South Asia Citizens Web

Upcoming Convention of the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy is all set to happen in Allahabad from 29 to 31 December 2011. See invitation card and blurb on Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy.

Now the RSS-BJP politics is entering the new phase. Having reached the acme of anti minority polarization, it has found the Anna Hazare movement as the new vehicle for its politics of undermining democratic institutions to
bring in a parallel authoritarian structure where the Lok Pal plays the big
brother.

Even a casual observer of Indian politics can easily discern the two extreme standpoints on contemporary India’s development: Manmohanites and Maoists.

A bench comprising Justices Dalip Singh and Sajjan Singh Kothari of the Rajasthan high court has stated that marriages based on the right to choose, more generally known as love marriages, are examples of “lust and greed”! Such insensitive statements by the distinguished judges can only reinforce the prevailing mindset of those who wish to confine society in its strong caste-based compartments.

The academic focus on Muslim politics in pre-Partition India has contributed to the quality “divisive” becoming almost synonymous with “Muslim”. This paper analyses the politics of Punjabi Hindus from the early 1920s onwards to suggest that their many schemes for partitioning the Punjab coexisted with demands for separate electorates and reservations for minorities. Partition, however, was not as deadly and tormented a proposal in the 1920s as it became two decades later. The critical, operative factor was safeguarding minority rights and, in striking contrast to contemporary debates in Europe, did not entail population transfers.