Newsletter of All India Secular Forum
Volume. 12 No.8 August 2017
C O N T E N T S
Editorial
1. Forum News
- Fact finding report on the desecrations of Holy
Crosses and Graves in South Goa
2. CSSS Activities
- Press Note on 9th Dr.Asghar Ali Engineer
Memorial Lecture
- Report of meeting on diversity
3. Articles
- Mobs are a weapon of violence, fake news a
trigger by Ravish Kumar
- Patriotism today by Vinay Kumaran
4. Campaign
- Uniting communities: Uniting Nation
5. Peace Now
- Call for partnership – Peace now campaign
between India and Pakistan
6. Press Release
- Amarnath Tragedy
7. Protest
- Armed forces veterans write open letter to PM
Modi: Condemn targeting of Muslims, Dalits
- JNUTA statement on JNU VC’s ‘Tank” Talk
8. Hate Speech
Hate speeches vitiating atmosphere against
minorities: John Dayal
9. Cross Border Humanism.
10. Interview
- Golwalkar’s Vision is terrifying because it has
no place for modern democratic politics
- Interview with the Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani
11. Resources
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Ph. 022-26149668, 022-26135098
E-mail: csss2work@gmail.com
Editor: Ram Puniyani, ram.puniyani@gmail.com, www.pluralindia.com
Advisory Board: L.S. Hardenia, Irfan Engineer, Dhirendra Panda, Mohammad Arif.
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From the Editor’s Desk
Last few years the BJP has been marching from strength to strength in electoral arena. With this the wings of Hindu nationalist organizations get a sort of blanket support to impose the sectarian agenda to the hilt. Barring Delhi and Bihar, the opposition has bitten the dust. In states like Goa and Manipur, despite being the single largest party, close to half the mark, the power was usurped from the Congress right under their nose and BJP formed the Governments there too. In this context the Bihar experiment of Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) came up as a big ray of hope for 2019 General Elections. Nitish Kumar who had allied with Lalu Prasad and Congress had proclaimed that communalism of BJP RSS needs to be fought against.
Now on the pretext of Lalu Prasad family is corrupt, he has already switched the horse, allied with BJP and has come back to power yet again. Same Nitish Kumar as such has been an ally of BJP for long years in the NDA Government. So what does the future hold for the possibility of united opposition? While BJP is going great guns in making alliances with some regional parties, other regional party and major parties like Samajvadi, BSP in UP are inclined to come together for a larger alliance. With JD (U) of Nitish, its leader Sharad Yadav is not happy with Nitish Kumar’s decision to ally with BJP. This gives the hope that a grand alliance without Nitish may emerge for 2019 elections. This alliance can focus on the values of pluralism and liberalism, which have come under threat in present times. Many leaders like, who switch their bandwagon for the sake of power, are better kept away from the alliance.
Ram Puniyani
(Editor)
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Link
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