Mainstream Weekly

Remembering Lohia: A Legacy for the Left

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2018-03-23T19:22:00Z

Dr Rammanohar Lohia's 108th birth anniversary falls on March 23 this year. Since his birthday coincided with the day of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, Lohiaji never wanted his followers to observe or celebrate his birthday. However, we remember him and offer tributes to the abiding memory of that stormy petrel of the Indian socialist movement on this occasion by reproducing the following article. Written by a veteram journalist (the first editor of Mainstream who later (…)

- 2018

Remembering Jawaharlal Today

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2016-05-29T17:49:31Z

The following article, by the first editor of Mainstream, appeared six years after Jawaharlal Nehru's death in this journal's May 23, 1970 issue. Born on September 29, 1921 in Ooty, C.N.C., as he was known to his friends and admirers, passed away at Delhi on August 2, 1990. A veteran journalist, he worked in the Indian Express (Madras) in the 1940s; he joined The Hindustan Times in Delhi in 1960, and edited Mainstream when it was launched from the Capital in September 1962. In 1963 he joined (…)

- 2016

Remembering Lohia: A Legacy for the Left

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2015-03-22T09:55:30Z

Dr Rammanohar Lohia's 105th birth anniversary falls on March 23 this year. Since his birthday coincided with the day of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, he never wanted his followers to observe or celebrate his birthday. However, we remember him and offer tributes to the abiding memory of that stormy petrel of the Indian socialist movement on this occasion by reproducing two articles. The first article, written by a veteram journalist (the first editor of Mainstream who later (…)

- 2015

Betrayal of Nehru Legacy

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2014-11-22T20:02:09Z

It is an irony of history that the name of Mahatma Gandhi should within a few years of his martyrdom serve as no more than a mascot for perpetrators and abettors of oppression and exploitation. His name has been mouthed times without number by the very persons who either in office or outside the seats of power have done their best to prevent the realisation of his ideal of social and economic equality. Under the rule of so-called Gandhians over two decades the rich have become richer and (…)

- 2014

Whither Left?

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2013-01-03T13:56:36Z

After the fall of the Janata Government at the Centre, a process of realignment of political forces appeared to have begun, rousing hopes for the emergence of a broad Left and democratic front embracing the whole spectrum covered by this description.
Not only the two Communist Parties and the smaller Leftist parties but many others, including anti-authoritarian and anti-communal elements in the major national parties, seemed then to be moving purposefully in this healthy direction, and (…)

- 2012

For a New Frontier

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2013-01-03T13:56:31Z

Fifteen years have gone by and yet the Kashmir dispute has defied settlement. And today it has got entangled in a mass of other issues, ranging from defence against the Chinese menace to the securing of Western aid.
The six rounds of ministerial level talks may have heard many a sophisticated proposal, pertaining to maps and alignments. They may have been accompanied by hectic back-stair—sometimes even frontporch—lobbyings by interested outsiders, but there was something severely missing (…)

- 2012

Fraud Crusaders

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2011-10-08T19:21:09Z

From C.N. Chitta Ranjan's Pen
For long years now, the debate on “Freedom of the Press” has been proceeding on the wrong track. This is not fortuitous. The loudest participants, who get the widest publicity, are defenders of the status quo in the control of the structure of the print media, particularly the big newspapers, the chains and groups.
The Express episode, which in the last few months has produced a Niagara of words, offers the most dramatic illustration of how the issues (…)

- 2011

For a New Frontier

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2010-09-02T15:07:51Z

- 2010

Remembering Lohia: A Legacy for the Left

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2009-10-11T11:10:43Z

(October 12 this year marks the fortysecond death anniversary of Dr Rammanohar Lohia, the stormy petrel of the Indian socialist movement who, besides being one of the most versatile personalities in our freedom struggle, was a profound, innovative and original socialist thinker. Incidentally, his birth centenary celebrations have begun from March 23, 2009, which was Dr Lohia's nintyninth birth anniversary. On this occasion we are reproducing Mainstream's first editor's tribute to the (…)

- October 2009

Temper of Tolerance

C.N. Chitta Ranjan — 2007-11-25T18:23:38Z

There can be, and will be endless debate on the achievements and failures of Jawaharlal Nehru, as politician and statesman, as Prime Minister and Congress leader, as democrat and socialist.
But whatever the controversies and whatever the arguments, it is irrefutable that the democratic consciousness of our people, their capacity to express their social and economic aspirations despite the massive illiteracy among them, the emergence of viable popular institutions that continue to (…)

- November 17, 2007