INTRODUCTION 3 instrument for the consolidation of revivalist ideology*. This historical experience is not without contemporary significance, as language has played a powerful role in communalisation. Rajeev Bhargava's essay on 'The Right to Culture* raises a host of conceptual and theoretical issues pertinent to an understanding of social phenomena in which culture forms an integral part. In the background of some recent incidents like the ban on Satanic Viras, the immolation of Roop Kanwar and the Shah Bano case, a discussion on the concept of right and right to culture is undertaken. Underlining the inter-relatedness of the concept of rights and the right to culture Bhargava argues that 'any people who do not grasp the concept of right cannot have a right to their own culture*. The discussion on the attitude of the left-liberals towards the right to culture and their supposed dilemma in this matter is of contemporary relevance. In the present context in which culture has become a domain of contest the question of right to culture deserves wider attention.