Interview: Why are the BJP and RSS (and the Indian state) obsessed by ‘Urban Naxals’?

Ajay Gudavarthy explains why given the many forms of political violence in India, it is Maoists who are seen as the biggest threat to democracy.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Oct 20, 2018 · 08:00 am

The Supreme Court must consider gagging Amit Shah from speaking on the National Register of Citizens

His venomous speeches have turned the exercise into a tool for communal polarisation in India, which reflects badly on the court that is monitoring the process.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Oct 15, 2018 · 08:00 am

Reservation brings out the merit already inherent in marginalised communities: Social justice expert

PS Krishnan offers a detailed insight into reservation in promotions ahead of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the matter.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Sep 22, 2018 · 08:00 am

JV Pawar interview: ‘The government is saying that anyone who supports Dalits will be jailed’

The BJP government wants to teach a lesson to Dalit activists and their supporters, says the co-founder of the Dalit Panther party.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Sep 06, 2018 · 08:30 am

Modi has drawn many lessons from Indira Gandhi’s Emergency – save one

A formal declaration of an Emergency would create the impression that India has become one big jail, inviting the anger of even the usually quiescent lot.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Sep 03, 2018 · 08:00 am

Not compliant with Mandal judgment, new National Commission for Backward Classes can be manipulated

India needs a national reservation policy to tell socially advanced groups that they cannot be given quotas in jobs and educational institutes.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Aug 29, 2018 · 12:30 pm

Rahul Gandhi is wrong about 1984. But why is no one asking Narendra Modi about 2002 anymore?

Unlike the ghost of the anti-Sikh riots, the ghost of the anti-Muslim riots does not arise because the media doesn’t summon it.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Aug 27, 2018 · 06:30 am

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was no liberal. But he could soften or harden his Hindutva to suit his politics

To see the myriad faces beneath the mask, we need to judge him not by labels but his own words.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Aug 18, 2018 · 08:00 am

NRC: The Assamese middle class has shrunk the idea of citizenship but now faces pressure from below

Perhaps for the first time in India, cultural identity has trumped the complex legal and political discourse behind the notion of citizenship.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Aug 17, 2018 · 08:00 am

‘No doubt that there are membership elements of RSS who have engaged in lynching’: Walter Andersen

In a conversation about his new book on the RSS, co-written with Shridhar Damle, the American academic explains how he thinks the organisation functions.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Aug 14, 2018 · 08:30 am

‘Even Muslims voted for me,’ says first Hindu candidate to win a general seat in Pakistan Assembly

But Mahesh Kumar Malani’s historic victory hasn’t clinched the debate whether a joint or separate electorate is more beneficial for Pakistan’s 3.5% non-Muslims.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Aug 02, 2018 · 06:30 am

Historian Ayesha Jalal interview: Why Pakistan is vulnerable to military rule but India isn’t

Amid a strong buzz that the Army is manipulating the elections, the professor of history predicts an Imran Khan-led coalition will win.

Ajaz Ashraf

· Jul 25, 2018 · 08:00 am