A common misconception is that the Non-cooperation and Khilafat Movements played out in that order or were launched simultaneously, and that the former was launched to secure freedom. The ever-perceptive Ambedkar wrote: “... the connection between the Khilafat agitation and the Non-cooperation Movement has become obscure by the reason of the fact that most p...
Whereas the recently announced UAE-Israeli deal may have significant relevance to the falling political fortunes of both Netanyahu and Donald Trump and their attempt to project this deal as a ‘success story’, there is much more to the deal that meets the eye. This is particularly pertinent with regards to the geo-politics of the Middle East and the Gulf stat...
Turkish lira, as of recently, has been in a free-fall, indicating the overall health of Turkish economy. Since the beginning of 2020, Lira has fallen by 20 per cent against US dollar. Its adverse impact on the economy and politics has, however, been largely absorbed by the euphoria of Hagia Sophia and the intense symbolism of return to Ottoman glory. Whereas...
Recent mass protests and demonstrations in Europe (Germany, France, Spain, Britain etc...) and America have evinced the anger of large sections of the population against the harsh, oppressive, arbitrary and counter-productive policies of their respective governments. Many physicians, virologists and epidemiologists, some very eminent in their specialties, ha...
A crisis as grave, prolonged and far-reaching as the current COVID pandemic could not fail to have many consequences in the medical, social and political domains, as much as in the global economy where its effects are nothing less than catastrophic. The repeated contradictions, inconsistencies and backtracking by major western governments on...
The cultural identity of the Middle East where peoples lived for century without statehood has given the Kurds a particularly strong incentive to carry on their struggle for independence over the last few decades, and American political strategists have taken full advantage of this. That is why the Kurds have been designated a place on the map to establish t...
As the situation turns for the better in Jammu and Kashmir with reorganisation of the State into two Union Territories and abrogation of Article 370, there arises a need to look at the by now failed concept of “azaadi” (freedom) propounded for decades by some self-appointed leaders of the Kashmiri people. Has the concept failed because it was not practically...
The Khilafat Movement may be roughly said to have played out in two phases before it lost steam. The first phase (December 1918-July 1920) was the phase of petition and persuasion. This meant stirring public opinion, building up organizations, passing resolutions and petitioning the Government. The second phase (August 1920-March 1922) was the phase of coerc...
Since particularly the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, a sea change in the US policies vis-à-vis China has taken place. Its latest manifestation came on July 23 when the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, delivered what has been called the American “Iron curtain” speech. Pompeo’s “Communist China and the Free World’s Future” speech does provide a significant...
The policy that the United States has recently been pursuing towards China would give you the impression that America’s political elite are suffering from a form of political schizophrenia. Moreover, not only can the signs of political division be seen in the deepening divide in American politics, but even the behavior of individual high-profile politicians ...
It’s not over yet, but can Lukashenko survive the storm? Ever since the presidential elections of 8/9/2020, Belarus has experienced fitful waves of protests. The protesters claim the elections were rigged, just as the pussy-hat ladies accused Trump in 2016. The protests are presented to the world through the magnifying glass of the global fake news machine. ...
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has clearly decided to launch an offensive on multiple fronts, taking advantage of what he clearly perceives as a geopolitical vacuum. From his recent call to Islamic prayer at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, to his breaking of the arms embargo to back the Tripoli regime against the advance of General Khalifa Haftar’s Lib...
An agreement to establish diplomatic relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel and a Saudi-Pakistani spat over Kashmir coupled with feuds among Gulf states and between Turkey, the kingdom, and the Emirates drive nails into the notion that the Arab and Islamic world by definition share common geopolitical interests on the basis of ethnicity or rel...
An enduring mystery of the Ram Janmabhumi court battle is the failure of the Allahabad High Court and Supreme Court to mention the testimony of Goswami Tulsidas regarding the destruction of the birthplace of Sri Ram in their respective judgments. The Supreme Court’s 1045-page verdict gathered all evidence regarding Ramlalla’s birthplace in a...
The Khilafat Movement (1919-1924) may be said to have begun on October 27, 1919 when the day was observed as Khilafat Day all over India. Within a year, Lokmanya Tilak, the tallest Congress leader passed away and Gandhi came to occupy the centre-stage of Indian politics. In the words of Dr. Ambedkar, the Khilafat Movement was “taken up by Mr. Gandhi with a t...
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Hari Om
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16 Aug 2020
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on August 15, 2020 will go down in history as a scathing attack on medieval invaders who, according to him, unleashed a reign of senseless brutalities on Bharat to hurt her very atma (soul) and destroy her glorious civilisation, rich culture, and invaluable traditions, and loot her. Narendra...
No, certainly not – an Avatar is not at all bound to be a spiritual prophet – he is never in fact merely a prophet, he is a realiser, an establisher – not of outward things only, though he does realise something in the outward also, but, as I have said, of something essential and radical needed for the terrestrial evolution which is the evolution of the embo...
It is 15 years since the Right to Information Act was introduced as another piece of legislation, only to cheat the masses once again. Touted as a sunshine act, a panacea for corruption and to introduce accountability of public servants to the public, it has grown into one of the biggest, yet unrecognized, scams. Before we proceed, let us do some back of env...
Saudi efforts to position the kingdom as a key player in global soccer resembles a train crashing multiple times with the locomotive continuing to barrel ever closer to an abyss. The train’s last crash, Saudi Arabia’s decision to drop its US$ 392 million bid to acquire English Premier League club Newcastle United, has not brought the train to a standstill. ...
“Give the devil his due” applies aptly to Pakistan’s perseverance in pursuing its evil terrorist agenda. It keeps the pot boiling against India (particularly in Kashmir) and against beleaguered Afghanistan, despite all pressures by the international community. To ward off this pressure Pakistan has a well-honed process of creating proxies in the form of...
Animal rights front PETA and British retailers and media have teamed up to deliver a collective and politically-motivated blow to Thailand’s agricultural exports and in particular its large coconut industry (second largest coconut exporter in the world). PETA makes the absurd claim that Thailand’s immense coconut industry depends on “monkey labour” to collec...
The pan-Islamist Turkish fixation of Indian Muslims took an anti-British turn due to certain events that took place in World War I. In addition, certain events in India and around the Muslim world caused Indian Muslims to graduate from amity (1911-1922) through armed truce (1911-1922) to open warfare with the British (1922 onwards). It is incumbent to brief...
The mind-set of John Bolton, and the actions abroad associated with it, are the distillation of this evolution. So, why was he forced out – despite positive personal chemistry with Trump and basic agreement on a chauvinistic foreign policy? Two peculiarities of Trump’s persona provide the answer. First, there was his rogue attitude toward open-ended...
Political autobiographies by former high officials are notoriously self-serving and economical with the truth. Only the former charge is applicable to John Bolton’s book. For Bolton is foremost a crusader for a hawkish foreign policy agenda, someone who measures success solely in terms of advancing it rather than in tactical victories in the struggle for...
Saudi support of religious ultra-conservatism in Indonesia contradicts Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s promotion of an undefined form of moderate Islam intended to project his kingdom as tolerant, innovative, and forward-looking. It also suggests that Saudi Arabia is willing to work with the Muslim Brotherhood despite its denunciation of the group as a te...
Without a doubt, Jean Castex is a brilliant senior civil servant. But that does not make him the right man to become Prime Minister of France. He has not thought about how to restore the social pact in the face of financial globalisation and is satisfied with measures to buy social peace in the short term. As soon as he was appointed, he showed that he did n...
China is contemplating greater political engagement in the Middle East in what would constitute a break with its longstanding effort to avoid being sucked into the region’s myriad conflicts and a bid to counter mounting US pressure to force Gulf States to curtail relations with the People’s Republic. Prominent Chinese scholars, close to the government in Bei...
Indian analysts seem indifferent to the threat of India losing the railway line from Iran’s Chabahar port to Afghanistan and Central Asia, and suggest that New Delhi should focus on ties with Arab countries that provide energy security and jobs to millions of Indians. The view that India must choose between the Sunni Arab world and Shia Iran is myopic and...
The British believed that the 1857 uprising had been staged by the Muslims, who had not yet reconciled to the loss of Islamic rule and the privileges that came with it. They were not very friendly with the Hindus whom they considered their subjects. From this sullen dejection arose the need for Muslim solidarity and thus was born the Aligarh Movement. Its pr...
On the eve of Kargil Vijay Divas, Lt. Gen. Y.K. Joshi, Army Commander, Northern Command, one among the heroic commanding officers who led their units in the Kargil War in 1999, gave an interview to CNN News 18. The 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles that the then Lt. Col. Y.K. Joshi commanded in the Dras-Muskoh sector of Kargil was conferred the citation of “Braves...
An old proverb says “Agriculture in India is a gamble in the monsoon”. When we say monsoon, it includes the main south-west monsoon, which normally spreads between early-June and October-end and north-east monsoon which normally lasts from mid-late November until February-end. Summer rain lasts about 40-45 rainy days, but are quite unpredictable. It occurs m...