South Asia Citizens Web

Undoubtedly, there is a quarter that wants to project our polity as one that is predisposed to becoming a wellspring of violence, unless it is somehow suitably moulded and rounded-up to accommodate and live with modernity. This quarter would like others to believe that the so-called religiously motivated extremist groups are trying to redefine the concept of “nation state”.

The Supreme Court recently took up a PIL challenging a statement made by Rahul Gandhi alleging that the RSS killed Mahatma Gandhi. (Rahul Gandhi was then reported to have amended his statement, and the RSS demanded an apology. A comment sent to me by a friend indicates that Rahul Gandhi did not amend his statement although the media tried to present it as such. It appears that he had said "RSS people" killed Gandhi and he stuck to that statement throughout. It seems the SC assumed that he had held the RSS collectively responsible. They asked him to apologise. When the Court record showed the original statement to be different, the SC backtracked. By then the media had taken off with its sensationalism).

The British have the reputation of leaving their colonies in a mess when they have to withdraw by force or otherwise. One method they have adopted is to partition the country they have ruled. They did this in Ireland, Palestine-Israel and, of course, India.

Venkat Dhulipala is Associate Professor of South Asian and Global history at University of North Carolina Wilmington. His first book, ’Creating a New Medina: State Power, Islam, and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India’, published last year, has created a stir in academic circles. He spoke with Aarti Tikoo Singh about how popular mobilization for the achievement of Pakistan took place and why its history is important to understand the present.

The Kashmir conflict is driven by nationalistic and religious fervor, each side pointing to the violence and injustice of the other, each side pointing to its own suffering and sorrow. The distrust, paranoia, and neurosis permeating the relationship between a large number of people of J & K and the Indian Union has intensified the conflict. The guerilla war in the state has gone through a series of phases since 1990 but repressive military and political force remains the brutal reality in the State, which cannot be superseded by seemingly abstract democratic aspirations.