The arguments against secularism and pleas for its removal are repetitive, idiotic and plain silly.

Gandhi transformed transcendental theories of individual freedom into political strategy.

In his book ‘Who is Equal?’, Saurabh Kirpal takes us through the legal course of the concept of equality in the Constituent Assembly and in the courts.

The days when political theorists dreamt that they could craft a perfectly well-ordered society based on principles of justice have long gone. We have to think of how to reverse injustice that many of our fellow citizens suffer day after day.

For Nelson Mandela, substantive freedom implied liberation from petty vindictiveness, and from the belief that the past is so important that it shapes the present.

We remember with perfect clarity the flawless musical composition of Madan Mohan (1924-1975), whose birth centenary falls on June 25 of this year.

Utopias are so perfect that they rule out both contestation and solidarity, also suppressing plurality, and politics as the negotiation of plurality.

Twenty-first century protests across the world are distinct from the ideological battles of the 20th century. They are episodic, unplanned, and unstructured. The masses may be inspired to protest against generally incompetent, inefficient, and unresponsive governments, economic distress, inequality, and corruption.

Let us not waste it on NOTA or in voting for a party that simply cannot spell what is arguably the most magnificent gift that democracy has given us – equality.

The tragedies that rocked India in 1947 dented Gandhi’s belief in the goodness of men and their ability to realise authentic freedom or Swaraj. It is testimony to his courage and his perseverance that he continued to try and restore peace in a troubled land.

A public intellectual can create a new vision that would inspire an India caught up in the pettiness of religious politics, to awaken the consciousness of a supine middle class which has ceased to care about the vulnerable and exploited. This is our crying need today.

The constitution that the people of India gave to themselves was a product of mass struggle, political compromises, idealism and commitment to every citizen. 

Think of the youth's profound disappointment when they realised that the people they had elected to parliament were supremely indifferent to the needs of their own people.

International integration has produced domestic disintegration in many countries. The populist response, including in India, seems to have taken a mostly right-wing form.

Are the people who stood around, watched, clapped, and cheered when Ramesh Bidhuri dishonoured a fellow citizens of this country and his community, not complicit in brutal hate speech that tars an entire community?

It is Bhosle who taught women across many generations to live and live well with a song on their lips, even if the men in their lives let them down.

The Indian constitution institutionalises the ideals of democracy. Left to itself, democracy can go completely haywire. It can be reduced to elections – as it has been in today’s India. Without a constitution, we will never know that there is more to democracy than just elections.

Though he founded the armed wing of the African Nationalist Congress, Mandela adopted a different ideal for tackling historical injustices at the time of his release. He realised that peace and reconciliation were essential preconditions of democracy.

Sujata Massey’s latest whodunit brings back her intrepid Parsi lawyer Parveen Mistry.

Nehru’s notion of the nation can be judged as inclusive and democratic only if we counterpose it to majoritarianism. Knowledge of Savarkar and Hedgewar will contrast the importance of inclusion, and of democracy. So don’t just knock them out.