South Asia Citizens Web

It is worrying that West Bengal’s political class remained tactical spectators to the Kolkata rally organised by Muslim groups in support of Bangladeshi war criminals

We, members of public, civil society, professional bodies and trade unions, express strong disapproval of the tactics being used to push the election process in a certain direction.

hardly mentioned in the mainstream Indian press, a huge rally was finally held on 30th March at the Maidan (Shahid Minar), Calcutta’s most prominent venue for speeches and protests, where up to 100,000 demonstrators (claimed by the organizers) came to voice their rage at “disrespect to Islam in Bangladesh”.

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Affiliate Reports INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY NFFPFW becomes All India Union of Forest Working People Kerala State Council of NTUI elects new President Remembering Com. V B Cherian: Working Class Unity and Trade Union Democracy Campaign News Meeting on Work Shift Rationalisation from the point of view of Security of Working Women Natco Pharma wins cancer drug case Remembering Fukushima: Lessons for India News Updates Most persondays lost (…)

If we look at the totality of public and private censorship, we see that while religion does come up (and provokes global hand-wringing), it is not always the overriding concern. Rather it is challenges to state power, initially class-based critiques in the 1970s, and later critical writing organized around centrist polarities, that provoke the deepest backlash. Journalists who benefit from business opportunities and government linkages complicate matters– as beneficiaries of state or business patronage, they lose editorial independence and are also likely to be targets of recrimination after regime change.