Counterview

By Martin Macwan*  Part 1 Was the young Bhim, made to sit away from everyone on a jute bag at the classroom door, while the teacher and other students looked at him with hatred and contempt, an 'Intellectual Naxal'?

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan   Political vocabulary often reveals more than political speeches. In the Narendra Modi era, it has produced a growing dictionary of insults aimed at dissenters. Students became the “Tukde-Tukde Gang.” Intellectuals and activists were branded “Urban Naxals.” Writers returning awards were dismissed as the “Award Wapsi Gang.” Farmers protesting government policies were labelled “Khalistanis,” “Maoists,” or “anti-national.” Modi himself coined “Andolanjeevi” to describe what he called professional protesters.

By Kantilal Parmar*  I have approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking an independent, impartial, and transparent investigation into a serious incident that took place at the Gujarat Secretariat in Gandhinagar on August 18, 2026. The matter concerns social activist and women’s rights leader Chandrikaben Solanki, who, according to the information available to me, was denied an entry pass to the Secretariat when she went there to meet Gujarat’s Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Dr. Manishaben Vakil, to raise an issue concerning social justice.

By Prof. Suresh Deman*   Harsh Thakor’s reconstruction of Naxalbari and the early CPI(ML) in his book review , ("Chronicling Naxalbari: History, journalism and revolutionary debate", Counterview , August 16, 2026), is valuable because it refuses both the reduction of the episode to mere violence and its conversion into uncomplicated mythology. It takes seriously the controversies around Charu Mazumdar , the annihilation line, armed struggle, mass organizations, revisionism, and later self-criticism. Yet a deeper question remains: who controlled the Party, and what class forces controlled those who controlled it? This is not a liberal objection; it arises from within Marxism-Leninism itself.

By Harsh Thakor*  Sumit Sarkar, who passed away on August 13 at the age of 87, was one of the most influential historians of modern India. Born in 1939 into a Brahmo family in Bengal and the son of distinguished historian Susobhan Sarkar, he was educated at Presidency College and the University of Calcutta. After teaching at the University of Calcutta and the University of Burdwan, he joined the University of Delhi, where he served as Professor of History from 1974 until his retirement in 2004.

By Vijay Prashad   For more than six decades, the United States has attempted to make the Cuban people pay for their decision to pursue an independent, socialist path. The latest phase of this economic war has targeted the island’s most vulnerable artery: its energy supply. Six months after Washington intensified pressure on countries and companies supplying oil to Cuba, the policy has not produced democracy or improved the lives of ordinary Cubans. It has produced darker homes, immobilised buses, interrupted hospitals, and greater difficulty in moving food from farms to cities.