South Asia Citizens Web

From Copenhagen and Paris to Mumbai and Kolkata, satirists and cartoonists have become targets of bigoted followers of both religious gods (who choose to murder them) and political gods (who put them behind bars). One is reminded of the story of the famous 13th century West Asian humorist Mullah Nasiruddin, who went to a tailor to order a shirt, and the latter promised to deliver it within a week, adding the rider, “God willing!” After several weeks, having listened to the same promise—along with the same rider—a disappointed Nasiruddin finally asked the tailor: “How long will it take, if we leave God out of it?” Nasiruddin’s question, seemingly innocuous, but as a metaphor, tears up the vast canopy of religious hypocrisy that covers our socio-economic practices.

With the Maharashtra government reaffirming its commitment for the Jaitapur nuclear power project, researchers and activists have again raised their voices against the 9900 megawatt project, claiming it would cause “irreversible damage” to the environment.

It is not clear what the character of the state is even after more than four decades of its birth. Bangladesh is, rather, at the crossroads of Islamism and secularism

Mujeeb Rizvi was a scholar-teacher who fought the pundits and the bigots

On 22 May 2015, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM), a student group namely Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC) was ‘derecognised’ by the Dean of Students following an advisory note received from the Under Secretary to the Human Resource Development Ministry , Government of India. The note from the MHRD referred to an anonymous complaint that APSC created “hatred” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hindus, and subsequently tried to justify the action in the garb of ‘misuse of privileges’.