Browse by category
.jpg){kind=small}
Book review
Ever since 1986, when the locks on the gates of the makeshift Ram Lalla temple within the precincts of the Babri Masjid were opened, the debate over secularism and communalism has been revived in all its sound and fury. It now occupies centre stage in our public discourse.
In Confessions of a Secular Fundamentalist, Mani Shankar Aiyar, parliamentarian, commentator and crusader for a secular credo, calls for an unambiguous and decisive restoration of secularism to the core of our nationhood. In doing so, he revisits every dimension of our secular ethos and exposes the various myths perpetuated by communal elements of all hues. Putting under the scanner contentious issues like conversions, uniform civil code and Article 370, he nails the falsehood underlying terms like `pseudo-secularism', `appeasement' and `soft Hindutva'. And he places the domestic debate over secularism in India in the wider external dimension by discussing the experiences of countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Israel and erstwhile Yugoslavia.
Admitting to wearing his secularism on his sleeve, Aiyar reasons that only a determined and inflexible adherence to secularism, in principle and in practice, can counter religious bigotry and fundamentalism.
About the author Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Panchayati Raj, is also a well-known author and columnist who penned the popular weekly column `Mani-Talk' in Sunday magazine, later resumed in the Telegraph of Kolkata. He also had a column in the Indian Express and in UPI, Washington, besides writing for a number of English, Hindi and Tamil journals. His earlier books include Remembering Rajiv (1992), One Year in Parliament (1993), Pakistan Papers (1994), and Knickerwallahs, Silly-Billies and Other Curious Creatures (1995). He also edited a four-volume publication Rajiv Gandhi's India (1997). Essays by him have been included in several books, including Guns and Roses (2000). Mani Shankar Aiyar is the founder-president of the Society for Secularism.
Ever since 1986, when the locks on the gates of the makeshift Ram Lalla temple within the precincts of the Babri Masjid were opened, the debate over secularism and communalism has been revived in all its sound and fury. It now occupies centre stage in our public discourse.
In Confessions of a Secular Fundamentalist, Mani Shankar Aiyar, parliamentarian, commentator and crusader for a secular credo, calls for an unambiguous and decisive restoration of secularism to the core of our nationhood. In doing so, he revisits every dimension of our secular ethos and exposes the various myths perpetuated by communal elements of all hues. Putting under the scanner contentious issues like conversions, uniform civil code and Article 370, he nails the falsehood underlying terms like `pseudo-secularism', `appeasement' and `soft Hindutva'. And he places the domestic debate over secularism in India in the wider external dimension by discussing the experiences of countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Israel and erstwhile Yugoslavia.
Admitting to wearing his secularism on his sleeve, Aiyar reasons that only a determined and inflexible adherence to secularism, in principle and in practice, can counter religious bigotry and fundamentalism.
About the author Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Panchayati Raj, is also a well-known author and columnist who penned the popular weekly column `Mani-Talk' in Sunday magazine, later resumed in the Telegraph of Kolkata. He also had a column in the Indian Express and in UPI, Washington, besides writing for a number of English, Hindi and Tamil journals. His earlier books include Remembering Rajiv (1992), One Year in Parliament (1993), Pakistan Papers (1994), and Knickerwallahs, Silly-Billies and Other Curious Creatures (1995). He also edited a four-volume publication Rajiv Gandhi's India (1997). Essays by him have been included in several books, including Guns and Roses (2000). Mani Shankar Aiyar is the founder-president of the Society for Secularism.
New Arrivals
Bal Keshav Thackeray - By Raj Thackeray
A collection of over 800 pictures of Bal Thackeray, right from his childhood, covering almost all aspects of his public life and the growth ...more>>
A collection of over 800 pictures of Bal Thackeray, right from his childhood, covering almost all aspects of his public life and the growth ...more>>
Parineeta - By Saratchandra Chattopadhyaya
A timeless love story from the master storyteller of Bengal Set in early twentieth century Kolkata, Parineeta (Espoused) is the...more>>
A timeless love story from the master storyteller of Bengal Set in early twentieth century Kolkata, Parineeta (Espoused) is the...more>>
Death At My Doorstep - By Khuswant Singh
For Khushwant Singh who wrote his own obituary in his twenties, death is not sacred but he reflects on it increasingly these days. In Death ...more>>
For Khushwant Singh who wrote his own obituary in his twenties, death is not sacred but he reflects on it increasingly these days. In Death ...more>>
My Days in Prison - By Iftikhar Gilani
On 9 June 2002, at 4.30 a.m., Iftikhar Gilani, a journalist with Kashmir Times, was roused from sleep by loud knocks at the door. Groggily h...more>>
On 9 June 2002, at 4.30 a.m., Iftikhar Gilani, a journalist with Kashmir Times, was roused from sleep by loud knocks at the door. Groggily h...more>>
Diddi: My Mother's Voice - By Ira Pande
‘Perhaps because we called our mother Diddi, elder sister, our relationship with her was always somewhat ambivalent. More than a mother she ...more>>
‘Perhaps because we called our mother Diddi, elder sister, our relationship with her was always somewhat ambivalent. More than a mother she ...more>>