Category Archives: Right watch

authoritarianism, Debates, Feminism, Genders, Politics, Right watch

CJP and The Prime Minister’s Satisfactions

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There is a hole in the Prime Minister’s soul

That cannot be filled.

We must all concede

To his greed

His limitless hungry need

For love. 

All the time.

It is very difficult to watch the video of a fifteen year old girl apologizing to the nation, and then look at Narendra Modi’s Instagram post in which he proffers forgiveness to the “shararati bacche” of the nation. The video in which a 15 year old girl is made to apologize with folded hands, and her mother made to thank the Prime Minister for his magnanimity, is deeply disturbing because it reveals the true sociopathy that lives inside this man. And what lives inside him is a hatred of women and a desire for control and dominance so pathological that it derives its satisfaction from this. What satisfaction is a 75 year old man, the prime minister of a nation, with the full force of the state and its violence behind him, deriving from the video of a 15 year old girl begging forgiveness? 

Who is a “shararati baccha”? What drives Narendra Modi’s need to infantilize the adults who gathered on Jantar Mantra, specifically daughters, and teach them lessons? What is the actual lesson that Narendra Modi wishes to teach the betis of this country? The psyche acts towards it’s own satisfaction. What is the nature of pleasure that accompanies this video of a 15-year old child as she is taught a lesson? 

Insulting language is not a crime. Narendra Modi is owed no apologies from anyone. However, why is the law and the goons not demanding apologies from the young men, legions of them, chanting, “Neem ka patta kadwa hai, Narendra Modi ***** hai”? We know the answer to this question. Feminists have given us the weapons to diagnose it. But despite the tools that feminism has given us so we can look squarely at the forms that patriarchy takes, this video produces a visceral revulsion at the psychopathology of this regime and the man who presides over it.

The goons arriving at the doors of women demanding apologies are extensions of the prime minister. The men issuing rape threats to 15 year old girls are psychic prosthetics of the prime minister. They are doing the psychic bidding of a man who speaks of women’s bodies in an obscene fashion. Who obsesses about the sexual lives of women by calling a woman a 50 crore girlfriend. A man who compares a woman to a Jersey Cow, and then talks about her “hybrid child”. A man who demands that a 15 year old girl beg his forgiveness in public. And then her mother be made to thank him for giving her daughter a “Jeevan dan”. This pervert is the Prime Minister of our country. And in the 12 years of his regime he has gathered around himself an incel army that embodies every perverted form that masculinity takes. 

At least one strand of the murderous rage the ruling regime feels for the young people gathered at Jantar Mantra has to do with the nature of masculinity that characterized that space. Instead of the obscenity that characterizes this regime, what happened at the CJP protests at Jantar Mantra was the modeling of a masculinity that is not scared, embarrassed, or disgusted by women’s bodies and what they may need. And unlike the toxic obsession that the right-wing has with women’s bodies and the horrific things they want to do to them, this masculinity does not sexualize every encounter with it. Like the young man, he must not have been more than 16 years old, who was offering sanitary towels to women. I thanked him and said I didn’t need them, to which he replied, “Abhi nahin to kabhi to zaroorat padegi. Hamare paas bahut hai, aap ek le lijiye. Aur aapko nahin zaroorat to kissi aur ko de dijiye.” Compare the care in these words said to a woman thirty years older than him, with the desire of the Prime Minister to teach young girls lessons in which they beg forgiveness.

At Jantar Mantar, there were two queues to enter the space of the CJP protest enclosed by the barricades, one for men and one for women. The young men who were the volunteers responsible for crowd management, immediately took women through the women’s entrance. I had come that night with my brother and I hesitated for a moment when I was asked to go through, because our phones weren’t working and I wanted to coordinate where to meet. Regardless, this young man must have thought I was worried about my safety. Because he looked at me and said, “Ye Kumbh Mela nahi hai, aapka bhai aapko andar mil jayega, promise.” By this he did not mean that I would not get lost in the crowd. He meant that I would not be encountering the Sanatan Hindu masculinity that is issuing rape threats, hunting down young women, and demanding that they perform their abjection for the Prime Minister. 

All societies have pathological tendencies, as all societies have resources for life. In the twelve years of his rule, Narendra Modi has viralized every pathological tendency there exists——of casteism, of misogyny, of islamophobia, xenophobia, racism. The tactic of control has been to make the social body sick with fear and normalize more and more depraved forms of violence against Dalits, against Muslims, women, Kashmiris, people fighting for their land, transpeople, farmers, students, teachers, anyone and everyone who asks any questions about this regime. The protests at Jantar Mantar are so terrifying to this regime because they displayed a moral compass in a nation which feared it had lost one. And they showed that social depravity has a location. That location is the Prime Minister and the entire ecosystem that has birthed and sustained him. To quote a slogan from Jantar Mantra, “BJP ke daftar mein.” But society has managed, despite the pathogens released by the PMO, to recover a space for ethical action and care for each other. Jantar Mantra is terrifying to the toxic insecure masculinity that drives the vaanar sena and its 56-inch Senapati, because it is a world in which women can talk about their periods, and young men can offer them sanitary pads when they need them. And in response the regime reasserts its right to derive pleasure from the humiliation of girls and women by making a 15 year old girl beg forgiveness. The list of unforgivable things that Modi and this regime have done is long. This is high on that list.

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Democracy, Right watch, Theory

‘चरित्र-निर्माण की सदी’?

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…

आरएसएस कैसे धीरे–धीरे अपने ही इतिहास को फिर से लिखने की कोशिश कर रहा है

…

एक सदी बीत गयी जब राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ नाम से हिन्दुओं के संगठन (इसके बजाए इसे ‘हिन्दू पुरुषों‘ का संगठन कहना वाजिब होगा क्योंकि इसमें हिन्दू महिलाओं को प्रवेश नहीं मिल सकता) की नींव पड़ी , जब नागपुर में डॉक्टर हेडगेवार , उनके राजनीतिक मार्गदर्शक डॉ बी एस मुंजे और विनायक दामोदर सावरकर के भाई बाबाराव सावरकर तथा अन्य दो सहयोगियों ने संघ की स्थापना की।  पिछले ही साल उसके निर्माण की सदी मनाई गयी थी।  

आज संघ अपनी कामयाबी के उरूज़ पर कहा जा सकता है , जबकि उसके आनुषंगिक संगठन भारतीय जनता पार्टी के हाथों में सत्ता की बागडोर है, और उसके अन्य सहयोगी जमातों के कारिंदे देश के अग्रणी संस्थाओं को नियंत्रित कर रहे हैं; हालाँकि यह भी उतना ही सही है कि उसके निर्माण, उसके संचालन और उसकी भूमिका को लेकर वह हमेशा विवादों में रहा है। पिछले दिनों कर्नाटक के गृहमंत्री प्रियंक खड़गे ने आरएसएस के पंजीकरण, उसके द्वारा किये जा रहे अकूत धनसंग्रह और उसके हिसाब किताब के जब बात उठायी, तब ये सवाल फिर ज़िंदा हो गए। 

शिक्षा संस्थानों के पाठ्यक्रमों में संघ के प्रभाव में लाये जा रहे बदलावों के बारे में अक्सर बात होती है, मगर इसी क़िस्म की कवायद में संघ अपने अतीत को लेकर भी सक्रिय है – यह बात ज़्यादा लोग नहीं जानते। Read the full article here : https://nayapath.in/how-is-the-rss-trying-to-write-its-own-history-again-subhash-gatade/]

authoritarianism, Democracy, Feminism, Movements, Politics, Right watch

The Enemy is Inside the Home – young women and Hindu Rashtra at Jantar Mantar

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When police fire pellet guns and AK 47s at unarmed protesters on the streets of cities, that’s when you know for sure that India is an integral part of Kashmir and the North Eastern states.

Also the other way round. One big happy parivar.

But of course now we are no longer talking about the devastated landscape of education in India, nor about the police violence unleashed on young unarmed  people protesting exam leaks and perversions of the education system. No, finally – finally – we have come to the real debate as a nation.

Abusive, sexually explicit language against men in power by the protesters, in posters and social media reels and memes.

Correction – by [young female, middle class] protesters. They were not the only ones using their creativity to do this, but they are the ones in the glare of the nation’s spotlight. Continue reading The Enemy is Inside the Home – young women and Hindu Rashtra at Jantar Mantar →

authoritarianism, Debates, Democracy, Movements, Right watch

Cockroach after Kafka – Power after Powerlessness: Alok Ranjan

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Guest post by ALOK RANJAN

Crowds ahead of the 20th March to Parliament, image courtesy The Hindu

In an essay in Kafila, after the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in 2025, I had reflected on a sentiment of betrayal on social media. Then I had faintly wondered whether that sentiment could transform the online sphere towards a positive political role away from its propaganda function. After a year, an online wave fueled a political euphoria on the streets of Delhi and many other cities over a deeper systemic betrayal of the youth. The virtual and the physical spheres erupted in sync, enjoying an expression of resentment. Continue reading Cockroach after Kafka – Power after Powerlessness: Alok Ranjan →

authoritarianism, Education, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Feminists Speak Out Against Continuing Police Brutality in Delhi

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STUDENTS’ ANGER CANNOT BE BEATEN INTO SILENCE! THE GOVERNMENT MUST TAKE MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE CRISIS.

New Delhi, 23 July 2026

Feminist activists, actors, academics, students, civil society organisations and concerned citizens from all walks of life have issued a joint statement condemning the brutal police assault on students and citizens protesting at Jantar Mantar.

The statement expresses unequivocal solidarity with protesting students and with demonstrations taking place across the country in support of their demands. It argues that the anger now filling the streets has been built through years of delayed examinations, paper leaks, cancelled recruitment processes, unfilled vacancies and the steady destruction of young people’s faith in public institutions. Continue reading Feminists Speak Out Against Continuing Police Brutality in Delhi →

Democracy, Education, Everyday Life, Government, Movements, Politics, Right watch

When Vermin Stare Back – Cockroach Janta Party and the Possibility of Reversal: Viraj Kafle

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This is a guest post by VIRAJ  KAFLE

For years, a particular grammar was offered to the young.

It taught them to recognise an internal enemy — Muslims, left activists, social justice advocates, critics of the regime — and to treat their presence as contamination by measuring them against a narrow standard of productivity and usefulness. This grammar operated by sorting populations according to their perceived contribution to a narrowly defined productive order. It marked as contaminants those bodies and capacities that appeared to drain resources, require adjustments, or fail to generate efficient returns.

What was once directed primarily at designated communities has now begun to expand. Continue reading When Vermin Stare Back – Cockroach Janta Party and the Possibility of Reversal: Viraj Kafle →

authoritarianism, Democracy, Movements, Right watch, Scams

Civil Society Appeal to Sonam Wangchuk and Others on Hunger Strike at Cockroach Janata Party Protest

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We are publishing below the Appeal by over 1821 artistes, writers, academics, social activists and other concerned citizens, to all friends sitting on Hunger Strike at the Cockroach Janata Party protest at Jantar Mantar, Delhi for the last 17 days to withdraw their hunger strike. The signatories have appealed to Sonam Wangchuk and all the student hunger strikers to withdraw, recognizing that this is a heartless government that does not have a conscience. They have underlined their support to the demand of the protesters for the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, urging them to recognize that this is a longer fight and given this government’s intransigence, the need to is preserve their strength for future struggles. Please scroll down for the full list of signatories.

Dear Friends who are sitting in Hunger Strike at the Jantar Mantar, Delhi, demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Cabinet Minister for Education in the Government of India,

We, the undersigned citizens of this country, fully support your demand and are immensely grateful to you for being our voices of protest, fighting this battle against a fascist government from the frontlines. We salute your sense of purpose, the determination, and courage with which you are spearheading this movement for students and youth across the country. But we are also very concerned for your health and well-being and the impact that this indefinite hunger strike can have on all of you.

We make this appeal because we all know that this government does not have a heart or a conscience. We have seen time again how they have behaved in the most inhuman and dastardly manner with protesters be they the women wrestlers, the farmers, Father Stan Swamy, wrongly jailed who requested for a straw to drink water, or GD Agarwal the IIT Professor and environmentalist who died in Rishikesh following a hunger strike to clean the Ganga and ban hydroelectric projects. We worry that their negligence in responding to your demands will only further worsen the already fragile state of health that many of you are in.

We request you to please consider ending this hunger strike immediately in the interests of the longer and more difficult struggle ahead. This battle is a marathon not a sprint and we need you, your strength and leadership in the days to come. We are also requesting all those in Delhi to join the Cockroach Janata Party’s March to the Parliament on July 20, 2026. We hope you will understand that our appeal to you is a testament of both our unconditional love and deep respect for each one of you and what you stand for. Zindabad to your spirit.

With love,
Concerned Citizens

Anuradha Chenoy, Academic, Delhi
Jayati Ghosh, Academic, Delhi
Tanika Sarkar, Academic, Delhi
Arundhati Roy, Writer, Delhi
Nivedita Menon, Academic, Delhi
Sanjay Kak, Filmmaker, Delhi
Lalita Ramdas, Peace and Human Rights Activist, Hyderabad
Kavita Srivastava, President PUCL, Rajasthan
Madhu Bhushan, Feminist, Bangalore
Jean Dreze, Economist, Ranchi
Ratna Pathak Shah, Actor, Mumbai
Naseeruddin Shah, Performing Artist, Mumbai
Aditya Nigam, Scholar, Delhi
Arundhati Ghosh, Cultural Practitioner, Bangalore Continue reading Civil Society Appeal to Sonam Wangchuk and Others on Hunger Strike at Cockroach Janata Party Protest →

Capitalism, Culture, Debates, Democracy, Identities, Right watch

क्वार्टर लाइफ / देविका रेगे / सुभाष गाताडे

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‘क्वार्टर लाइफ’ यानी नई सदी में पुराना भारत

कुछ रचनाएं, कुछ किताबें मन में ठहर जाती हैं। आप कह सकते हैं कि उनकी ओर बार बार लौटने का मन करता है, निश्चित ही उनकी यह ख़ासियत इस वजह से पैदा होती है कि वे आप के मन के कुछ तारों को छेड़ने में कामयाब होती हैं, आप की दुखती रग को कहीं छू देती हैं। देविका रेगे (https://devikarege.com/about) के पहले उपन्यास ‘क्वार्टरलाइफ’ Quarterlife के बारे में मैं यही कह सकता हूँ।

क्वार्टरलाइफ अर्थात चौथाई  जीवन। उम्र का वही पड़ाव जब आप को पहली बार एहसास होता है कि आप की अपनी ‘राय होने की क्या खुशी होती है’ ‘that age when you discover the pleasure of opinion’, भविष्य को लेकर चिन्ता भी होती है, पसोपश भी होते हैं, ज़िन्दगी के दूरगामी निर्णय लेने के ज़बरदस्त दबाव में होते हैं, ख़ुद पर ही संदेह, ख़ुद की खोज का यह दौर होता है। …

उपन्यास के पन्नों पर आप ‘पहचान की राजनीति से लेकर काॅरपोरेट लूट और आदर्शवाद की सीमाएं, इन सभी की छटाओं को देख सकते हैं। उपन्यास के यह सभी किरदार अपने आप में भारत के इस बदलते रूप का एक अंश लेकर चल रहे हैं। जैसे जैसे वह न्यू इंडिया से टकराते हैं, वे उस गहरे में विभाजित और जटिल वातावरण के बारे में सचेत होते जाते हैं। नतीजा होता है कि लगातार विस्तारित होती एक कहानी जो उत्सव की एक रात तक उरूज तक पहुंचती दिखती है, जब समूची बंबई सड़कों पर है और सुषुप्त असंतोष फूट पड़ता है।’ ( Read the complete text here : https://sammukh.com/subhash_gatade/)

authoritarianism, Culture, Debates, Democracy, Right watch

Citizens for Democracy Writes Open Letter to CJI Protesting “Cockroach” Remarks

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We are publishing below the Open Letter to the Chief Justice of India, written by Citizens for Democracy

Hon’ble Chief Justice of India
New Delhi.

Esteemed Sir,

Citizens for Democracy (CFD) strongly protests your comment equating environmentalists, RTI activists and others with cockroaches and parasites

While hearing a petition filed by a lawyer seeking designation as a senior advocate, you said in the court on May 15, 2026, “There are already parasites of society who attack the system, and you want to join hands with them?… There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists and other activists, and they start attacking everyone.”

Your comment generated heat and anger among the activists following which you tried to clarify your position the next day: “I am pained to read how a section of the media has misquoted my oral observations made during the hearing of a frivolous case yesterday. What I had specifically criticised were those who have entered professions like the Bar (legal profession) with the aid of fake and bogus degrees. Similar persons have sneaked into the media, social media, and other noble professions as well, and hence, they are like parasites. It is totally baseless to suggest that I criticised the youth of our nation. Not only am I proud of our present and future human resource, but every youth of India inspires me. It is not an exaggeration to say that Indian youth have great regard and respect for me, and I too see them as the pillars of a developed India.”

This is a lame explanation as your comment does target activists who you have presumed that if they are young, and have become activists they must have failed to get “any employment”. In short, using a context of a lawyer seeking the designation as ‘senior lawyer’ you tried to cast aspersions on all those who speak for the ordinary citizens of the country.  We wonder, if you, from the chair of a judge would accept such an explanation. It would have been proper for you to withdraw your uncharitable remarks and apologize for your inadvertence.  What was the judicial rationale behind your comment? Continue reading Citizens for Democracy Writes Open Letter to CJI Protesting “Cockroach” Remarks →

authoritarianism, Democracy, Politics, Right watch

The Missing Link – How the Great Democracy Robbery Was Conducted

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A fundamental mistake is being made by many well-meaning people with respect to the West Bengal election results, For instance, many people are comparing the votes deleted in the farcical “SIR” exercise with the loss of roughly that same amount of votes in TMC’s “final” tally. The closeness of these two figures  – 27 lakhs in the case of deletions (under the logical discrepancy category, though the actual figure should be much higher), and the decrease in TMCs vote  – still falls far short of the BJPs 2.92 crores or so. If one goes by the “final figures” provided by the ECI, the TMC got only 2.60 crores in comparison suggesting that the BJP would have won hands down, even without “SIR”.
Of course all those trying to normalize the big fraud that elections have progressively become since 2019, intentionally or innocently,  also routine resort to such so-called “final figures”. The Godi Media is the biggest player in this heist of the public mind and it has been ably playing this role this time too.

Continue reading The Missing Link – How the Great Democracy Robbery Was Conducted →

Culture, Genders, Islamophobia, Politics, Right watch, Sex, Violence/Conflict

Statement in Protest of the Violent Meme targeting Mamata Banerjee and the Muslim Community

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Following is a statement signed by 1815 people protesting against the violent anti-Muslim and misogynist meme that had been circulating, targeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

We, the undersigned people from different walks of life, express our deep revulsion and anger at the vicious meme, targeting the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, which has been circulating in social media on this day April 27, 2026. We are attaching with this statement, a blurred image of the meme, along with the profile of the person who circulated it – they call themselves a “Rightwing Nationalist” based in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh – so that our compatriots know what we are protesting against.

The meme is not only violent and misogynistic, it is also viciously anti-Muslim. It depicts the Muslim – perhaps the “Bangladeshi Muslim” – as passing through Mamata Banerjee’s open legs and is titled “This is Momta Culture” – while of course, giving us a splendid view of the meme creator’s own sanskari culture.

Through this statement we want to appeal to the people of this country, our compatriots, and to those in the judiciary, and elsewhere in the system, who still stand in defence of minimum standards of probity in public life. We want to underline that this is a challenge to our justice system that such hate speech against an entire community and a woman politician can be aired and shared with complete impunity.

We also want to underline that it is the culture of rape and misogyny that has been encouraged by the ruling party at the centre that has led to this situation that anybody can air whatever comes to their hate-filled minds. We have not forgotten the release of the rapists of Bilqis Bano, the killing of the Hathras rape victim, the destruction of the entire family of the Unnao rape victim; nor have we forgotten the Kathua rape or the killing of Ankita Bhandari for failing to provide “special service” to a senior leader of the ruling party or giving an election ticket to sexual harassment accused former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India. In all these cases, we have witnessed complete silence from the top leaders of the ruling party including the prime minister and home minister.

We do not want to address the creators of the meme for we know that they are products of this frightful hate machine that “Rightwing Nationalism” (their appropriate self-description) is. Rather, we are interested that our institutions of democracy and justice play the role that they should be playing in order to ensure minimum standards of probity in public life. Continue reading Statement in Protest of the Violent Meme targeting Mamata Banerjee and the Muslim Community →

authoritarianism, Culture, Debates, Democracy, Movements, Politics, Right watch

सत्य के अन्वेषी और ‘अंधेरे की आदत’ वाला समाज

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…… ‘समाजवादियों ने हिन्दू राष्ट्र को किस तरह मुमकिन बनाया ?’

..समाजवादी धारा की यह परिणति भारत की वाम शक्तियों के सामने भी कुछ सवाल निश्चित ही खड़े करती है।

अगर 60 के दशक में समाजवादी धारा के अग्रणी कांग्रेस को शिकस्त देने के लिए ‘शैतान के साथ भी हाथ मिलाने को तैयार होने’ की बात रख रहे थे, पहले उपचुनावों में और बाद में राज्य विधानसभा के चुनावों में भारतीय जनसंघ के साथ मंच साझा कर रहे थे, गठबंधन कायम कर रहे थे, उन उथल पुथल के दिनों में वाम की शक्तियों का क्या रूख था ?

क्या उन्होंने गैर कांग्रेसवाद के नाम पर संघ-भारतीय जनसंघ को वैधता दिलाने वाली सियासत का उसूली आधार पर विरोध किया या नहीं ? कहीं ऐसा तो नहीं कि अस्पष्टता के चलते या urgency के भाव के चलते मौन ही रहे ,  उसी ‘सिद्धांत’ से हमकदम चलते रहे ?

क्या हमारे लिए यह आत्मपरीक्षण का विषय होना नहीं चाहिए कि आपातकाल के बाद जिन जयप्रकाश नारायण को दूसरा महात्मा कहा गया था, यहां तक कि आपातकालविरोधी संघर्ष को ‘दूसरी आज़ादी’ के नाम से महिमामंडित किया गया था, जिसने एक तरह से पहली दफा राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ को वैधता दिलायी, नयी  स्वीकृति प्रदान की और केन्द्रीय मंत्रिमंडल में भी स्थान दिलवाया, उस जयप्रकाश नारायण को लेकर कम्युनिस्टों का रूख क्यों बहुत अस्पष्ट रहा ?

किसी परिघटना को समझने में हमारी भूल हो सकती है, किसी व्यक्ति-संगठन की असलियत जानने में हम गड़बड़ी कर सकते हैं, लेकिन यह बात समझ से परे है कि राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ, उसके पीछे की फासीवादी प्रेरणाएं या स्वाधीनतापूर्व आन्दोलन तथा स्वाधीनता के बाद के आंदोलनों में उनकी निरंतर विवादास्पद भूमिका पर विस्तार से तथ्य पेश किए जाते रहने के बावजूद बाद के दिनों में क्या फौरी राजनीतिक लाभ के नाम पर उसके आनुषंगिक संगठनों के साथ जुड़ने से परहेज करने में प्रगतिशील ताकतें, वाम की शक्तियां सचेत रह पायीं ?.. ( Read the full text here : https://nayapath.in/seekers-of-truth-by-subhash-gatade/)

authoritarianism, Democracy, Education, Feminism, Politics, Right watch

Principal’s endorsement of Women’s Reservation Bill on a party platform unacceptable: Statement by LSR students

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Public statement by LSR students

The students of Lady Shri Ram College for Women—a large number of them filling the area outside auditorium, the corridor, the entire staircase and many even outside under the sun—started the protest not because we are against the Women’s Reservation Bill, but because the video of the Principal of the college was posted on the BJP4India official Instagram page. As a college that touts that it is apolitical and does not allow students to organise political events, the students found this extremely hypocritical. In the 15 minutes of the claimed “transparent dialogue” that happened yesterday, we were told by the Principal that she recorded the video for the Ministry of Women and Child Development and that it was posted on the BJP4India page without her consent. On further questions about if she contacted the page regarding it being posted without her consent, she said, “No”. Continue reading Principal’s endorsement of Women’s Reservation Bill on a party platform unacceptable: Statement by LSR students →

Culture, Debates, Democracy, Right watch

‘सत्य को बयां करने के रास्ते की मुश्किलों के बारे में’ क्या लेखक सचेत और सक्रिय हैं?

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(जनवादी लेखक संघ, दिल्ली के 10 वें राज्य सम्मेलन (4 अप्रैल 2026)  में प्रस्तुत वक्तव्य का संशोधित एवं विस्तारित रूप, सम्मेलन के विचार सत्र का फोकस था : हमारा समय और लेखक की भूमिका)

प्रस्तावना

हम एक नाजु़क वक्त़ से गुजर रहे हैं।

कोई भी प्रबुद्ध व्यक्ति – जो न्याय, अमन और बराबरी की चाहत रखता हो, समूची मानवता को तरक्की के रास्ते पर ले जाना चाहता हो, यह दावा नहीं कर सकता कि उनमें से किसी ने भी इस बात का तसव्वुर भी किया होगा कि 21 वीं सदी की तीसरी दहाई में हम ऐसे दौर से रूबरू होंगे।

एक ऐसा दौर जहां हम और वे की सियासत उरूज पर दिख रही है, आबादी के अच्छे खासे हिस्से को अमनुष्य घोषित करना, दीमक, कीड़ों, मकौड़ों की श्रेणी में शुमार करना एक सम्मानित उद्यम में रूपांतरित हुआ है। नागरिक शुद्धता की कवायदों के जरिए – अवांछितों को, अधर्मियों को, असहमतों को -गणतंत्र के दायरों से भी बाहर सरहद पार मुल्कों के बियाबान में ढकेल देने की मुहिमों पर इन्साफ के रखवाले कहे गए संस्थानों से भी मुहर लग रही है।

इस खत़रनाक समय को अलग-अलग ढंग से परिभाषित किया जा रहा है। 

कोई कहता है कि यह ऐसा दौर है जब यह प्रतीत हो रहा है कि समूचा समाज एक उन्मादी खुशी के साथ एक गर्त में जा रहा है और उसे इस बात का कोई इल्म भी नहीं है।

मेरे एक मित्र – जो एक प्रख्यात मार्क्सवादी  विचारक हैं – कहते हैं, यह ऐसा दौर है जब समाज को गोया अंधेरे की आदत हो गयी है, मद्धिम सी रौशनी से भी उसकी आंखें चुंधिया जाती हैं। ( Read the full text here : https://janchowk.com/is-the-author-aware-ofand-actively-engaged-withthe-difficulties-inherent-in-the-path-of-articulating-the-truth/)

Democracy, Education, Everyday Life, Movements, Right watch

Deified Bodies, Diminished Rights – A Critical Anatomy of the ‘Divyang’ Discourse: Viraj Kafle

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Guest Post by VIRAJ KAFLE 

The landscape of disability rights in India underwent a seismic shift on December 27, 2015, not through a legislative amendment or a landmark judicial decree, but via a radio broadcast. During his Mann Ki Baat program, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested that the term viklang be replaced with divyang. While ostensibly a move to alter societal mindsets and reduce stigma, this nomenclature shift signaled a profound reorientation of the state’s relationship with its disabled citizenry. This declaration of “divinity” arrived a full year before the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act of 2016 was actually passed, effectively setting a paternalistic tone for the rights-based framework that followed.

By invoking “divinity” to describe physical or sensory impairments, the discourse moved disability from a hard-won, rights-based framework into a deified, body-focused model that prioritizes symbolic elevation over material accessibility. As disability activist Nidhi Goyal has argued, this is merely a new way to tell the disabled they are “not normal”—moving them from “abnormal” to “supernormal,” but never simply equal. It is generally accepted that to be disabled is to be “disabled by society,” yet the divyang narrative replaces this political recognition with an abject surrender to divinity that reflects a forced consent of the disabled to their own marginalization. Continue reading Deified Bodies, Diminished Rights – A Critical Anatomy of the ‘Divyang’ Discourse: Viraj Kafle →

authoritarianism, Culture, Debates, Democracy, Right watch

RSS at 100: Caste, Savarkar, and the real roots of RSS | The Federal

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Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay speaks with Subhash Gatade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpgQi1LaRgo

In The Federal’s ‘RSS at 100’ series, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay speaks with Subhash Gatade, author of Godse’s Children and Modinama, about the deeper social roots of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Gatade argues that the RSS must be understood not just through Hindu-Muslim politics, but through the caste churn in Maharashtra, the challenge posed by Jyotiba Phule’s anti-caste movement, and the predominance of Brahmin leadership within the organisation. The discussion also examines Savarkar’s influence, Golwalkar’s ideology, the RSS-Hindu Mahasabha relationship, and the strategic shift towards ‘inclusive Hindutva’ in later decades.

Debates, Religion, Right watch

Belief in contemporary India: an essay in the constitutive imagination: R Srivatsan

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Guest post by R. Srivatsan

Contemporary India is something of a conundrum for most political theorists.  What is it?  How does it hang together?  What do people believe in?  Given the large canvas, I’d like to focus here on one small aspect of belief in Hinduism and Hindutva today.  Towards this objective, I’ll take up a somewhat old pronouncement by the foremost BJP leader and prime minister, in 2014, during a conference of doctors and other professionals that there must have been plastic surgeons in ancient India who attached an elephant’s head on a human body and created Ganesha.  And, that Karna’s extra uterine birth suggested that there was a knowledge of the science of genetics during that period.  The scientific community and those adept at history were appalled, rolling their eyes in dismay at the confusion between true history and mythology.  Is such a response, i.e., a scorn or embarrassment about the unscientificity of the claim regarding the existence of these ancient sciences/events, adequate to the statement made?  Did the prime minister actually believe this?  What is it that is being said by Hindutva politicians, ideologues and thinkers when such pronouncements are made, or for example, that vedic mathematics was the progenitor of mathematics as a discipline?  And what about the rewriting of history books to valorize the Hindu past, erasing a “dark medieval period” and denigrating Muslim “invaders”? Continue reading Belief in contemporary India: an essay in the constitutive imagination: R Srivatsan →

authoritarianism, Countryside, Development, Everyday Life, Right watch

वीबीग्रामजी रद्द करो,  मनरेगा बहाल करो : कार्यकर्ताओं और संगठनों की मांग

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[निम्नलिखित बयान साठ से ज़्यादा ऐसे संगठनों और कार्यकर्ताओं की तरफ़ से 15 फरवरी को जारी किया गया है  जिनका मनरेगा  के कार्यान्वयन से संबंध रहा है। ]

हम, नीचे दस्तखत करने वाले एक्टिविस्ट्स, जो भारत के कोने-कोने में मनरेगा मजदूरों के साथ काम करते हैं, महात्मा गांधी राष्ट्रीय ग्रामीण रोजगार गारंटी अधिनियम (मनरेगा) को खत्म करने की कड़ी निंदा करते हैं, जो माँग पर मिलने वाला ‘काम के अधिकार‘ का प्रोग्राम था।

हमारा मानना है कि:

– मनरेगा महाराष्ट्र की रोजगार गारंटी योजना से सीख लेकर भारी समर्थन और बातचीत के बाद शुरू किया गया था।

 

– पहली बार हर परिवार को 100 दिन का काम मिलना पक्का किया गया था। Continue reading वीबीग्रामजी रद्द करो,  मनरेगा बहाल करो : कार्यकर्ताओं और संगठनों की मांग →

Education, Everyday Life, Right watch

Phantom students and the new university: Viraj Kafle

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Guest Post by VIRAJ KAFLE

It is a common sight to see professors today wandering through the corridors of our premier universities with a look of quiet desperation, but they should instead be offering prayers of thanks to the students who never show up. We have reached a peak of administrative efficiency where the traditional classroom, built to house a modest forty souls, is now legally mandated to accommodate sixty or even eighty. This logistical miracle, where two bodies are expected to occupy the space of one, is only possible because of the profound civic duty exercised by the truant. By choosing the comfort of their beds over the cramped benches of the lecture hall, these absent students prevent a literal stampede. They are the only thing standing between a smooth seminar and a public health crisis.

Continue reading Phantom students and the new university: Viraj Kafle →

Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Democracy, Right watch

हिन्दुत्व वर्चस्ववाद :  अतीत का गंधाता कुआं 

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“आर एस एस – काया और माया” की समीक्षा

धर्मान्ध लोग – जो हंसना भूल गए हैं, रोना भूल गए हैं, और करूणा भूल गए हैं – ऐसे ‘इन्सान’ हैं जो एटम बम से भी ज्यादा ख़तरनाक हैं

– पी लंकेश के काॅलम ‘कहां मैं भूल न जाउं’ से

(पेज 6, ‘आर एस एस – काया और माया’ से)

…कन्नड भाषा के अग्रणी साहित्यकार एवं सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता देवनूर महादेव की हिन्दी में प्रकाशित ताज़ा किताब ‘राष्ट्रीय  स्वयंसेवक संघ – काया और माया’ ( आर एस एस – आलू मत्तू अगला ‘ नाम से मूल कन्नड़ में प्रकाशित किताब का हिंदी अनुवाद है ) इस मामले में एक नया पत्थर गाड़ती प्रतीत होती है। जैसा कि सभी जानते हैं वर्ष 2022 में मूल कन्नड में प्रकाशित इस किताब ने हाल के समय में बिक्री का रेर्कार्ड कायम किया है, वह न केवल कन्नड, तेलूगू, मराठी, अंग्रेजी, हिन्दी में प्रकाशित  हुई है बल्कि इस किताब को काॅपीराइट से मुक्त करके और लोगों को प्रकाशन की छूट देकर संघ के असली स्वरूप को जन-जन तक पहुंचाने में किताब ने वितरण के मामले में और किताब या संघ के बारे में चर्चा होने के मामले में एक किस्म का मील का प्रत्थर कायम किया है। कन्नड़ और तेलुगु में इसकी एक लाख से भी अधिक प्रतियां बिकी हैं और अन्य जुबानों में दसियों हज़ार से अधिक प्रतियां।   

ध्यान रहे कि जिस बेबाकी से देवनूर महादेव ने संघ के बारे में लिखा है, उतनी साफगोई बहुत कम लोग दिखा पाते है। किताब की भूमिका ही इस बात को उजागर करती है, आप लिखते हैं :

‘.. आर एस एस इस देश को कहां ले जाने की कोशिश कर रहा है ? इस संगठन के बारे में आम धारणा और इस संगठन के असली चाल-चरित्र के बीच फर्क क्या है ? इस सवालों पर जनमानस को जागृत  करने’ / पेज 23-24/ के लिए यह किताब लिखी गयी है। भारतीय लोककथाओं में चर्चित मायावी की कथा के बहाने जिसकी जान सात समुंदर पार किसी तोते में समायी होती है, जो बहुरूपिया है और मानवलोक में तरह तरह की ज्यादतियां करता है और उसका कोई कुछ बिगाड़ नहीं पाता क्योंकि जान ‘तोते के रूप में गुफा में सुरक्षित है’ वह संघ की असलियत जानने और उजागर करने के लिए ‘आर एस एस के अतीत के बदबूदार कुएं में ’ ( पेज 23) झांकने के लिए निकले हैं और दिखाई दिए ‘भयावह दृश्य ‘ / (पेज 24 ) का एक अंश किताब के रूप में सामने ला रहे हैं ।.. [ Read the full review here :https://janchowk.com/review-of-rss-kaya-aur-maya-hindutva-supremacism-a-stinking-well-of-the-past/]

Culture, Democracy, Education, Everyday Life, Knowledge, Politics, Right watch

Pedagogical Reflections on Silence in the Classroom: Rekha* and Rahul*

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Guest post by  Rekha and Rahul (pseudonyms).

Two early-career teachers in private universities in India reflect on what has quietly transformed in their classrooms over the last few years, as they trace the rise of a new norm of ‘silence’. Their reflections ask what it means to teach in the intimate classroom space as it begins to mirror the shrinking democratic space and what forms of care, courage and pedagogy might keep the classroom thinking in these changing times. 

I

In the last half a decade, i’ve felt my classroom in a private Indian university change in ways that are hard to capture through the usual metrics. The checklist  is enviable: i retain full freedom to design courses, assign authors i want and structure electives around questions that matter to me.  And yet, in one of the courses while teaching Margaret Canovan’s piece on ‘Two Faces of Democracy’, i realised what had changed. There is a subtle paradox: the formal freedoms of the private university remain in place, but the informal ecology of the classrooms has altered. 

Continue reading Pedagogical Reflections on Silence in the Classroom: Rekha* and Rahul* →