South Asia

Dipankar Bhattacharya — Hindu consolidation remains the central theme of the RSS and to achieve this goal it simultaneously plays the twin cards of victimhood as well as pride and power.

Balasingham Skanthakumar — Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s victory on 21 September as the candidate of the centre-left National People’s Power (NPP) coalition is highly significant for symbolic and substantive reasons.

Dipankar Bhattacharya — The merger of the Marxist Coordination Committee into the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) has been greatly welcomed by the broad left ranks across the country.

Ammar Ali Jan — Decades of economic, political and social neglect have now metastasised into a scenario that sees Pakistan seemingly heading down a blind alley.

Progressive and left voices in Bangladesh give their views on the recent mass upsurge and assessment and expectations of the interim administration in place.

Ammar Ali Jan discusses the challenges of building a new workers’ party in Pakistan — and the Haqooq-e-Khalq Party's recent victories for Lahore’s most vulnerable workers.

An interview with Farooq Tariq on the political situation in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

Dipankar Bhattacharya — As the RSS readies for its centenary in 2025, we will see more attempts to sell itself as a global role model and India as the ideological destination for 'National Conservatives' from around the world.

The horrific rape and murder of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has triggered a massive people's assertion in West Bengal powered by a remarkable women’s initiative called 'Reclaim the Night'.

Michael Roberts — The overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina’s dictatorial government in Bangladesh is a startling outcome of the economic nightmare that many so-called developing economies are experiencing.

Clifton D’Rozario — There is no denying the far right has emerged as a formidable political force around the world. In India, fascism is not just being fought in the electoral arena; it is also being confronted on the streets.

Badrul Alam — Prime minister Sheikh Hasina used all the tools of repression at her disposal against the people to retain power, but was defeated in the end.