gujarat riots

Davida and Goliath

One of the people who have consistently sought justice for the victims of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom is Teesta Setalvad. As one would expect, she faced harassment at the hands of the government. Fortunately, she didn’t give up. In this extract from Foot Soldier of the Constitution: A Memoir (also available in Hindi), she talks about the treatment meted out to her. Being their Target I had a premonition on 24 July 2015, the day of the hearing before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) c[...]

The Reviews Are Coming In!

Teesta Setalvad’s memoir – Foot Soldier of the Constitution – is already in its second printing. We anticipate that we’re going to have to tax our printer with a great many orders for this book. There is a good reason why people are interested in Teesta’s story. The ruling party has so fundamentally vilified her at the same time as she has been an essential voice for the stifled justice in Gujarat. Finally, Teesta is able to tell her story in her own words without having to answer one [...]

Vijay Prashad on Teesta Setalvad's Memoirs

Here's the transcript of the interview: On Teesta Setalvad's Memoirs: For the past two years I have been editing Teesta Setalvad's memoirs. The reason, we at Leftword, were very excited about this book is that during the summer of 2013 and into 2014, there was a demonization of Teesta in the media, mainly by BJP politicians. One heard about a person called Teesta that those of us who worked with her couldn't recognize. We thought that it’s important for her to tell her real story so t[...]

AG Noorani and Hindutva

We, at LeftWord Books, have been proud to publish the thoroughly-researched and laser-sharp writings of AG Noorani. Born in 1930, Noorani is a renowned advocate in the Bombay High Court and in the Supreme Court of India. It is that lawyer’s eye that Noorani brings to his historical and political studies, careful to map out the dynamics of human events but also to judge them based on a moral standard that oscillates between the barometer of common sense and the liberal constitutional tradition.[...]

Are we living under fascism already?

Newsletter this Week..   In the latest post on the LeftWord Blog, Vijay Prashad points towards his rejoinder to Jairus Banaji's ad hominem attack on Prakash Karat. Karat makes a distinction between a fascist and an authoritarian regime, and Banaji, rather than engaging with the substance of Karat's argument, makes an ill-toned attack on what he considers 'Stalinism'. In fact, Banaji displays the very sectarianism he asks the Indian Left to shed.Vijay Prashad's rejoinder draws from his[...]