Is Coimbatore again on Hindutva’s radar?
By Riaz Ahamed for TwoCircles.net
Violence is not new to the Hindutuva gang. The brutal and unholy attempts that have paid rich dividends in the...
Kerala Govt’s silence over Togadia’s hate speech mysterious: Social activists
Saffroning Kerala: Part 10
By Abdul Basith MA, TwoCircles.net,
The importance of being Mayawati
By Amulya GanguliThe Uttar Pradesh election results carry two significant messages, which may have a positive impact on political tactics at the national level....
A rising Turkey without Europe?
By Fadi Hakura
In the midst of European antipathy regarding Turkish accession to the EU, Turkey is attempting to chart an alternative path to secular democracy and economic prosperity. Yet Turkey should go one step further and question the unbridled axiom that, without Europe, it is destined to the scrapheap of Muslim radicalisation or unrepentant nationalism.
Rebuttal to NIA’s counter claim over PP Salian’s allegations of going ‘soft’ in Malegaon...
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Mumbai: The genuineness of National Investigation Agency (NIA) in probing and prosecuting Hindu extremists in various blasts is now under public...
भारतीय न्याय व्यवस्था के समक्ष चुनौती या अवसर
मोहम्मद ईनामुल हक़, TwoCircles.net के लिए
12 जनवरी को भारत की न्यायपालिका में एक ऐतिहासिक घटना सामने आई, जिसमें सर्वोच्च न्यायलय के चार वरिष्ठम...
Politics of terror: targeting Muslim youth
Issued by: People's Campaign Against Politics of Terror
People's hearing on fabricated cases
September 28-29, Constitution Club of India, New Delhi
Beyond the tragedy of Tharoijam
By Arif Sajad
The incident of Tharoijam, has shocked and created a climate of fear in the people of state, particularly on the minority community....
Childbirths amid lockdown: Institutional measures needed
Amid the ongoing lockdown in Inda, non-institutional deliveries have been frequently reported. Dr. Ahmed sheds light on the need to prevent these by strengthening...
The trouble in Assam
By V.K. Tripathi
The wild statement by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr. Kiran Rijiju, that the country has 20 million Bangladeshis, has...
The financial crisis: who will help starving countries?
By Vlad Grinkevich, RIA Novosti,
Moscow : In recent months, the financial crisis has pushed back the food crisis, which had dominated the headlines for the past 18 months. But falling prices and corporate bankruptcies cannot hide an appalling fact - if not starvation, a shortage of food looms large in the future.
Last week, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which held its 53rd meeting in Rome, failed to offer a meaningful solution.
Can Pakistan be saved from going the Iraq way?
By C Uday Bhaskar,
The Pakistan military launched Zarb-e-Azb, a major offensive operation against terror groups operating from North Waziristan Sunday, a week after the Karachi airport was audaciously attacked by the Taliban. In the last 48 hours, it is reported that more than 170 terrorists were killed while six soldiers died during the operation which is still continuing.
Remembering the Nellie Massacre of 18 February 1983
By Nilim Dutta,
Even after three decades of the Nellie Massacre, Muslims in Assam continue to face violence and displacement. Muslim villagers in the Amguri Relief Camp in Chirang District of Assam in September 2012.
Remembering Abdul Qaiyum Ansari and Abdul Hameed: the Messiahs of Social Justice ...
By Shahnawaz Ahmad Ansari
I extend warm homage on the Birthdays of the duo nationalists: Freedom fighter-Abdul Qaiyum Ansari and War-fighter (warrior) Abdul Hameed. Perhaps,...
अयोध्या में राम मंदिर की शुरुआत? यानी बहुत कुछ की शुरुआत
By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
अयोध्या: बीते रोज़ अयोध्या में विश्व हिन्दू परिषद् की हरक़तों ने माहौल को तल्ख़ और तनावपूर्ण बना दिया है. इसकी शुरुआत...
In the name of progressiveness: A Note on the recent Speak-Out movement in...
By Praveena Thaali for TwoCircles.net
In recent times, Dalit-Bahujan women have started a speak-out* campaign to reveal their experiences of sexual harassment, which until now it...
Unite world’s religions through spirituality: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
By Fakir Balaji
By IANS,
Buenos Aires: Indian guru and Art of Living (AoL) founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has exhorted religious leaders the world over to unite people through spirituality.
The West takes notice as Russia and Iran get closer
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov) - The West appears amazed to see Russian-Iranian strategic partnership surviving and even strengthening.
This partnership is quite logical, but the West turned its attention to it only with supplies of Russian long range surface-to-air S-300 missiles. Due to start in January, these supplies were agreed upon a long time ago. Judging by the response of the media, the West is panicky to see Russia stick to the promise.
India tops list of drone-importing nations
By Chaitanya Mallapur,
The decision by India's National Disaster Response Force to use drones to help Nepal map the scale of devastation caused by last month's earthquake indicates how India has enthusiastically taken to these pilot-less aircraft -- the so-called eyes in the sky.
Extraordinary stories of ordinary women
TCN Special Series: Part V on Jyotsna Bewa
By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net,
Obstinacy, feudalism guide both BJP and Congress
By Amulya Ganguli
There is a striking similarity between Arun Jaitley's reported comment that the government cannot "retract" from its decision on the new...
Arrest of Munawar Faruqui: Can democracy take a joke?
The people who are silent over the arrest of Munawar Faruqui should remember that ‘if you do not allow a joke in a democracy,...
‘Chalo TISS’ earns solidarity from across India over scholarship protests; strike enters day 14
By Daisy Katta, TwoCircles.net
The ‘Chalo TISS’ call given by the General Body of TISS students was highly successful, with more than 500 people all...
Maulanas in the News
By Yoginder Sikand
A maze of pot-holed lanes winds its way through a squalid
slum at the far end of the sprawling Muslim locality of...
Some practical steps for boosting Muslims in Civil Services
By Aabid Ali Haider for TwoCircles.net
On Saturday, July 4th, 2015, the UPSC had declared the much awaited results of the prestigious Civil Services Examination,...
IPR and India’s competitiveness
By Amit Kapoor,
Intellectual Property Rights are important from the standpoint of maintaining present as well as ensuring future competitiveness. They also have an impact on the FDI inflows in a developing country, which helps not just in terms of capital inflows, but also in terms of technology and expertise. Strengthening IPR thus becomes imperative from the viewpoint of economic development. According to the most recent IP Index by GIPC (Global Intellectual Property Center) of the US Chamber of Commerce, IndiaÂ’s rank is the last among 25 countries for which the Center prepares the Index. It is alarming, and steps need to be taken to ensure we do better on various aspects covered under the specific index.
Hounding the madrasas: Deoband’s rector speaks
By TwoCircles.net news desk
Presidential address by Marghub ur-Rahman, Rector of Dar ul-Ulum, Deoband.
Delivered at the "All-India Anti-Terrorism Convention", Organised by the Rabita-e Madaris-e Islamia Arabia at Deoband on 25 February, 2008. Translated from Urdu and edited and abridged by Yoginder Sikand
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds. May Peace be on the Prophet Muhammad and His progeny.
Longread: Believing women who pray, evidence from scripture and history
By Roshan Nageena
Women and their status, role and position in society is a topic close to my heart. A picture widely circulated in WhatsApp...
Indian Premier League is here to stay
By V. Krishnaswamy, IANS,
The numbers for the Indian Premier League (IPL) are not in, neither for the viewership nor the ones that balance the books. But be sure, when they are out, the former will be a cause for yet another party, and the latter a cause for some concern.
There are lessons to be learnt from the inaugural edition. Next year there will be more time to sell and attract sponsors and, more importantly, a lot of expenses will come in for a severe scrutiny.
Manipur bills: Tribals intensify protest as confrontation looms ahead
By Iboyaima Laithangbam
Imphal : As the fate of the three controversial bills passed by the Manipur assembly continues to hang in balance, the tribal...
AAP’s Bhopal candidate Rachna Dhingra finds support at MIT
By TCN News,
Boston, USA. Supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) from the Greater Boston area gathered to screen award winning documentary (on the Bhopal disaster) Bhopali on Sunday April 6th at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The event was organized by the Boston chapter of University Students for Aam Admi Party (us4AAP), an organization with chapters in more than 100 campuses, and AAP - New England who have been actively working on supporting AAP candidates in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in India.
A preview of fast-track trial of Gujarat riot cases
By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
The wheels of justice have started moving for the victims of 2002 riots of the state with the Gujarat High court having designated special judges for nine fast-track courts to conduct trial of the accused involved in nine heinous riot cases of 2002. However, the Narendra Modi government is yet to appoint public prosecutors to facilitate the trial of the accused.
In rural India, less to eat than 40 years ago
By Pavitra Mohan
As India's 70th year of Independence begins, widespread progress is evident, but in rural India, where 833 million Indians (70 per cent)...
How do RSS and other Sangh Parivar outfits escape terrorist tag?
By Adnan Alavi
The TV Today group's English channel Headlines Today aired the sting operation that showed top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar's involvement with Hindutva-inspired fanatics.
At least 14 dead in mounting South Africa xenophobic violence
By Xinhua,
Johannesburg : The death toll in a week-long wave of xenophobic violence in South Africa rose sharply over the weekend as reports of people being burnt and beaten to death poured in from squatter camps around the business capital Johannesburg.
The police said that 12 people were killed over the weekend as shack dwellers in one poor community after another turned on migrants living in their midsts, beating them, sometimes fatally, torching their homes and looting their possessions.
Establishment of Block Institute of Teachers Education lagging in Minority Concentrated Blocks
By Amjad Suri and Mohammed Imteyaz Ahmed for Twocircles.net
The Sarvasiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was introduced in 2000 to bridge the gap between the social...
Jat community students demonstrate in Delhi University
New Delhi: Students from the Jat community on Saturday demonstrated in Delhi University's north campus, demanding reservations in government jobs and educational institutions.
Despite the...
Accords with Israel cost Sadat his life, Mubarak may lose throne
By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,
The World According to the Neo-Con Sympathisers
By Yamin Zakaria,
Almost everyday I get email responses to my essays, usually containing lots of two word expletives, e.g. “sand nigger”, “rag head”, “towel head”, “eat shit”, “sheep lover”, “camel lover”; almost all the emails originate from within the US, yes the land of the ‘tolerant’ free speech lovers. Apart from intellectual bankruptcy, the replies also indicate a deep-seated hatred, shaped by a fanatical mindset. Since stereotyping is wrong, I did ask myself the question, are those Americans, exceptional or typical.
Why India’s $35 computer joke isn’t funny
By Prasanto K. Roy, IANS,
Here we go again! India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has "launched" a $35 computer, evidently a "dream project" of his. The touch-screen, Linux-based device looks iPad-inspired, but we know little about how it works.
It emerged from a student project with a bill of material adding up to $47, a price that the minister wants to bring down to $10 "to take forward inclusive education". It promises browser and PDF reader, wi-fi, 2GB memory, USB, Open Office, and multimedia content viewers and interfaces.
Nothing for appeasement of Muslims in the Union Budget 2014-15
By Syed Zahid Ahmad,
There is nothing for appeasement of Muslims in the Union Budget 2014-15. Significantly there are just following two small para in 35 pages budget speech.
Hindu philosophy and Dadri lynching
By Namrata Chaturvedi for TwoCircles.net
A man was killed and his family tortured in a village in Uttar Pradesh last week. In a news report,...
Dealing with terrorism
By Abdul Rashid Agwan,
Terror trail is taking toll of human lives city after city. It is now affecting the entire country and becoming almost an indomitable threat to human lives, communal relations, economic progress and even political stability of the country. This calls for civil society, administration, media and law enforcement system to come up with some tangible solution.
FDI liberalisation sought in e-commerce in India
By Arun Kumar ,
Washington: Ahead of President Barack Obama's trip to India, two US lawmakers have asked him to request Indian Prime Minister...
Gujarat: towards vibrancy or abolition of democracy?
By Ram Puniyani
There is a widespread impression amongst different sections of society and media that Narendra Modi is leading Gujarat towards the path of development. Also a section of patidras are happy with his policies which are giving them a fertile ground for social and economic enhancement. Another section of Hindus eulogize him for being the emperor of Hindu hearts, Hindu Hridaya Samrat, in the aftermath Gujarat anti Muslim pogrom, which took place when he was the Chief Minster. He had called this shameful carnage as the Gaurav (honor) of Hindus. Where do matters stand today?
Muslims’ Contribution to the Growth of Music in India
By Kaleem Kawaja,
Music continued to flourish in medieval India in spite of the acquisition of political power by the Turks, Afghans and Mughals. It was patronized and thrived at the imperial courts of Delhi and Agra and at the centers of provincial kingdoms like the Sharqui kingdom of Jaunpur, the Khilji kingdom of Malwa and the Bahmani kingdom of Bijapur and Golcunda.
Did Ram Madhav err in judgment by giving interview to Mehdi Hasan?
By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,
Ram Madhav, senior BJP leader and national general secretary of the party, has grabbed the spotlight of international media after noteworthy...
Untouchable in life, untouchable in death: Story of two dalit workers
By Ravichandran Chakkiliyan, TwoCircles.net,
Rs. 200,000 each for the lives of two- a Madiga and a Mangali.
Kaleikuri Prasad's Poem 'Karma Bhuumilo'
For whom do you search, for what saviours do you wait?
If they poison you or burn you, or even if they strangle you with a rope
No doctor shall testify for you, no court shall protect you
All the laws and the courts promise illusory hope
They’re only mirages for the common man (Translated by Kuffir Nalgundwar)
Building support for public intellectuals in times of cultural intolerance
(Courtesy: Hindustantimes)
Badre Alam & Sanjay Kumar
It will not be an exaggeration, to say that extremism and cultural intolerance has not been growing...
Big Show, Small Substance
By Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam,
After five days of continuous media hype and hoopla about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States, finally we have got a pause to catch our breath and consider the gains from the much-hyped visit.
Woes of Indian Muslims: vast resources but to no avail
By M Ghazali Khan
In spite of owning 600,000 acres of properties and thus being the most resourceful community, Indian Muslims are one of the poorest sections of the country, a gathering of Muslims, mainly of Indian origin, has been told at the House of Lords.
Modi’s ‘I, me, myself’ style may have hurt BJP
By Amulya Ganguli,
What the Delhi poll outcome has confirmed is that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can be stopped in its tracks by a determined opponent, even one not as well-entrenched as established regional parties like the AIADMK, the Biju Janata Dal or the Trinamool Congress were in their respective states in last year's general election.
History’s been unkind to man of most budgets
By Arvind Padmanabhan, IANS,
As another budget day arrives, one would like to pay a tribute to the person to whom goes the credit of...
शिकायतों और अनियमितताओं के आईने से प्रधानमंत्री मोदी के आदर्श ग्राम की हक़ीक़त
समय पूरा होने के बाद भी आधे-अधूरे विकास से जूझ रहा है प्रधानमंत्री का आदर्श गांव जयापुर
सिद्धांत मोहन, TwoCircles.net
जयापुर/वाराणसी: मोदी के गोद लिए गए...
Assembly elections confirm bipolar trend in India
By B.R.P. Bhaskar, IANS,
Contrary to the fond hopes of Third Front promoters, the Indian polity is moving towards a two-party system. Those who have their eyes focused on the national stage may have missed it, but the results of the just concluded assembly elections confirm the bipolar trend.
ये चेहरे यूपी चुनाव में भाजपा के लिए मुसीबत का सबब बन सकते हैं
सिद्धांत मोहन, TwoCircles.net
उत्तर प्रदेश का विधानसभा चुनाव अब चंद महीने ही दूर बचा हुआ है. समाजवादी पार्टी को छोड़कर लगभग सभी दलों ने प्रदेश...
Turkey will not launch war against Kurds
MOSCOW. (Georgy Mirsky for RIA Novosti) - Turkey invaded North Iraq, the domain of the Kurdistan Workers Party, several times. Five years ago, I was in the area where fighting is now taking place. At that time, small Turkish groups used to cross the border to deliver strikes on Kurdish positions.
What has changed since then?
Indian Arrival Day not just for diaspora in Trinidad
By Paras Ramoutar, IANS,
Not many know that May 30 marks 163 years since the arrival of the first set of Indians in Trinidad and Tobago. People came from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Bombay, Orissa, Rajasthan and central India and even from Nepal.
The first batch of 230 Indian indentured labourers touched the soil of Trinidad and Tobago at Nelson Island, where they were held in captivity for health and social reasons - as if the almost 117 days they spent on the vessel Fatal Razack coming through the Kala Pani were not enough.
सवालों के घेरे में बिहार की शराबबंदी
TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
पटना - बिहार में 1 अप्रैल से शराब को लेकर राज्य सरकार की नयी नीति लागू हो गयी है. एक तरफ जहां...
Recalling Jamshedpur riots of 1979
Recalling Jamshedpur riots of 1979
By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net
This month in the year 1979, the Hindu-Muslim violence in Jamshedpur took the lives of 108 people. The number of dead could have easily been 114, but as it turned out, my family and I survived the mayhem, to write about it thirty years later.
30 days in Afghanistan: arrival
Engineer by degree, writer by chance, Muslim by birth and filmmaker by passion, JSG is in Afghanistan for 30 days. He will be taking advantage of his stay there to observe, reflect and write about it. TwoCircles.net will be publishing his posts from Aghanistan.
‘Liberal’, ‘Ambedkerite’ Islamophobia and communal violence: A counter narrative
By Dr Mohammad Kamran Ahsan
As hate becomes the fulcrum, and the new normal of Indian polity, various view-points have emerged analysing this institutionalised hatred...
Mission Mukhyamantri: BJP has task cut out in UP
By Mohit Dubey
Lucknow: The question is ringing loud and clear. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has Sarbananda Sonowal in Assam. But what...
Begging a blot on Bharat
By Syed Ali Mujtaba,
The news of Abhinav Bindra bagging a gold medal in the shooting event at the Beijing Olympics sounds music to the ears. So does the news from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) that Chandrayan the Indian mission to the moon is all set to take off this year. Definitely every Indian feels proud, especially when it comes at a time when our young and vibrant nation has turned 61 and celebrating its Independence Day on Friday, August 15, 2008.
Ramu Gandhi: A solitary thinker in smug, noisy times
By Manish Chand
Not many get to choose the place they die in, but knowing Ramchandra Gandhi, one gets an eerie feeling that this peripatetic thinker would have wanted to breathe his last moments in a place that was his home and yet not his home for so many years, symbolising the eternal homelessness of the modern intellectual.
‘Minorities, Dalits & Adivasis affected acutely due to urban poverty and informal settlements’
By TCN News,
London: Minorities and indigenous peoples have been among the last to benefit from the rapid growth of Asia’s cities, according to Minority...
Can this “Peace” Exhibition be the vision of Islam?
By T. M. Zackriah Badsha
Readers may recall that the Peace Exhibition was forced to move out of Chennai to Injambakkam, a suburb of Chennai, thanks to the efforts of the mainstream Sunni and Shia Muslims. The exhibition is deceptively entitled "Peace" when it really means "Peace on our terms."
What are the Issues in the Lok Sabha Elections 2014?
By Syed Ali Mujtaba,
The Parliamentary elections are a mandate to govern India. The issues in these elections are common to all the Indians and are of national importance. The expectation of the common man is to know the difference in policy prescription that the political parties have on the issue concerning the nation. They want to know the unique ideas political parties have on all such common issues and how different are they from their rivals in its solutions.
Pluralism and Communalism
By K. G. Kannabiran,
A few years back I raised the question “whether a Political Party not subscribing to the Constitutional value system so clearly spelt out by the Preamble and the other provisions in the Constitution, have its party registered to contest and participate in the country’s election?
As a Kashmiri, here is why I no longer care what Indian media says...
By Harun Lone for TwoCircles.net
Graham Greene, a British novelist wrote, “Media is a word that has come to mean bad journalism.” And in...
Manufactured rage: From Burdwan to Malda, right-wing’s ‘Project West Bengal’
By IndScribe
A protest turned violent in Malda leading to arson and injuries to some persons including policemen. However, it has been blows up...
India’s Muslims lack an enlightened leadership
By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,
Indian Muslims continue to suffer from the misfortune of being led by people with a limited vision whose initiatives appear to be aimed at fostering a ghetto mentality instead of encouraging the community to become a part of the mainstream.
WACA pitch is not what it used to be
By Veturi Srivatsa,
There was a time when the very mention of Perth used to unnerve the batsmen -- even the Australians when they had to face the fearsome West Indies pace men. However, the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) ground, like many others in the world, has lost some of its viciousness in recent years.
Modi and soft power: No substitute for traditional diplomacy
By Amit Dasgupta,
When the chief minister of gujarat became the prime minister of India, the personal interest he demonstrated in foreign affairs confounded everyone. But what caught everyone by surprise was the ease with which he brought his personal style to bear on his interaction with world leaders. Establishing a one-to-one rapport became his distinctive hallmark.
Demeaning silence of Muslim leadership on custodial death of Khalid Mujahid
By Dr. Shakeel Samdani,
Palestine now
By Naomi Chazan, CG News
The intense diplomatic activity in the wake of the Hamas takeover in Gaza may yield absolutely nothing unless it focuses squarely on the issue of Palestinian sovereignty.
Now is the time to re-examine the working assumption guiding negotiations since Oslo - that statehood is the ultimate outcome of the resolution of the conflict, rather than a vehicle for its achievement.
In search of liberals
By Quamar Ashraf,
Vir Sanghvi’s article, ‘The Curious Case of Indian Liberals’ in his Sunday’s Counterpoint column needs to be analyzed objectively. He has unjustifiably criticized liberals for their approach on issues that do not directly concern the subject—freedom of expression.
Karzai’s Afghanistan steps deeper into security quagmire
By John Stanly, IANS,
The attempt on President Hamid Karzai's life in the heart of the capital city of Kabul by suspected Taliban militants underscores the growing pessimism about security in the country. If the April 27 attack is anything to go by, Taliban militants are increasing their influence all across the country.
Soon after the attack, the Taliban claimed responsibility saying its aim was to show that it could strike from the capital. The message is clear - the Taliban has reached the capital.
Nine months after attack, Dalits of Samastipur wait for justice while accused roam freely
By Amit Kumar for Twocircles.net
This is the second in a four-part series on cases of Dalit atrocities in India which were brought up during...
Is it a sin to be a Gujjar?
By Dr. Javaid Rahi
This is narration of 5th day of the strike in Kashmir Valley. I was busy in reading a local newspaper while my five years old son (Ali Gujjar) called my attention towards television and said "See Papa-Gujjar Gujjar Hai Hai" !!. I increased the volume of my television and with all inquisitiveness watched the television.
A critique of religious extremism
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan,
(Translated from Urdu by Yoginder Sikand)
Dalit for President: Tokenism wins
By Amulya Ganguli
It's a no-brainer, for the result is known before the contest. The support which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been able...
NSG commando Niranjan cremated at Kerala village
Palakkad (Kerala) : NSG commando Lt.Col. E.K. Niranjan, who was killed in the counter-offensive against terrorists at the Pathankot air base on Sunday, was...
India lags in social progress and tolerance
By Amit Kapoor
For decades, Gross Domestic Product has been used to evaluate the economic performance of a nation. It measures the value of final...
Loans & Interest: Banks are discriminating among the rich and the poor
By Syed Zahid Ahmed,
Can women take smart decisions?
By Amit Dasgupta,
If you were asked to respond "Yes/No" to the above question, there is every likelihood that, apart from some good humoured jokes about women and decision making, your response would emphatically be in the affirmative. The uncomfortable fact is that you probably believe that women are incapable of making smart decisions.
Kinder, gentler Modi as parliament resumes functioning
By Amulya Ganguli
The good news is that parliament is once again engaged in its business of debate and discussion even if haltingly because...
Hindutva upsurge will tar Modi’s image
By Amulya Ganguli,
The first phase of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) politics was marked by the targeting of mosques and churches. After the advent of Narendra Modi, the scene has become quieter. In fact, the Ram temple issue has been put on hold and even the fulminations against "love jihad", the supposedly sinister plan of Muslim youths to marry Hindu girls, have faded away, at least for the time being.
Why Google finally saw red in China
By Prasanto K. Roy, IANS,
There's no polite way to put this. China is a rogue nation, a military dictatorship masquerading as a people's government. It's an apparent economic success in the short term, but its aspiration to become an economic superpower is not compatible with its political model.
Rejection of clemency petition provokes debate on death penalty in Assam
By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net,
Yoga as part of the matrix which links India
By Saeed Naqvi
Ayurveda entered our lives as tiny, plastic vials of Amritdhara, three drops in a teaspoon of sugar, the panacea for all stomach...
Net neutrality is essential for human survival
By Syed Ali Mujtaba,
The internet’s privatization debate has intensified in India. It is hogging limelight because government is kite flying the idea to privatize the internet and allow the telecom companies to make money on customized services.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has leveled the charge that Modi government that has come to power with the help of corporate money is now trying to pay them back their money by privatizing the internet.
Was Emergency in India akin to Hitler’s Regime?
By Ram Puniyani
On the eve of 43rd anniversary of the Emergency, which was imposed on the country in 1975, BJP has come out strongly...
NRIs can gift cars online, no extra charge for blessings!
By Kul Bhushan
When an NRI buys his first new car on returning to India, he knows that he has made it.
Praveen Swami and the informed art of speculating
By M Reyaz and Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: National daily The Indian Express was not pretty sure where the alleged Al-Qaeda’s...
‘Rationalists and progressive people should be vocal against regressive-aggressive Hindutva’
By Mohammed Anas for TwoCircles.net
Rai Bahadur Maakhan Singh of Kohat (present day Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan) was a legendary landlord and an...
Delegation of Muslim clerics meets Akhilesh Yadav, submits demands for minority welfare
By TCN News
Lucknow: A delegation of Muslim clerics, led by Aishbagh Eidgah Imam Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli, met Akhilesh Yadav and submitted a...
Setback to Andhra waqf board: SC stays HC order on Manikonda waqf land
By Md. Hassaan Khan,for TwoCircles.net,
Who is to be blamed for backwardness of Malda and Murshidabad?
By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net
TCN Series: Visit to Malda and Murshidabad, Part 4
Home toilets must for contesting Maharashtra civic polls
Mumbai : In a significant decision, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday made domestic toilets compulsory for all those aspiring to get elected to municipal...
Competition commission proving to be efficient regulator
By Amit Kapoor,
Citizen control and takeover by companies is often pointed out as an Achilles’ heel in any capitalist society. People with leftist leanings, too often criticize free markets, citing market failure and greed as fundamental reasons for radical activism or resort to force. Not only does this position appear weak as an argument, but also appears to us as being fundamentally flawed. The reason for that is markets in our opinion expand choices and promote economic liberty for citizens.
संघ की छांव में जलता मध्य प्रदेश
जावेद अनीस
मध्य प्रदेश वह सूबा है जहां संघ परिवार अपने शुरुआती दौर में ही दबदबा बनाने में कामयाब रहा है. इस प्रयोगशाला में संघ ने सामाजिक स्तर पर अपनी गहरी पैठ बनाने में सफल रहा है और मौजूदा परिदृश्य में हर तरह से हावी है.
Manmohan Singh government yet again demonstrates durability
By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,
The Manmohan Singh government demonstrated its durability by surviving the cut motions brought against it by the opposition in the Lok Sabha even if its success was largely due to the miscalculations of its over-enthusiastic opponents.
Persuaded by the government's manifold problems - Maoist insurgency, inflation, the Indian Premier League (IPL) fiasco, signs of tension within the ruling coalition - the opposition apparently convinced itself that the time had come for it to strike a blow.
Delhi HC to hear another sedition plea against Kanhaiya
New Delhi: A petition was filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking action against JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on a...
Muslims lack rationale to oppose decriminalization of Homosexuality
By Sheikh Khurshid Alam,
The decriminalization of Section 377 by the Delhi High Court in the Naz Foundation case had drawn mixed reactions in 2010...
Onam’s journey from harvest festival to shopping carnival
By B.R.P.Bhaskar, IANS,
There is a morning-after air in Kerala as the state recovers from the hectic annual Onam festivities.
Onam, the most important day in the Keralite's calendar, fell on Sep 12 this year. Keralites spread across the globe celebrated the festival with as much enthusiasm as their kinsmen at home.
Onam is built on nostalgia. According to tradition, on this day, Mahabali, the righteous ruler of ancient Kerala, visits his erstwhile subjects. The people, who remember his reign as a golden era, decorate their homes with flowers and put on new clothes to welcome him.
Gandhi, Religion and Indian Nationalism
by Ram Puniyani,
The Gandhi anniversary this year has been very special (2007). With UN declaring 2nd October as the International Day for Non-Violence, with the renewed interest in Gandhi all over the globe one needs to revisit the Father of Indian Nation and his yeomen contribution in the articulation of the concepts of non-violence and nationalism in Indian context. At another level his own unique definitions and practice of religion and definition of God as truth and non-violence have their own matchless place in the history of human thought.
Terrorist test
A July 2, 2007 editorial of Malaysia's New Straits Times newspaper
The two thwarted car bomb plots in central London and the Jeep which crashed and burst into flames at Glasgow airport may or may not have been deliberately timed to provide a baptism of fire to the premiership of Gordon Brown.
December 6, 1992: How do Muslims in India recall the day?
By Abdul Hameed and Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
It was an unfortunate day for India when Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished by the Hindu criminal elements. The mosque that had existed for hundreds of years could not be seen in the evening of December 6, 1992. It was destroyed by 150,000 Hindutva extremists despite a commitment to the Indian Supreme Court that the mosque would not be harmed.
The demolition was followed by communal riots that erupted around the country with Mumbai being most affected by them. Many Muslims were slain and their families were destroyed.
Violence is not my path: Maudany
By Shameer KS for TwoCircles.net,
Abdul Nasir Maudany is the chief of Kerala-based Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). After spending eight years in prison on charges of being involved in Coimbatore bombing, he was absolved of all charges and released by the courts. Now, once again he is on the verge of arrests for his alleged role in Bangalore bomb blast of 2008. He is accused number 31 in that case and Karnataka police is in Kerala to arrest him. Shameer KS sat down with Maudany to ask him about the case and his thoughts.
Will the BJP open its account in Kerala?
By Sanu George
Thiruvananthapuram: Will the lotus finally bloom in Kerala? The BJP is supremely confident that at least one of its candidates will...
India’s Regional Politics Remain Immature
Syed Ali Mujtaba
The jubilation for the victory of India?s first women president Prathibha Patil seems to have drowned one of the ugliest episodes of the Indian democracy. Tamil Nadu?s main opposition party the AIADMK and its ally the MDMK defied its own whip and voted for Bhrion Singh Shekhawat, an independent candidate backed by the National Democratic Alliance in the recently concluded presidential election.
NCDHR expresses alarm at NITI Aayog’s claims of not being able to monitor Schedule...
By Twocircles.net Staff Reporter
New Delhi: The National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights has expressed disappointment at a recent news item which...
PA Sangma: Sagacity was the mark of first tribal Lok Sabha speaker
By Nirendra Dev
New Delhi : It was to the sagacity of his stint as a member of parliament for many years from Tura constituency...
Can gap between Modi’s vision and Hindu hyper-nationalists be bridged?
By Amulya Ganguli
Narendra Modi is probably learning the veracity of Stalin's insightful aphorism that while one death is a tragedy, a million is...
A Jewish voice against the “burqa ban”
By Joshua M. Z. Stanton
Even as a Jew in New York, I know what it is like to be Muslim in France.
While studying abroad in the French city of Strasbourg in 2007, I decided to grow a bushy beard. Little did I know that in France only traditional Jewish and Muslim men don anything but the most finely trimmed moustache or goatee. Since I did not wear a yarmulke or other head covering, people who saw me on the street assumed that I was Muslim.
While studying abroad in the French city of Strasbourg in 2007, I decided to grow a bushy beard. Little did I know that in France only traditional Jewish and Muslim men don anything but the most finely trimmed moustache or goatee. Since I did not wear a yarmulke or other head covering, people who saw me on the street assumed that I was Muslim.
Pre-emptive Sangh offensive on the Bill to prevent communal violence
Political battle lines drawn even as victim minorities still look for ideal law to stop targeted hate and bloodshed
By John Dayal
Remember these?
Some thoughts on inter-faith dialogue
By Asghar Ali Engineer,
Inter-faith dialogue is becoming commonplace these days and many organizations are organizing it in view of inter-religious tensions in many countries in the world. USA had not known it earlier or very few organizations were involved but post 9/11 Islam came under attack and tensions between Christians and Muslims increased and so many organizations came into being organizing dialogues.
Muslims’ Resolve Against Modi/BJP in the 2014 Election – Rare Instance of Unity
By Kaleem Kawaja,
The polling in the parliamentary election began on Monday in the northeastern part of India. This is one of the noisiest and most turbulent election in memory since India became a free nation in 1947. One of the primary reasons is that the Bharti Janata Party is trying to change the governing fabric of the nation. The nation has followed the tradition of first conducting an election and then the elected parliamentarians of the party with the largest number of seats, elect their leader and prime minister. In the instance of a coalition, the coalition of parties do the same. In 1996 when BJP/NDA won the election they followed the same tradition and BJP MPs elected Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister.
Banking on Muslim votes
By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net,
In about 45 days, we will know which collection of parties is going to form the next government in India. Indian elections are less about issues and more about voting blocks. While most voting blocks are tied to political parties organized on the basis of caste or regional identities there is one vote block that is up for grabs in every election or so it seems. Muslims who have been loyal Congress vote banks for a long time since Indian independence have for some time made it known that they will vote strategically at the local level that best serves their interests.
“हालात तो सहाबा पर भी आए है, इससे भी मुश्किल आएं है अल्लाह हिम्मत...
तबलीग़ के साथ मेरे अनुभव
आसमोहम्मद कैफ़।Twocircles.net
तबलीग़ जमात की इतनी बैकवर्ड है कि मैंने अंग्रेजी बोलना ही इनसे सीखा था। मैं हिंदी मीडियम का छात्र रहा...
नीतिश राज में मुसहरों को बिल्डरों का खौफ़
अफ़रोज़ आलम साहिल, TwoCircles.net
पटना:बिहार की राजधानी में मुसहर जाति के लोग इन दिनों भारी संकट में हैं. मुसहरों की जमीन पर एक बिल्डर की...
The need to implement Dalit Bahujan ideas of social justice
By Badre Alam and Sanjay Kumar for Twocircles.net
The tragic death of Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad Central University (HCU) has created a strong public...
मीडिया के रिमोट से चलता भारतीय मुसलमानों का भविष्य
By भंवर मेघवंशी
उत्तर प्रदेश के एक स्वयंभू हिन्दू महासभाई कमलेश तिवारी द्वारा हज़रत मोहम्मद को अपमानित करने वाली टिप्पणी करने के विरोध में हुए...
Maulana Minnatullah Rahmani’s role in India’s independence
By Imteyaz Rahmani,
Elimination of British rule from India and independence of the country are great events of human history which not only abolished British kingdom but also left indelible mark on constitutional and political history of Arab world. The British were ruling in their own way on Arab countries due to their rule in India and almost the whole world was under their control as a super power.
Bihar poll diary: Campaigning in the time of call drops
By Brajendra Nath Singh
At least one thing is sure. Call drops don't just affect the common man. Even ministers are victims of the sudden...
War on terror: If you can’t find the terrorist, make one
By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
This is the first report of the three part series on the situation of Md. Amir after spending 14 years in jail.
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