Undoubtedly India’s recent 48 hour General Strike in January 2019, when nearly 220 million workers, peasants, agricultural labourers, street vendors etc. struck work will go down in history as a record-breaking one. Interestingly the previous record for largest general strike was also held by India’s working class, when 180 million participated in a General Strike in September 2016, against the disastrous economic policies of the current Modi regime.
Category Archives: Analysis
India’s workers put Modi on notice!
Political instability writ large in Karnataka
In the Karnataka Legislative Assembly election of 12th May, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got eight seats short of the halfway mark but won the “prize.” Its party leader, B.S.Yeddyurappa, who has previously spent time in prison, got to be sworn in as the new Chief Minister. He “enjoyed” the throne for just 55 hours. The BJP had made a bid to usurp power but had to give way unceremoniously, even before a test on the floor of the house to prove its majority.
The Aadhaar of Unfairness
The following article was written by Sangeeta Delampady, a young political activist based in Bangalore.
It is not a rarity these days to receive frequent text messages asking for the linking of Aadhaar to a bank account or a mobile number. The government has been asking us to link this universal ID to various utilities. It has become voluntarily mandatory for every single citizen to link Aadhaar to several services so as to avail the required facilities without interruption or disconnection. Aadhaar has been hailed as a one-step, or to be precise, one-fingerprint solution for all our needs. This 12-digit number is supposed to make our lives convenient and give an identity to those who do not have any ID-related document. But is that really the case?
Is the end in sight?
Wind of dissent developing against Modi regime. Economic whims of Modinomics will trigger serious, longterm political implications
The current scenario looks like, India’s Modi regime has run out of steam. First time since its euphoric victory in May 2014, it is on a back-foot, even to the extent of backtracking some of its much touted policy economic decisions. Undoubtedly, even within Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), dissension is out and vocal on Demonetisation (Currency Ban) and Goods and Services Tax (GST), making Modi and his coterie vulnerable. Though it may be bit too early to predict BJP’s fortune in 2019 General Elections, for the first time in three years, on a general scale one could see winds of dissent developing against the Party wielding power for the so called monolith of Hindutva.
The assassination of dissent
Gauri lankesh took on the forces of reaction through her meticulous political stand point
It started with Dhabolker, then Pansare, followed by Kalburgi and on 5th September of this year it was Gauri Lankesh. Many of us who rush to write or say things about such horrifying events are dumbstruck even to this day, months after that ghastly murder. Gauri Lankesh, who was our own and personally known to many thousands, her popularity as a people’s person became more than evident on the 12th September “I am Gauri -We are Gauri” rally, which drew thousands from all walks of life. As a testimony to her truly secular nature, people from all faiths and religions thronged the Bangalore rally. Very much like her illustrious father; P Lankesh, Gauri too was undoubtedly a unique person of the masses, who was consciously dissenting, struggling and was avowedly anti-establishment, like her father never feared to say it loudly.