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Debate around the words Hindu, Hinduism, Hindutva is not new. Recently the assertion by Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarsanghchalk (Supreme Dictator) of RSS that ‘everyone living in India is Hindu’ and that Muslims might be Muslim by religion but they are Hindus by nationality’, is yet another interpretation of Word Hindu. He said that this is Hindustan so all those living here are Hindu. Both these, Hindu

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s (SLB) unit filming the period film, Padmavati was attacked recently (January 2017) near Jaipur in Rajasthan. The pretext was that there is a dream sequence in the film which depicts Alauddin Khilji, the Muslim King and the Rajput Princess Padmavati. The attack was organized by one Karni Sena which claims to be working for preservation of Rajput honor and which felt that the

The word secularism has been brought to disrepute during last few decades. Secularism stands in India for equal respect for all religions and the principle that the state policies will not be dictated by religions. This is the central theme of Indian constitution. Its flawed practice by ruling parties has been used as a pretext by communal elements to downgrade it and the very principles of

The domination of communal consciousness in social space is very frightening. The prevalent ‘social common sense’ looks at history through the prism of Kings’ religion and that too in a very selective way. This version picks and chooses from events to ‘construct a past’ suitable to its ideology, the communal one. This ideology has been at the roots of the hatred which has been built up among

The Haryana government organized Gita Festival in Kurkshetra with a budget of Rs 100 Crores. This was to celebrate the teachings of Bhagavad Gita. This is the place where Lord Krishna is believed to have delivered the sermons that form the core of a version of Hinduism. The celebration of the Gita Festival has been very meticulous to involve most of the districts of Haryana and is replete with

The month old gamble of Mr. Modi (November 2016) has put the whole country in an unprecedented chaos. The demonetization of 86.4% of the circulating currency in the form of Rs 500 and 1000 rupee notes has put into jeopardy the life of major sections of society. Nearly seventy people have died in the queues to withdraw the money from Banks/ATMs. The daily wage workers have to lose their daily

The decision to put a one day ban on Hindi NDTV, since withheld, came as a big jolt to the country. A major channel was asked to stop the broadcast. The charge was that its broadcast on Pathannkot revealed sensitive information regarding national security. On the same Pathankot issue this Government had allowed the Pakistan authorities to come to the same airport. The channel (Hindi NDTV) pleaded

On October 25 (2016) the seven member Supreme Court Bench started hearing to revisit ‘Hindutva’ cases. These are group of cases where the use of term Hindutva-Hinduism to be used during elections is to be opined. One such case was that of Manohar Joshi who in his election speech said that if he is voted to power he will work for making Maharashtra as the first Hindu state in the country. In

Lord Ram has served the BJP very well so far. It was the Ram temple issue around which seeds of the divisive politics were sown all over the country. The Rath yatra of Lal Krishna Advani precipitated deeper polarization and was followed by the trail of violence. The well planned Babri demolition further intensified the communal violence and the politics in the name of religion in the country. The

Retired Justice of Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju wrote (26 September 2016) to the Supreme Court judges, “You are aware that one Ikhilaq was brutally lynched by cow vigilantes in Dadri. Instead of severely punishing the perpetrators of this heinous outrage, the police and local judge are proceeding against the family of Ikhlaq…Have the police gone mad?” Chand Khan alias Shan Khan spent 11