Columnists

Rajmohan Gandhi

The writer is research professor at Centre for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

The US possesses a sense of independence at local level, even when divided at national level

Mon, Nov 30, 2020

They love the flag, they love the White America that is sailing away, they love America’s dominance in the world, they love their traditional jobs. They love it when Trump implies that the flag, the gun, and the cross are three different words for the same thing.

Inclusion of the word fraternity in Preamble is of historic importance and contemporary relevance

Thu, Oct 22, 2020

In any case, what the world’s present condition needs, namely bonding between humans, may be more important than the alphabet letters that make up “fraternity”.

Amicable relations with Pakistan may seem remote but they are worth striving for

Sat, Aug 29, 2020

Once it has a defeated Pakistan on its hands, India may regret its victory. No doubt, it is possible to imagine the forces of a victorious India abandoning, to no one’s peace of mind, a vanquished Pakistan to its fate, something similar, perhaps, to what the US under Trump appears to be doing in respect of Afghanistan.

Democracies in both India and the US face a similar internal challenge

Tue, Jul 14, 2020

Both must recognise: Pledges of liberty, equality, fraternity and dignity possess much broader pull than hardening notions of nationalism

How a remark by a doctor in Wuhan evoked Gandhi’s efforts, why it matters

Sat, Jun 06, 2020

By underscoring the equal vulnerability of every member of the human family, COVID-19 has shown the silliness in blaming persons for their skin-colour, blood-group or religion.

Misreading history: Partition did not validate the two-nation theory

Thu, Feb 13, 2020

Rajmohan Gandhi writes: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has blamed Partition on Nehru. Assigning sole or main responsibility for that painful event to Nehru lacks any historical basis. It should be recognised, moreover, that if Partition had not occurred, all the residents of today’s Pakistan and Bangladesh would have been free to move to any corner of today’s India.

CAA doesn’t carry out Mahatma Gandhi’s wishes, it brazenly defies them

Mon, Jan 27, 2020

To imply that Gandhi wanted the Hindu minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to migrate to India, or that a CAA enabling such a migration fulfils Gandhi’s wishes, is to turn history on its head. Gandhi wanted India too to protect its minorities

Is every Indian mine?: That’s the question for 2020 to answer

Wed, Jan 01, 2020

Some have tried to justify the discrimination by citing the circumstances of the 1947 Partition. Can circumstances 72 years ago justify inequality today? Moreover, those circumstances should be honestly recalled.

Manufactured hate should not sway Hindu worldview post the Ayodhya verdict

Thu, Nov 21, 2019

It’s time for the calm Hindu to speak up, reclaim the Hindu platform, and restore sanity to it. For centuries, the serene confidence of everyday Hindus, as also of exceptional Hindu figures, sprang not from how they were treated by others, whether non-Hindu or Hindu, but from their own peace of mind, and their own creativity.

The fearless dissenter who had a plan to make the countryside hum with life — that is the Gandhi India needs

Wed, Oct 09, 2019

Gandhi thought India’s independence would mean little unless it also meant the independence of every Indian.

People’s consent is missing in how J&K has been taken over by the ‘rest of India’

Mon, Aug 19, 2019

Betrayals may be inevitable in our fallen world. Taking people for granted, however, and doing with them whatever we want without their consent, is going too far.

Way forward in Kashmir

Mon, Jun 10, 2019

Actions intended to change the state’s status and demographics will intensify alienation

PM Modi’s labelling of Rajiv Gandhi as ‘Bhrashtachari No. 1’ sinks political discourse

Tue, May 07, 2019

Even if someone then believed that Rajiv had tolerated corruption, would they say to his son 28 years later that “your father ended his life as India’s most corrupt man”?

The meeting with Golwalkar: What Gandhi really said

Tue, Apr 16, 2019

He was unconvinced by RSS chief after 1947 meeting, stood against majoritarianism

Lessons from 1952, 1967, 1977

Sun, Mar 17, 2019

Indira Gandhi’s audacity, which few foresaw, split the Congress in the 1969 summer and the state of Pakistan in the 1971-72 winter. In March 1971, well before the liberation of Bangladesh, that daring had fetched Indira’s Congress 352 seats out of 545 in a mid-term poll.