Counterview

By Bharat Dogra    When the opening ceremony of the World Nomad Games lit up the sky over Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on August 31, it marked more than the start of a sporting spectacle. For ten days, through September 6, nearly 4,000 athletes, artists, and officials from 104 countries will compete in 43 events—from traditional wrestling and horseback riding to archery—while celebrating the rich folk music and cultural heritage of nomadic communities.

By Dr. P.K. Gupta*  Hinduism and Hindutva are not interchangeable. Hinduism is a plural religious civilisation, while Hindutva is a modern political ideology that seeks to consolidate this diversity into a uniform national identity. The ascent of this once-marginal current from the fringes of Indian politics to the commanding heights of state power represents one of the most consequential ideological transformations of the republic. In acquiring legitimacy, organisational reach and mass appeal, Hindutva has also attempted to claim the authority to define Sanatan Dharma itself.

By A Representative   In a wide-ranging interview, veteran secular activist and writer Ram Puniyani has offered a stark assessment of India's political trajectory, warning that the country's pluralistic fabric is being systematically eroded by a well-orchestrated Hindutva project that seeks to reshape Indian society along Brahminical lines. Speaking to journalist A K Shiburaj , Puniyani, who has spent decades working for communal harmony, described the nature of communalism in India as having worsened dramatically over the past two decades, particularly since the BJP came to power about twelve years ago. 

By Thomas Kell*  As a researcher whose primary work examines the application of international law to geopolitical disputes in South Asia, I have also developed a particular interest in Tibet and the Tibetan government-in-exile. Recently, I read the statement issued by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) on the 66th Tibetan Democracy Day, and it prompted me to want to engage with the Tibetan exile community on a topic I've thought about for some time: the structural shortcomings of the Tibetan democratic system, viewed from a legal perspective.

By Prof. Suresh Deman*   Mao Tse Tung’s death on 9 September 1976 closed an extraordinary chapter in modern Chinese history, but it did not resolve the profound structural questions he left behind. Mao led the generation that achieved the Chinese Revolution, directed a second charged with state construction, and during the Cultural Revolution appealed directly to China’s youth to contest entrenched authority and safeguard revolutionary purpose. While the Cultural Revolution remains deeply controversial and historically destructive, Mao’s legacy endures through his engagement with a central dilemma: who controls the vanguard party once it acquires sovereign power?  

By Harsh Thakor*  September 9, 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of Mao Zedong 's death On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong, chairman of the Communist Party of China and the central figure of the Chinese Revolution , died in Beijing at age 82. His death closed a 27-year period in which he dominated China's politics, economy, and culture, and it left a legacy that historians, the Chinese state, and ordinary citizens continue to interpret in sharply different ways.

By Rajiv Shah   One day after Janmashtami , to be exact, on September 5, during my stay in the US, I was taken to two separate celebrations in a town on the East Coast, ostensibly to keep me engaged among NRIs . While one of them had, apart from the ritualistic puja at a temple in the name of Radhe Krishna , located around a small pond on the outskirts, dance and song performances, it was the second one that interested me the most.

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan*  For most Indians, GDP is an intimidating economic acronym buried in government reports and television debates. But GDP is ultimately about something very simple: the size and growth of the economy in which people earn, spend, invest and build their lives. That is why a viral interview featuring former Finance Secretary Subhash Garg has struck such a powerful chord. Garg challenged the government’s interpretation of India’s latest GDP numbers and raised a question that has refused to disappear: How can India's estimated GDP at current prices fall dramatically when a new GDP series is introduced?

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  An old mosque has been demolished by the Saharanpur administration under the pretext of a court order that was about to be challenged in a higher court. It is extremely shocking to see how the administration has turned highly biased and quick to invoke the "rule of law" when the alleged violation or crime is committed by Muslims. It keeps a blind eye when lumpen elements from the Hindu community take the law into their own hands, violate it, and rubbish it.