(The article was originally published by The Print on February 3, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) Debate over civic and cultural nationalism is at least a century old. Hans Kohn, an eminent American historian of nationalism, was the first to raise this dichotomy, influencing the Western studies on nationalism in a big way. Kohn argued […]
(The article was originally published in OPEN Magazine on January 26, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) “Why January 26th?”—We never ask this question. The final draft of the Indian Constitution was passed by the Constituent Assembly on November 26th, 1949 after Rajendra Prasad, chairman of the Assembly, delivered his final address. A day before, on […]
(The article was originally published in Indian Express on January 19, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) On October 30 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Pope Francis at the Vatican, a meeting that Modi called “very warm”, and the Vatican described as “cordial”. The PM later tweeted that he had invited the Pope to […]
(Text of the article originally published by Hindustan Times on January 10, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) The recommendations of the Justice Ranjana Desai-led commission about the delimitation of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Union Territory (UT) have left leaders in Kashmir fuming. The commission has, after prolonged deliberations, recommended 47 seats for Kashmir and 43 seats […]
(Text of the article originally published in India Today Magazine on January 8, 2021. Views expressed are personal.) On the new year day, Mohan Bhagwat, Sarsanghachalak of the RSS addressed a gathering of eminent citizens in Bengaluru. He was there not to talk about Hindu Rashtra or about Hindus Muslim relations, but about ‘Paryavaran’ – environment. […]
It is time we developed a model for management of Hindu temples wherein the greater responsibility is vested in the Hindu citizens and institutions. Kashi is an ancient city, “older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend” as American writer Mark Twain described it. Sage Vyasa had compiled the Vedas sitting on the […]
United States (US) President Joe Biden wants to host a democracy summit. His administration has identified a number of countries to be invited, including Taiwan much to the chagrin of China. India has made it to the list together with Pakistan while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have failed to do so. Two decades ago, then […]
A K Abdul Momen, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, has tried to downplay the recent communal violence in the country, blaming “enthusiastic media and individuals” for spreading “cooked up stories” to embarrass the government. He denied that there were any rapes or destruction of temples and insisted that the government is “committed to religious harmony”. It is […]
Hindu and Buddhist priests and monks were the first people to carry India’s influence across its boundaries two millennia ago. The Buddhist monks largely chose the land routes with the exception of Sri Lanka, where Buddhism was taken by the son and daughter of emperor Ashoka – Mahinda and Sanghamitra – in 3rd century BCE. Monks […]
THE GREEKS GAVE the world the roots of democracy. The state as an institution was seen by ancient Greek philosophers as an instrument for moral and personal development of man. In the absence of men with morals, democracies could become a source of injustice was a dilemma that continued to bother the statesmen as the […]
