India’s oldest Socialist Weekly!
Editor: Dr. G.G. Parikh | Associate Editor: Neeraj Jain | Managing Editor: Guddi
On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the author relies on Mahatma Gandhi’s defence during his 1992 sedition trial to make a case for the abrogation of the colonial-era law, as well as similar other laws that are used to stifle citizens’ democratic rights.
Said Gandhi on that day in 1947, “Indeed, today is my birthday…. This is for me a day of mourning. I am still lying around alive. I am surprised at this, even ashamed that I am the same person who once had crores of people hanging on to every word of his. But today no one heeds me at all…”
Gandhi’s demands were ridiculed and his settlement with the British disappointed many. But the Salt March was a key symbolic win that spurred India’s independence movement toward victory.
Two of Gandhi’s most basic philosophical impulses were the dignity and responsibility of the individual; and the sacredness of life.
The path to an ecological civilization is paved by reclaiming the commons—our common home, the Earth, and the commons of the Earth family, of which we are a part. Reclaiming the commons and creating an ecological civilization go hand in hand.
One would not expect an activist working on Dalit rights to join such a protest. My reasons for doing so are many. Personally for me, Gandhi’s personal struggle against untouchability within his Ashram has been inspirational …
Excerpts from a transcript of a talk given by Prof. Purushottam Agarwal on 28 Feb 2009 at “Koi Sunta Hai – A Festival of Kabir in Bengaluru”, organized by the Kabir Project: “Over the last 30 years, my engagement with Kabir, in a very deep sense, has turned into a very personal experience.”
The common ground with citizens from other parts of the country is the idea of a modern and secular India, as reflected by the Constitution.
Though unlike one another in tone and texture, ‘Adaab’, ‘Toba Tek Singh’ and ‘Garm Hawa’ have the same point of departure: that religion as the primary marker of identity is as irrational as it is abhorrent.
Sahgal is referring to the struggle for freedom under Mahatma Gandhi. He brought together people in a way that cut across religion, region, class, gender. Bringing together this rich diversity into a strong political unity that overthrew the British Empire was an extraordinary achievement.
Janata Weekly is India’s oldest independent socialist weekly.
Ever since its founding in 1946, Janata has voiced its principled dissent against all conduct and practice that is detrimental to the cherished values of nationalism, democracy, secularism and socialism, while upholding the integrity and the ethical norms of healthy journalism. For more than seventy years now, week after week, it has continued to analyse the changes taking place in the country and the world from a socialist standpoint, and thus promote the spread of socialist ideology in the country.
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