South Asia Citizens Web

Neeti Nair has written a comprehensive and complex history of the Punjabi Hindus in the first half of the twentieth century. Changing Homelands begins by tracing the rise of communalism in the 1920s and ends with partition in the 1940s.

• Sexual assault is not just about the criminal, it’s also about the abused. (Noopur Tiwari)
• Disciplinary action cannot replace legal proceedings against sexual violence. (Pratiksha Baxi)

Leese pays special attention to the 1966-68 period to show how the exact phrases glorifying Mao became closely defined during those years, producing a “peak of language formalization and the near-merging of public and private speech” (p. 181). The cult encouraged various rituals, including daily morning and evening pledges to Mao, loyalty dances, and what Leese calls the bewildering “episode of worshipping mangos” (p. 223). This refers to nationwide fascination with mangoes as a symbol of Mao’s favor following Mao’s gift of mangos to a propaganda team attempting to reestablish order at Qinghua University in Beijing in July 1968.

We the undersigned condemn the endorsement of gender apartheid by Universities UK and others. Any form of segregation, whether by race, sex or otherwise is discriminatory. Separate is never equal and segregation is never applied to those who are considered equal. By justifying segregation, Universities UK sides with Islamist values at the expense of the many Muslims and others who oppose sex apartheid and demand equality between women and men.

THE breakout of fresh riots in Muzaffarnagar on October 30, 2013 has once again revealed the open alliance between right wing conservative social structures and Hindutva in the current day political scenario. Though this alliance is not new and has not developed suddenly, the Muzaffarnagar riots showcase its political divisiveness and potency which is borne out of the caste, class and Hindutva nexus. This interrelationship is leading to the communalisation of caste and class politics itself, a factor that has the potential to influence the outcome of the upcoming general elections.