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Plastic, politics, and the cow: Congress’s 'misplaced priorities' in Gujarat

Rajiv Shah |
“What has gone wrong with the Congress? Why is it making such stupid demands? That’s the only reason why none trusts the party,” exclaimed someone close to me after reading a Gujarati daily report that the Congress had demanded the cow be declared India’s national animal.   The news item revealed more than just a symbolic demand—it suggested a political one-upmanship. On March 13, 2026, Gujarat Congress president and MLA Amit Chavda introduced a private legislative bill titled The Gujarat Rajmata (Gaumata Status, Protection and Welfare) Bill, 2025. The Bill urged the state government to declare the cow as Rajmata (state mother) to ensure its protection.   Chavda, whom I know peripherally, justified the move by saying:   “In India, cows are assigned respectful status. Cows are considered and worshipped as ‘mata’ (mother). ‘Gaumata’ has religious and cultural importance, looking to its usefulness to mankind, agriculture and other aspects.”   Behind ...
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Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

Rajiv Shah |
  A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that  appeared  in the British weekly  The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik  food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.
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Parental consent for marriage? Gujarat’s curious political consensus

Rajiv Shah |
  The other day, a discussion broke out among ten friends on love marriages—a contentious issue in Gujarat following moves in the corridors of power to regulate them by making parental consent mandatory. One of us claimed that, unlike in the past, nearly 70 percent of weddings today are love marriages. Another person, who had eloped to get married years ago, remarked, “Problems exist everywhere, whether it is a love marriage or an arranged one.”
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Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

Rajiv Shah |
  This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.
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Remembering R.K. Misra: A 'news plumber' who refused to compromise

Rajiv Shah |
It is always sad when a journalist colleague passes away — more so when that person has remained firm in his journalistic moorings. Compared to many others, I did not know R.K. Misra, who passed away on February 23 after a long illness, very intimately, but we interacted occasionally over the years.
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Conversion laws and national identity: A Jesuit response response to Hindutva narrative

Rajiv Shah |
  By Rajiv Shah  A recent book, " Luminous Footprints: The Christian Impact on India ", authored by two Jesuit scholars,  Dr. Lancy Lobo  and  Dr. Denzil Fernandes , seeks to counter the current dominant narrative on  Indian Christians , which equates  evangelisation  with conversion, and education, health and the social services provided by Christians as meant to lure -- even force -- vulnerable sections into Christianity.
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A story Gujarat forgot: Dalits and the Dakor temple movement

Rajiv Shah |
The other day, I was talking with Martin Macwan, a well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader. He revealed to me an interesting chapter of the Gandhian movement in Gujarat — how Ravishankar Maharaj (1884–1984), a prominent Gandhian social reformer of the state, played a pivotal role in the struggle for temple entry for Dalits (then referred to as Harijans) in the late 1940s.
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Old prejudice dies hard: Why the Left still doesn't trust NGOs

Rajiv Shah |
Decades ago, when I was a student at Delhi University, the Left-wing student organisations, one of which I was a part of, would hold a highly negative view of NGOs. They would go so far as to castigate them as imperialist or CIA agents -- just because they were foreign-funded, by bodies such as Amnesty, Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, and Greenpeace.
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Did Bank of India send a fake SMS, or is its website under attack?

Rajiv Shah |
On the evening of February 14, after banking hours, I received a strange SMS from Bank of India (BOI)—where I maintain a very small, largely inactive account. I had opened it years ago simply because a branch was located near my home. However, finding their services quite poor, I rarely use it anymore.
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Most strategically constructed, Rahul's Parliament speech a solo act in franchise era

Rajiv Shah |
I am compelled to refer to a blog by communications expert Tushar Panchal titled "The Grip, the Choke, and the Follow-Through." Forwarded to me by a friend, it calls Rahul Gandhi's Parliament intervention on February 11, 2026, the "most strategically constructed speech of his parliamentary career."
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