“I will not let these killings happen. You can believe me.” ~Sheikh Hasina, 2008 In an article in The Diplomat on September 4, Brad Adams, the Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), wrote about Bangladesh’s “crossfire” culture. This piece is particularly telling. He recounts meeting Sheikh Hasina in 2008 in London and her promise to end […]
Co-existence on earth is the rule of humanity. Its opposite is not the extermination of enemies as some imagine, but mutual, assured destruction, quite mad as its acronym (MAD) implies. This holds true in multiple spheres of life, as amply illustrated in my book, The Death and Afterlife of Mahatma Gandhi (New Delhi: Penguin Random […]
“Democracy dies in darkness,” said Padma Kuppa in March 2020. “The minute you stop paying attention and stop being aware of what’s going on, you let other people take over things that impact your daily life.” Kuppa, who was elected to the Michigan State House of Representatives in 2018, is seeking a second term. As she does, […]
Back in January 2015, Nuruzzaman Jonny, 30, general secretary of the Khilgaon unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was detained by the police Detective Branch in Dhaka. The next day his bullet-ridden body was discovered in a playground. He had been shot more than 12 times. Police claimed […]
From the moment Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny abruptly fell ill, the top suspect in what immediately looked like a case of poisoning was President Vladimir Putin and his regime in Moscow. That suspicions quickly centered on a possible assassination attempt by the Kremlin is another damning indictment for a president who has sought to […]
“No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave”. ~Alexander Hamilton Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Indian Secretary of the External Affairs Ministry, made an impromptu 2 day visit to Dhaka on August 17-18, 2020. The secrecy surrounding the sudden jet-dash made it ominous and the talk of the town. […]
In the middle of his second attempt to secure a seat in US Congress, Sri Preston Kulkarni is under fire for his association with the top leadership of American affiliates of India’s controversial Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) paramilitary. “In this campaign, Rameshji has become like my father,” Sri Preston Kulkarni said in May 2018 after he won […]
Democrats made a concerted effort to reach out to Republicans with the national convention last week. Conservatives and independents like John Kasich, Colin Powell, and Michael Bloomberg had popular speaking roles, but progressives like Julian Castro, Ayanna Presley, or Alexandria Ocasio Cortez received little to no speaking roles. I understand election politics fuels the desire […]
The comments that Bangladesh Foreign Minister, Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen made referring to the Indo-Bangladesh relations centering on the Indian contribution in 1971 seem to be an impractical emotional myth. He made such comments on August 8 while talking with the local reporters after laying a wreath at the Mujib Nagar Memorial of Bangladesh. A […]
The Indian war of independence was motivated by a few ideologies. Accordingly, there were different and distinct dreams of the future India, like Secular India, Hindu India, Muslim India, Dalit India and Socialist India. These dreams remain objectives of different kinds of political and social mobilizations in the country even today, though to different extent. […]