South Asia Citizens Web

In Portland, US, white co-passengers heroically came to the rescue of the children, and paid for this with their lives. In India, not one passenger came forward when Junaid was lynched

Rituals of random violence have their own rationale, the maintenance and reproduction of dread of the unknown, or even of the known. The consequences are clear. People in search of protection cluster together. The political community fragments, and the collective self of India is once again fractured.

THINGS happen with such rapidity these days that it is hard to comprehend what is happening to the Indian republic. On the one side are the relentless attacks, attacks of such orgiastic violence that it leaves most people shaken.

Why are foreign donors so enthusiastic about alternative dispute mechanisms when they deliver second class justice for women?

Three years after he became Prime Minister, Modi made his second statement against the vigilante violence unleashed by cow hoodlums in different parts of the country. The speech, welcome though it was, lacked conviction primarily because Modi heads a government in which ministers have openly lauded such ’gau rakshaks’, and given them state financial assistance. Just a week ago, home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said hate crime was not new in India and that the only thing new was its over-reporting.