South Asia Citizens Web

It is apparent that at least in the 21st century, Hindutva terror has been far more active in India than Islamist terror. Why, then, has this fact not been appreciated more widely? The answer to this question is extremely disturbing, and opens up the possibility that other terrorist attacks too that have been attributed to Muslims have actually been perpetrated by Hindutva terrorists. There is a striking resemblance between this situation and pre-Nazi Germany as described by Arthur Rosenburg in his essay ‘Fascism as a Mass Movement’ (translated by Jairus Banaji in Historical Materialism 20(1), 2012). Here it is pointed out that the fascist ideology which was later exploited by Hitler and the Nazis was widely prevalent decades earlier. In the case of India, the corresponding ideology is communalism. Unless Gatade’s urgent call for ‘an uncompromising struggle against communalism’ (GC 342) is heeded, India could be heading in the same direction.

On April 27, Zohra Sehgal, born 1912, completes one hundred years of her amazing frolicking in this world

If the Maoists care for the tribals and if they have any respect for human rights, they should release both Alex Paul Menon and Jhina Hikaka immediately and unconditionally

Now and then, as though out of sheer boredom, the United States shoots itself in the foot and loses the occasional goodwill it creates with aid programmes. Consider the latest: Secretary Hilary Clinton says that "As we are ratcheting up pressure on Iran, it seems somewhat inexplicable that Pakistan would be trying to negotiate a pipeline with it". Appearing before Congress, she threatened that sanctions could be imposed by the US on Pakistan’s precarious economy, and these would be "particularly damaging" and "further undermine their economic status". One wonders why Mrs Clinton finds Pakistan’s attempt to tap into its gas-rich neighbour "inexplicable". In fact, there is no mystery. Half of Pakistan’s energy needs are met from gas, but only 30 per cent of gas is domestically produced. Natural gas runs the country’s electricity generating plants, powers its factories, and is used as fuel for cars, buses and trucks.

The government last week withdrew an amendment to the Town and Country Planning Ordinance that if passed would have given the Minister of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs vast powers over any private property in the country.