About the Lecture

India’s adoption of a secular democracy in the aftermath of a tragic partition on religious lines was remarkable in 1947. The realities of equal citizenship have been chequered since. In this talk, I will briefly comment on the journey from the promise and the right of equal citizenship until now, in 2020, when what was taken as an axiom for 70 years is under threat. So what are the anxieties of the Muslim communities in the present? What risks are there to the secular constitutional order from this perspective? What might be the way forward?

About the Speaker

Seema Chishti has been a journalist for nearly three decades now. With TV first, then radio and finally print, she has walked steadily backwards on the technology curve since 1990. She was with BBC for over a decade and is presently Deputy Editor, the Indian Express. A pucca Delhi-zen, she is interested in all things political, social, technological and cultural. She tries to keep abreast with change, which is proceeding at a frenetic pace and much faster than she can manage to track. She is also the co-author of a book on the story of post-independent India told through Hindi film songs, Note by Note: The India Story - 1947-2017.