'A genuine tribute to Dr Ambedkar does not lie in selective invocation. It lies in asking a harder question: Is the Constitution still doing its job -- restraining even assertive majorities?' asks Manoj Mohanka.
'If the BJP becomes our political identity, our political face, if we are represented by the BJP, then what happens to our identity as Bengalis?'
The Indian History Congress (IHC) has criticized NCERT's new Partition Horrors Remembrance Day modules, alleging they spread falsehoods with communal intent by depicting the Congress as complicit in Partition while absolving the British.
Hopefully, the BJP will realise that it's the right time for parivartan (change) in its polarising poll strategies after achieving the impossible-looking goal of winning West Bengal, argues Sheela Bhatt.
The extent of doubts over the fairness of this election can be assessed by juxtaposing two figures: Total votes polled by the two principal parties and the number of people who were disallowed from voting this time, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
This election is different. It is no longer simply about governance or welfare. It is about identity, fear, and who belongs. The BJP has successfully shifted the terms of the debate from what the government has delivered to who the real Bengali is and who is an outsider, points out Ramesh Menon.
'Kashmir needs to be divided and we need the land of Panun Kashmir in Kashmir.'
AMU has once again been pulled into a crossfire of crass political opportunism. In these post-truth times, that the university also had political stirrings not subscribing to the Muslim League is chosen to be forgotten, says Mohammad Sajjad.
A new book reveals that India and Pakistan discussed a communal division of Jammu & Kashmir along the Chenab river before the Kargil war in 1999.
'Amit Shah and his fellow travellers need to realise that India was divided because of competitive communalism of forces like Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League, prodded, aided and abetted by the colonial power,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Sunday paid homage to those who lost their lives during the Partition as the Congress accused the ruling party of using the traumatic events as a 'fodder' for its political battles.
'Mamata needs to address the anger and resentment among various sections of the Hindu community because low-scale communal violence has always paid richer electoral dividends for the BJP.'
On the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India movement, Utkarsh Mishra recalls the conditions under which the Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi, launched the final struggle for independence.
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
A loud sound was heard at around 1 am outside Kalia's residence near Shastri Market in Jalandhar, police said, adding that no one was hurt in the incident.
'Communalism and communal riots happened in India only during and due to colonialism. Pre-colonial India didn't have this problem of communal conflicts and religious strife.'
The British administration ignored the mounting evidence of violence between Hindus and Muslims... Military historian Barney White-Spunner traces the countdown to the tragedy in his book, Partition.
'Nehru remains central to the polemic between the Congress and the BJP, or stated ideologically, between secular and Hindu nationalism.' 'The reason is that Nehru represents what is optimally possible as a secular politics along with liberalism and democracy in a country like India.'
'Whatever you do will spark controversies, so it is best do what your heart tells you to do. Simple.'
'There is one way to defeat the intention behind this directive: To patronise Muslim establishments that have been forced to identify themselves.' 'This is one opportunity for the Congress to show that the 'mohabbat ki dukaan' its leader talks about does exist.' 'Can Akhilesh Yadav, who has asked the court to take note of this directive, order his party members to do this?' asks Jyoti Punwani.
Replying to a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, he said the first prime minister of India (Jawaharlal Nehru) wrote to the first chief minister of Assam (Gopinath Bordoloi), saying there was a need to differentiate between Hindu refugees and Muslim migrants.
RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya has accused Vice President Hamid of speaking like a "communal Muslim leader".
'Indian nationhood is indeed at the cusp of alarming redefinition -- hate-filled, and exclusionary.' 'Nations are not built this way, instead these are the ways of liquidating nations.' 'We must pre-empt it.' 'Can we?' asks Mohammad Sajjad.
'This is what Hindu Rashtra looks like, which has been enabled by conditions of democracy.'
'Besides electoral opportunism, a sustained vilification of AMU on one or the other pretext helps them sustain their 'everyday communalism', the new strategy of the BJP of the Narendra Damodardas Modi-Amit Anilchandra Shah era,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Potent nationalism doesn't just distract from the economic task at hand; it actively undermines it.'
'Nehru's inability to take religion seriously as a category led to serious errors of judgement in his dealings with the Muslim League, and later, also with the Hindu right.'
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'We are losing the battle of secularism, but we have not lost.'
'Episodes of targeted attacks on Muslims established that for a section of people and, sadly, even officials of the State, the election results conveyed no lessons.' 'Opposition parties must not be hesitant in speaking out whenever the mob with tacit State support targets Muslims,' asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
'The Hindu quest for political power in terms of a Hindu identity can pose a problem for tolerance, as the alignment of religion with power often does.'
'Revanth Reddy mounted a spirited campaign in Telangana which turned around the fortunes of the Congress in six months.'
Bengal, where the electoral discourse has mostly steered clear of divisive agenda, has been drawn into the vortex with the TMC and the BJP accusing each other of fanning communal sentiments ahead of elections.
Have we been allowed to forget Partition? Isn't Partition the reason many Hindus cannot bring themselves to trust Muslims? So many Muslims born after 1947 have told me with anguish: "How long will we be blamed for Partition?" notes Jyoti Punwani.
'Sheikh Abdullah ruled the state with secular values. Post 1953, when he was sacked, corruption took over governance.'
'The Bodos and the Assamese were at each other's throats, the Assamese Muslims and the Bengali Muslims were at each other's throats, the Bengali speaking Muslims and Hindus were coming together against the Assamese speaking caste Hindus and the plains tribes and vice versa.'
'Modi's power rests on the Hindu vote.' 'It is this vote bank that sees the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala as an intrusion into its religious practice and is frothing at the mouth.' 'History shows us the ill-fated consequences of a strong government buckling before street power,' cautions Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'We have Hindu values, Hindu customs, Hindu philosophy, Hindu way of looking at all religions as acceptable.' 'These are all great assets of India.'
'A climate of impunity is created when the fascistic hate-mongers reckon they can get away with anything because 'this is our regime' and this is going to be a 'Hindu Rashtra'.'
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