self proclaimed ‘Godmen’, supposed to be having divine…
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Who Killed Narendra Dabholkar?
Ram Puniyani The brutal killing of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar (20th August 2013) is a big jolt to the social movement against blind faith and superstitions. During last few decades the tendency for promotion of rational thought parallel to social change came up as Popular Science movement. In Maharashtra it took shape in the form of a movement, Andh Shraddha Nirmoolan…
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Modi Phenomenon: an Attack on Indian Democracy
Ram Puniyani Currently (August 2013) Narendra Modi is trying to dominate the media, print social and TV through his carefully constructed propaganda machinery and his potential of being nominated as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate by RSS-BJP. Modi has openly used the words like puppies dying under the car wheel, while referring to the victims…
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Jawaharlal Nehru: Three Letters on Ayodhya
Jawaharlal Nehru To GB Pant New Delhi April 17, 1950 My dear Pantji, Thank you for your letter about Shahjahanpur. I am quite sure that your Government has taken strong and effective action during these recent troubles in the U.P. I am glad to learn that as a result of that action as well as…
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Resist Anti-Scientific Temper Forces
A Statement by Intellectuals & ActivistsJoint Statement • 20 August 2013 Statement on the Brutal Murder of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar We the scientist, rationalists, educators and intellectuals of the country learnt with shock and anger the brutal and inhuman murder of Dr Narendra Dabholkar. This murder is part of the series of attacks that have been perpetrated by anti scientific…