By Abhishek Saha, Hindustan Times As India debates the much-talked about ‘Love Jihad’ and forced conversions, feminists feel the political mainstreaming of the narrative, apart from fuelling communal strife, also signals difficult times for women’s rights movements in the country. Hindu right-wing proponents allege ‘Love Jihad’ is a conspiracy by Muslim men to expand their…
On this day, 107 years ago, a boy was born in Lyallpur district of the Punjab Province of British India (which now lies in Pakistan) who, along with a fellow freedom fighter, went on to blast two non-lethal bombs in the Parliament in 1929 to make the ‘deaf’ Englishmen ‘hear’ the demands of Indian independence…
The trailer of an upcoming biopic on the life of Mary Kom, a five time World Amateur Boxing champion, who shot to fame with a bronze in the 51kg category event in 2012 Olympics, has just been released. With the social media abuzz about it, the trailer has registered nearly 4 million hits on You…
Every time I walk to the Jama Masjid from the Chawri Bazaar metro station, what amazes me most is the unanticipated appearance of the mosque’s grand dome at the precise moment when the road bends right for the first time. And before that right, strikingly enough, no first-timer can ever predict that less than a…
For those who believe that the lone founders of ‘Indian civilization’ were the Aryans or that the Indian past was singular and exclusive in character, Romila Thapar’s latest book The Past as Present, is a must read. Because Thapar, in her highly readable yet profound essays, logically demolishes distorted historical arguments, showing readers how and…
The other day, while returning from work, a teenaged boy—wearing a loose-fit trouser and a faded red t-shirt, his hair in a mess—approached me at the Rajiv Chowk metro station. He looked bewildered. “Bhaiya, Noida City Centre ke liye kaunsi metro leni hai?”1 he asked. Since I was going to Mayur Vihar, I asked him to…
Ethnic and communal violence has struck Assam, with all its stark ugliness, once again. What occurred in 2012, has returned, quite shamelessly, this month. Muslims of Bengali origin have been mercilessly targeted—with more than 30 persons killed in two days—and mudslinging has continued ever since, unabated. Media reports have said that the non-Bodo organisations in…
Abhishek Saha 