AS I See It

ANNIHILATION BY CASTE

Valson Thampu Eighty-four years ago B.R. Ambedkar published The Annihilation of Caste (May, 1936). His thesis was that caste cannot be reformed or humanised. It has to be annihilated, if a democratic way of life is to be nurtured and human dignity upheld. Democracy, according to him, can rest safe only on the foundation of […]

REFLECTIONS ON THE ORTHDOX-JACOBITE IMPASSE

Valson Thampu I am not a member of the Orthodox Church; but I am a votary of orthodox spirituality. Especially of the Russian Orthodox tradition. Who can fail to be thrilled by the spiritual well-spring that nurtured Dostoevsky and Tolstoy? The Orthodox spiritual tradition is an invaluable heritage, worthy to be cherished by all. The […]

When Journalists Become Hunters

Valson Thampu Everybody is full of one Sushant Singh Rajput these days. While in Rome, one should behave like Romans. We are in India. So, let’s do as Indians are doing now. Let us talk about this one, all-absorbing issue that everybody is talking about. It is not the corona. It is not the economy […]

Making Sense of Majoritarianism

Valson Thampu You’ve watched the bhoomi poojan at Ayodhya. Remember the words of Prime Minister Modi? The launching of Hindu Rashtra could not have been made more intelligible than by what he said on the occasion. Ram will be the nucleus of India. Maybe, that unity could go beyond India. Who knows? Expansionism, as Toynbee […]

OPPOSITION OR OBSTRUCTION?

Valson Thampu Semantics is a serious problem with the Congress in Kerala. It seems incapable of distinguishing opposition from obstruction. The role of the opposition becomes, then, no more than ensuring that the present government fails, which is mistaken for serving as a watch-dog of people’s welfare. Ruling dispensations, we know, practice corruption, which is […]

ALL IN THE NAME OF MORALITY

Valson Thampu Everybody is for morality these days. The Left is. The Right is. The Centre is. Even the media is (What is left then?). So, good days are here, at long last, for morality! All are in its favour. Poor immorality! Dumped. Left in the lurch. Abandoned by all. The Congress-led UPA fights a […]

Politics then and Now

Politics has something to do with polis, the city-state. To Athenians, politics was the art of living together in a city in such a way that the best in every citizen got expressed –this is important- for the collective good. Today, this reads like an idea that comes from far beyond Alice’s wonderland. Precisely because […]

A CHRISTIAN DILEMMA

It is deemed impious to tell the truth about one’s religious dilemmas in public. Doing otherwise, as I intend to do, incurs the risk of being perceived as impious. Even though truth is held to be an attribute of God, the freedom to tell the truth, especially the truth about one’s religious pains and puzzles, […]

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Pope: Red Cross’ humanitarian work shows that fraternity is possible

New Vatican document lists ‘grave violations’ of human dignity