The RSS has spent decades building an international ecosystem of charities, cultural bodies, donors and political influence. Bhagwat's centenary outreach seeks to consolidate it. The West has noticed.

Bhagwat's New York sermon offered the world an India where diversity is sacred and every citizen belongs. Back home, the reality is far less harmonious: food, faith, dress, history and citizenship its

If you ask me which was the greatest news story I reported or commented upon during my 53 years in journalism, I would answer without batting an eyelid: the eradication of smallpox from India.

The Taliban tried to silence Malala with a bullet. India's new fundamentalists wield sticks, censorship and intimidation. The weapons have changed; the instinct has not. Both fear the same enemy: a yo

The Church cannot preach courage to its flock while practising caution in the face of persecution. When Christians are attacked and sacred spaces desecrated, polite memoranda are no substitute for act

They write of democracy from rooms where democracy has never had to enter the kitchen, where equality is discussed beneath lights that never reveal the darkness outside.

According to Koenraad Elst, when Hedgewar started the RSS, he had purely pragmatic ends in mind. The first thing he had to guard against was British imperial surveillance. He carefully adopted secret-

Perhaps Mr Bhagwat had brought this beautiful version of India in his luggage. Perhaps it had cleared American immigration because unity, unlike some Indians, is still welcome in the United States.

You may be supremely happy that your Freedom of Religion Bill has received the President's assent and has now come into force in Maharashtra. But there is an irony that you may not have noticed.

India's children are discovering the power of protest. Their demands are modest. Safe classrooms, clean water, toilets, teachers and dignity. If governments silence those who expose these failures rat

Gonsalves was born on April 5, 1954, in Munnar, nestled in the Western Ghats in Idukki District of Kerala, into a prominent Anglo-Indian family from Pallippuram in Kochi's Vypin. He was the eldest son

A "church-free Odisha" must not become a cause for fear or retaliation. Christians must respond with truth, courage and peace, remembering that our strongest witness is faithful service: building brid

Vande Mataram once united Indians against colonialism. Its appropriation today seeks to turn a shared national symbol into a test of Hindu nationalism and patriotism, diverting attention from governan

Recent cases of infants abandoned in Haryana, Karnataka and Jharkhand expose a legal system built for children who can speak, not infants who cannot. Strict criminal penalties for abandonment push par

The smartphone may be the millstone of our age: a pocket-sized idol that promises connection but breeds distraction. When we surrender ourselves to its endless pull, children learn to imitate us. True

Dolly's faith was heard not only in gospel songs but also in her generosity. Through her Imagination Library, she placed millions of books into the hands of children. She did not merely sing about lov

A democracy must distinguish between an armed insurgent and a questioning citizen. Calling critics, students, academics or activists "Dimaagi Naxals" is unacceptable. Strength lies not in silencing di

As I watched, I could not help remembering the interview I did with your father, NKP Salve, for Jain TV in the 1990s. Goswami, I presume, was then still "studying for some time in a Jesuit-run school,

After years in abeyance, Justice Sunday returns at a moment of profound national crisis. From poverty and exclusion to attacks on minorities and environmental destruction, the Church is called to recl

Israel has transformed from the biblical David into a heavily armed Goliath. Self-defence cannot justify occupation, mass displacement and civilian suffering. The world must find the courage to act.

Pellet guns were fired at protesting students, and nobody can say who ordered it. The issue has transcended one incident. Power remains concentrated, but responsibility is endlessly dispersed.

Beneath India's boasts of growth and power, a deeper restlessness is spreading. Jobs vanish, institutions weaken, citizens move, dissent is silenced, and trust collapses; the CJP's rise reflects this

Sanatan borders bruised me In caste societies. Left Ideologies crushed me In European societies. Sharia societies Erased my skin.

Unity is beautiful, but only when united around what is right. Otherwise, unity merely allows everyone to become lost without feeling lonely.

Bengal once welcomed missionaries who built schools, hospitals and presses, enriching the region's education, healthcare and reform. Today, priests are told to leave their parishes. The irony is devas

With Christians constituting barely 2.3 per cent of India's population, the charge of mass forced conversion defies logic. Yet anti-conversion laws pivot charity into "allurement," suspicion and crime

Dr RB Sreekala's work brings out something beautiful in Koodashappana: how a German Jesuit, Kerala's Malayalam tradition and Sanskrit learning came together to tell the story of Jesus in the language

Eighty years after Independence, the question is whether Indians remain free. With increasing threats to citizenship, dissent, faith and liberty, Swaraj demands a second struggle to defend freedom for

The Old Testament is insistent on this point almost to the point of severity. When Moses approached the burning bush, he was told, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on

Nehru's Cabinet was surrounded by persons who did not share his ideology. They were retained mostly out of a sense of loyalty to old colleagues, persons who fought side by side for Independence.

You think I am a forbidden fruit, unworthy of your love. But I never think You are a forbidden fruit, Even though India forbids your Nagalim.

The truly confident leader does not need ridicule. He does not humiliate opponents or turn every speech into a performance about his own greatness. His strength is visible in restraint, fairness, humi