Mainstream Weekly

From The Archives: The Roots of the Emergency | Nikhil Chakravartty

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2020-06-26T14:20:30Z

[Reproduced below is a piece from NC's Writings first published in Mainstream on July 1, 1995]
As years pass by, one after the other, the past recedes more and more into distant memory. There are certain events in the life of a nation as of individuals, to which distance does not lend enchantment to the view. Rather the ugly visage falls into the pattern of historical evolution and lives on as such. One such event in our lifetime, and in our very land was the Emergency which was (…)

- 2020

In the Name of Ram

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2020-03-24T08:29:59Z

From N.C.'s Writings
To build a temple to mark the brithplace of Ram, a mosque was destroyed by deceit.
Those who swiftly and competently did the demolition job on Sunday (December 6, 1992), did so before the very eyes of those leaders who had been assuring Parliament and the public that the disputed structure would not be harmed until the dispute itself was settled by negotiations or through the due process of law. The UP Government, which was manned by the party which supported the (…)

- 2020

Secularism on Trial

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2020-03-15T09:25:55Z

From N.C.'s Writings
We as a nation are proud of the fact that we are a secular democracy. The test of our secularism does not consist in our protestations, however loud these may be, but in the manner we conduct ourselves towards the minorities who live and toil in this far-flung Republic of ours. Not only have we as a nation to ensure security to the minorities but should be able to instil into them a sense of security through our conduct. It is this challenge the nation faces today. (…)

- 2020

Threat to Constitutional Structure

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2020-03-09T15:19:02Z

From N.C.'s Writings
A situation of unprecedented confusion synchronising with the onset of serious crisis for the entire constitutional structure of the Indian state presents before the nation today.
On the one side is the outright challenge of the BJP, the most aggressive of political parties, threatening to defy the entire administration in a manner never seen before; and on the other, the ruling party at the Centre presents a picture of utter disunity with factions not only (…)

- 2020

The Litmus Test

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2020-03-01T10:09:45Z

From N.C.'s Writings
The menace of communalism looms large in this country today perhaps more than at any time before. With all the dire warnings being sounded repeatedly against the danger of destabilisation, the government so far has done very little to halt the advance of vicious communal hatred leading to orgies of violence in different parts of the country. It is amazing that while the Prime Minister concedes that there has been a deterioration in the communal situation—as he did at (…)

- 2020

Reflections On Our Time

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2020-02-28T08:22:37Z

From N.C.'s Writings
The concluding functions that brought the curtain down on the year-long celebrations of the golden jubilee of the ‘Quit India' struggle of 1942, presented in sharp relief the slump in morale allround.
With all the exposures of mega corruption in which the wielders of power have been entangled, and the unashamed buying of MPs so that the reins of the government do not slip out of one's hand—all the homilies and harangues at the August 9 celebrations sounded so hollow (…)

- 2020

Homage to Kalpana Dutt who passed away 25 years ago

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2020-02-09T20:59:54Z

From N.C.'s Writings
Today is February 8, 2020. Twentyfive years ago on this day passed away the distinguished revolutionary, Kalpana Dutt, in Kolkata. The following lines were written by N.C. twentyfive years ago and published in this journal's February 18, 1995 issue. It is being reproduced on the occasion of Kalpana's twentyfifth death anniversary. February 8, 1995 came and went with hardly anyone remembering her on that day. Kalpana's birth centenary on July 27, 2013 also went (…)

- 2020

Lead, kindly Light....

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2020-01-27T10:16:00Z

From N.C.'s Writings
Every year we dutifully go through the ritual of offering homage to Gandhiji on the day of his martyrdom.
We shall once again be witnessing the ceremony on January 30 to be conducted as per protocol—early morning prayer at Rajghat, singing of bhajans and hymns, a round of spinning and then during the course of the day, meetings and seminars and a special programme on Doordarshan to remind us of the Father of the Nation. VVIPs encircled by gun-totting security guards (…)

- 2020

Today's Imperative

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2019-12-21T20:12:51Z

From N.C.'s Writings
The time has come when we can no longer afford to indulge in mutual recrimination. The time has come for us to hang our heads in shame.
What has happened at Moradabad is a blot on our patriotism. No amount of quibbling, finding fault with each other, can save us from the ignominy of having to face a situation in which citizens of this country were shot dead by the police for the crime of belonging to a minority community. It is an indication of the magnitude of (…)

- 2019

Grim Warning from Bhopal

Nikhil Chakravartty — 2019-12-08T21:45:33Z

From N.C.'s Writings
It was a massacre of innocents by all counts. What happened at the Union Carbide plant at Bhopal in the early morning of December 3 was not just a tragedy but a heinous crime which killed nearly two thousand and hospitalised countless others, brings out something much more ghastly than the hazards of modern industrialisation.
The enormity of the crime—unprecedented in our times—lies not merely in any negligence on the part of the workers and superintending staff (…)

- 2019