(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 […]
“All ideologies are idiotic, whether religious or political, for, it is conceptual thinking, the conceptual world, which has so unfortunately divided man”, renowned philosopher Master Jiddu Krishnamurti once lamented. Europe was the mother of ideologies – from the capitalism of Adam Smith to the social conservatism of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke to the liberalism […]
For: Ram MadhavRecent killings alarming but political discourse has shifted to development What is the objective of the Union government in Jammu & Kashmir? Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has summed it up beautifully: “The objective is not to buy peace but establish it”. Terrorism, separatism, violence and anti-national activities of civilian and political activists have plagued the state […]
In the evolving power dynamics worldwide, India must return to Asian centrality and non-alignment The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is a witty, genial, and colourful person. In the US, recently, to attend the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Johnson cheekily told his bête noire in Paris, President Emmanuel Macron, to “donnez-moi un break” and “prenez un […]
It was the undaunting spirit of the people of India in democratic values and institutions that was responsible for the restoration of democracy in 1977. That political will of the masses is the only guarantor of the survival of democracy, and also a warning for future authoritarians. Leaders must strive to uphold that power, not […]
