Can “annihilation of caste” also break the oppressive shackles of women? A recent lecture by  V Geetha , eminent feminist writer and social historian, has suggested there is no such one-to-one relationship between the two. Belonging to Chennai, Geetha was in Ahmedabad to deliver a lecture “Dravidan and Different? What Women Writers Have to Say”, where she suggested that the powerful Dravidian anti-Brahminical movement in Tamil Nadu hasn’t led to simultaneous liberation of women. In Ahmedabad for the Umashankar Joshi memorial lecture, organised by the Gangotri Trust, Geetha told the audience that the farthest the Dravidian polity went, even as engaging with caste and Brahminism, was under the AIADMK’s chief ministership of J Jayalalitha, who confined herself to “productive welfarism of women.” Answering a query from Counterview, she said, the present DMK government is pursuing the same polity – of “protecting” women and offering welfare measures for them, instead of standing u...

I visited Modhera, a historical site of abandoned sun temple, built in the 11th century, the other day with family friends who had come from New Jersey. Situated about 100 from Ahmedabad, I got interested in how the expert guide had sought to identify its destruction.

Elections in Gujarat are over. Ever since the they were announced, I was being asked what would be the outcome, whether Aam Aadmi Party will become a major force. My answer was straight and simple: AAP will cut into Congress votes, but it would be its victory if it crosses the double digit mark. Since the votes between AAP and Congress will be divided, in terms of number of seats, BJP, which got 99 out of 182 seats will jump its numbers to around 135, and as for the Congress, it will be around 35. However, I also believe that this time it is not important how many seats the Congress or AAP are able to get, because as seen last time, a large number of its MLAs, even leaders, left the party and joined BJP, thanks to political machinations of Union home minister Amit Shah. So, even if you vote for the Congress, you never know if the winning candidate will switch over to the BJP. I strong think this time it would be better to see what percentage of votes the opposition parties together ar...