Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
EDITORIAL: GANDHI ABROAD, GODSE AT HOME
Vinod Mubayi
The phrase Gandhi abroad, Godse at home, often used by progressives to describe the two-faced actions of the Modi regime, also reflects a pithy summary of its basic character. Said differently, lying is the essence of the Modi BJP’s approach to governance. [For those too young to remember, Godse, a Hindu fanatic and RSS member, assassinated the Mahatma on Jan 30, 1948. While Gandhi’s moral presence within India and the world is too large for the BJP or its top leaders like Modi, a long-term RSS preacher himself, to disown Gandhi publicly, what they say in private is very different and many in the BJP’s second-tier leadership, like Member of Parliament Pragya Thakur, do not hesitate to praise Godse and the motives for his action publicly]. Thus, Modi while addressing the US Congress in Washington, DC talked eloquently of India as the mother of democracy, but he has no hesitation in resorting to the most blatant anti-democratic actions at home as witnessed by the ongoing repression of the NewsClick journalists in India.
Read more…NYT’S REPORT HAS BEEN WEAPONISED AGAINST INDIAN JOURNALISTS
Kavita Krishnan
NewsClick’s founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purakayastha was arrested on Tuesday.
In August 2023, The New York Times published a story “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul”. The story investigated whether Chinese funding was being funnelled to advocacy and media organisations across the world to defend the internal authoritarianism of the Chinese state. One of the countries included was India, with a fleeting reference to an Indian digital news organisation NewsClick, which the report said “sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points”.
Read more…IN MODI’S INDIA, THE PRESS IS MORE IMPERILLED THAN EVER
N Ram
The Indian constitution guarantees “freedom of speech and expression” for its citizens. This is a fundamental right. But based on the assault against the free press in India in recent times, you wouldn’t know it.
Read more…MONTREAL-BASED INDIAN DIASPORA GROUPS CALL OUT MODI GOVERNMENT’S ATTEMPT TO SOW SEEDS OF HATE AND FEAR AMONGST THEM
CERAS (Centre sur l’asie du sud/South Asia Centre)
As a direct challenge to India telling its citizens travelling to or living in Canada to “exercise utmost caution”, Montreal-based Indian diaspora groups held a speak-out to put the lie to this politics of hate and fear.
Read more…WE MUST OPPOSE INDIAN HINDU NATIONALIST FORCES IN CANADA
M. V. Ramana and Harsha Walia
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has revealed there is “credible evidence” of India’s involvement in the killing of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. This is part of a dangerous trend of Indian interference in Canada, particularly escalating under India’s current ruling party that is supported by Hindu supremacist groups (also known as Hindutva).
Read more…SOLIDARITY VIGIL FOR PAKISTANI CHRISTIANS, MASIHI, IN MONTREAL
Montreal, 8 September 2023 – Close to 200 people gathered in Montreal, Canada on the afternoon of 2nd September 2023 to demonstrate their solidarity with the Pakistani Masihi community (Pakistani Christians) who were brutally attacked on 16th August in Jaranwala, Pakistan. Those gathered expressed outrage at this attack, the latest in a long history of attacks on Masihi and other minorities over the years and they held the Pakistani state responsible for not ensuring the safety and security of its citizens.
Read more…ECOFASCISM IS A RISING THREAT. WE SHOULD TAKE MODI’S ASCENDANCE AS A WARNING
Azeezah Kanji
As the walls of global climate apartheid solidify, the barriers to climate refugees intensify, and “ecofascist” mass killings multiply, the enduring acceptability of fascist politics is disturbingly apparent in the amazing reincarnation of India’s far right Hindu nationalist (Hindutva) regime on the world stage.
Read more…BUILDING COMMUNITIES BASED ON EMPATHY
Irfan Engineer
Representatives of over a dozen Muslim groups met on 6th September 2023 and decided to defer the Eid-e-Milad procession, which has traditionally taken out on Prophet Mohammed’s birth anniversary, by a day this year and take out the same on 29th September instead of 28th September, in order to avoid inconvenience and trouble to the public with Ganesh Chaturthi and immersion processions, which is also on 28th September.
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