South Asia Citizens Web

Alia Amirali, social activist and member of Awami Workers’ Party, talks about the political, economic, and social aspects of the emergence of katchi abadis in Pakistan. “We need to transform the working-classes into a strong political force”

The likely new prime minister of India is wildly popular among his supporters, and has a rags-to-riches backstory to warm the hearts of meritocrats, but others fear and distrust him by Ian Jack. Save a single exception – typically, an academic – every person of Indian descent known to me within a half-mile radius of my house wants Narendra Modi to be the next prime minister of India. Admittedly, this is not a large sample: it consists of a few shopkeepers who sell groceries and newspapers in my small part of north London. Nor is it a very balanced sample: like many small shopkeepers in Britain, they have their origins in the state of Gujarat and they are all, I think, Hindu by tradition if not observance. In other words, they share Modi’s language, customs and religious identity

Reliance Running a Parallel State . . . I do not know of any country where one single firm exercises such power so brazenly, over the natural resources, financial resources, professional resources and, ultimately, over human resources as the company of the Ambanis. . . . I wonder why it is that Indian science which has done such wonders for us, is yet to make an impact on what Nehru used to call the scientific temper. Superstition has increased exponentially in our country. I value the affection and faith of those who tie strings and charms to my wrists for love and care of me. But the rings and strings on the fingers and wrists of our politicians are signs of their fear psychoses, insecurities and desperate placatings of benign stars or for the averting of evil eyes. he number of Godmen and, to a lesser extent, Godwomen, is increasing in algebraic leaps.

Producer - Abbas Syed | Director - Rohit Tiwari | Writer & Associate Director - Anurag Thakur

This article should be read carefully by everyone interested in Indian politics. The logic employed by the BJP leadership is revealing. By her reasoning, Sonia Gandhi is bound to be a fascist because her father was an Italian soldier. Are political ideas inherited along with one’s DNA? Today, the doctrine of historically transmitted guilt is used by all communalists to justify their violence against innocent people. Is this not what lies behind slogans such as ’Babar ki aulaad’? Since Ms Lekhi is announcing her awareness of the evil of Nazism and facism, may we expect the BJP leadership to finally make a public repudiation of Gowalkar’s and V.D. Savarka’s sympathy for the Nazis and their racial hatred of Jews?