I addressed him as ‘Amiya-da’; we had a close and fruitful relationship for more than five long decades. He was my mentor, in the way Professors Amal Bhattacharjee, Amartya Sen, Ashin Dasgupta, Sankha Ghosh and Prabhat Patnaik were/are my mentors.…
There were three notable Indians who were strongly influenced by Marxism or the ideology of socialism but never joined the Communist Party. They are E.V. Ramasamy Naicker (1879–1973), generally known as Thanthai Periyar, or just Periyar; Bhupendranath Datta (4 September…
The epic Mahābhārata, a monumental work, explores various themes and is a significant piece theorising diverse masculinity. Among these, Kshatriya masculinity emerges, closely mirroring the hegemonic masculinity expounded by R.W. Connell and widely acknowledged. Our research hones in on the…
The politics of Assam has been centred around a discourse on citizenship for decades. Contests and politics over citizenship have led to the termination and formation of governments in the state multiple times. Episodes of terming and labelling citizens as…
Annie Zaidi, Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales of India, Delhi: Aleph Book Company, 2023, xiii+250 pages, Rs 499 The present book is primarily about groups who are marginalised or are on the verge of it. Divided into seven…
In this issue Social Scientist carries a set of articles remembering and celebrating Sitaram Yechury, and his life and work. Yechury was in public life not just as a leader and General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist),…
Some of my most relaxed and enjoyable moments in India in recent years have been spent during the lunch hour in the Sahmat office in Delhi each winter with Sitaram Yechury and his communist friends and companions, all brought together…
What was remarkable about Sitaram Yechury was the extent to which he broke away from his own class background and the career choices typically made by youth from his background, and that too without any fuss or obtrusion. He came…
Sitaram Yechury had the loveliest smile. Paired with that twinkle in his eyes and the signature chuckle that invariably followed, it was a smile that lit up not just his face but an entire room. That was my first impression.…
In a life that ended too early, Sitaram Yechury’s contribution to the post Emergency transformation of the Left, and, in the process, to the discourse and practice of politics in India was immense. Graduating from student to party politics, Shaving…