NL Hafta

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Suhasini Haider, diplomatic editor of the Hindu newspaper, and Dr Arjun Dang, CEO of Dr Dang’s Labs.They discuss the coronavirus pandemic, how India is dealing with it and what impact it is likely to have. In this context, they talk about Narendra Modi’s address to the nation and why his prescriptions for containing the spread of the virus add up to little. The panel also discuss former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha, the political instability in Madhya Pradesh; the Press Council’s notice to the Telegraph for a headline that allegedly mocked India’s president; nepotism and mediocrity in the media industry, and much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Arfa Khanum, senior editor at The Wire. They discuss the Delhi and Central government's involvement after the Delhi violence, how India is dealing with Coronavirus in India, the Scindia defection, the value of patriotism and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Arfa Khanum, senior editor at The Wire.Kicking off with the Aam Aadmi Party’s involvement — or lack of it — in the aftermath of the Delhi violence, Arfa says she’s very surprised. She says she’s heard that the party “is punishing its voters who just voted them back to power for the third consecutive time”. Mehraj asks why the state government seems to have outsourced its own work to third parties. Manisha recalls many volunteers said they didn’t see many AAP workers on the ground in the early days after the violence.The panel then discusses patriotism. Abhinandan says he doesn’t see the value in patriotism. “It doesn’t have a place in the 21st century,” he says. Manisha describes patriotism as a “value of oneness”. Arfa says her country is her people, and standing up for minority rights that are being trampled is “real patriotism”. Mehraj points out how movements like the BJP and the Sangh Parivar have “blurred the distinction between nationalism and patriotism”.Moving on to the coronavirus pandemic, the panel debate whether the frenzy around it is justified. Mehraj quotes the scientific community’s consensus that this is serious, “since the human body hasn’t encountered it before”. In the context of the dismal state of India’s healthcare system, he says: “This is what you should prepare for, this is why you need robust healthcare.” The conversation also spans the media’s coverage of the pandemic, and the panellists agree that Indian authorities have done a decent job of dealing with it — unlike the US.Ending with Jyotiraditya Scindia’s defection to the BJP, Mehraj says, “This is a symptom of a dying party.” He says theCongress has become a party of grifters and there’s nothing binding their people together unlike the BJP. Manisha disagrees, saying the Congress could revive, “only if we remove the Gandhis”. Abhinandan says “Gandhi” is the party’s ideology and it’s nothing without his name. The panel agrees that Scindia will not have any future in the BJP.They also discuss the relationship between caste and power and institutions, women in the media, and a lot more. Tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan of Newslaundry are joined by journalist Faye D’souzaThey discuss the issue of Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah being slapped with the Public Safety Act. Mehraj gives the historical context of the draconian law and what its application entails. Faye says laws like the PSA are emergency laws and "we are obviously no longer in an emergency". “If you join all of these dots, the suggestion that because people are making statements in your opposition you’re going to keep them in detention is actually very worrying for a democracy,” she adds.Abhinandan expresses his concern over Prime Minister Narendra Modi using a quote from a satirical website to denounce Abdullah. "When the PM says something that's a headline on a satire website, it shows the level of politics we have gone into now,” he remarks.Faye points out that the government has not provided any evidence that the Kashmiri leaders intended to incite violence. Even if they wanted to mobilise people to protest in case they were released, it would be their democratic right. Abhinandan then discusses comedian Kunal Kamra’s ambush of Republic TV boss Arnab Goswami with Prateek Goyal, Newslaundry's correspondent based in Pune. Prateek argues that by tweeting a mildly abusive rant against Goswami, Kamra did what he accuses Goswami of. Abhinandan, on the other hand, sticks to his argument that people in positions of power need to be held accountable for their conduct.Anand adds to the discussion saying one should stick to more formal language in such instances, especially in public. “The language of his heckling, in my view, was in poor taste," he says, referring to Kamra. Faye chimes in, “Apart from the legal aspect, there’s the ethical grey that our country seems to have discarded.” Manisha says people need to file civil defamation suits against mediapersons who daily demonise them. “If you are going to keep saying something that puts lives in jeopardy, it’s no joke anymore,” she says. “And you can't keep appealing to their good sense.” Moving on to the next big news, Manisha expresses sadness that the Delhi election discourse does not include pollution as a major issue. On the TV coverage of the election, she says, “I don't think anywhere in the world it is possible for people – and blame for this is on the media – to be so careless about something so important.” The panellists also discuss Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's singing of Hanuman Chalisa. Faye articulates her displeasure at the fact that it was a journalist who asked Kejriwal to recite the prayer. “The credibility of that news network and the journalist went completely down the drain,” she says. In the context of the Aam Aadmi Party's campaign rhetoric, Mehraj argues, "If you’re competing for the hardcore Hindu vote with the BJP, you are not going to get that. Because the BJP has a monopoly on that.”Reflecting the panel's collective displeasure at the Delhi election discourse, Anand opines, “Speaking from a distance of approximately a thousand kilometres in Bihar, I think the election’s coverage has been quite disproportionate to its importance in national politics.” The panellists also talk about how religion has long played a role in India’s electoral politics, the Shiv Sena's shifting ideological positions, and much more.Tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall but we love our listeners. So here’s a little sneak peek into this week’s episode.In this episode, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Anand Vardhan and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Kapil Komireddi, author and journalist. They discuss the Delhi violence and its aftermath; the coronavirus threat; the ruckus in the parliament that led to the suspension of seven Congress MPs; Justice S Muralidhar’s farewell; freedom of speech; among other things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by author and journalist Samrat X.They begin with a discussion on the Citizenship Amendment Bill that has garnered massive attention in the media. Abhinandan questions whether the BJP had anticipated the reaction to the passage of the law. Mehraj responds, “Maybe they even figured this in their calculations and are fine with it. I mean like in Kashmir, they are fine with what happens in Kashmir as long as they get the votes elsewhere." Manisha points to the misconception that persecuted minorities in Afghanistan and Bangladesh can find refugee in India after this law comes into force. Manisha also says she was extremely disappointed that the opposition did not corner Amit Shah in the Parliament over the Citizenship Bill.Talking of the Anaj Mandi fire and its media coverage, Anand says, “I think it has to do with the media’s imagination of the public. In that imagination, the only profitable binary is State versus something or government versus something." He says though there was an air of horror around the incident, because the owner was an ordinary citizen and the people killed were also ordinary citizens, they didn't matter to the media.Samrat adds, “We have an imagination of the poor, where poor lead a miserable life and often die miserable deaths."The panel also discuss the public demand for death penalty to rapists, the British election, and much more. Tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Meghnad S and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Betwa Sharma, Politics Editor at HuffPost India.They begin with a discussion on the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Talking about the timing of the protests, Betwa says, “If you had actually built that momentum, maybe the bill wasn’t gonna get passed in the first place.'' Meghnad echoes her view.On the violent police crackdown in Jamia Millia Islamia University and elsewhere, Mehraj points out, “Police are doing this because they know they are not going to be held accountable. In fact, some of them might get rewards and promotions.” He also wonders why anybody in a democracy should need the police’s permission to stage a protest.Raman, discussing the media’s reporting of popular movements, points out, “As reporters, we need to go back to the field and do a deep dive and that's what we have been doing.” As he narrates how Newslaundry reporter Veena Nair ended up on a bus filled with protesters detained by the police, Betwa expresses her dilemma about the extent to which a journalist should be involved in a story. Meghnad says, referring to Veena, “I think her first person account of how she did this is also important where she is the story but she is also doing the story.”Speaking about the Data Protection Bill, Abhinandan says, “Complete privacy I don’t think is possible in today's age.” The question, however, is to what extent personal data of citizens should be available to governments or corporations.The panel also discuss a Pakistani court’s sentencing of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to death for treason.Tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of NL Hafta is hosted by Manisha Pande, who is joined by Mehraj D Lone, Raman Kirpal and Meghnad S of Newslaundry.Manisha starts by asking her colleagues about their highs and lows of the year gone by and their hopes for 2020. They all identify the protests against the new citizenship law as a high and mostly the police’s brutality against the protesters and the government’s indifference as a low. Manisha sums up her highlight of the year thus, “Ordinary people doing ordinary acts of resistance.” She cites as an example the many lawyers who gave legal support for the detained protesters.Talking about Narendra Modi’s speech where he urged Indians protesting against the citizenship law to protest against Pakistan instead, Meghnad exclaims, “We are heading towards a genocide because the signs are all there. We have seen in history how it works.” On Modi and his claims, Raman says, “In recent times, I have not seen any other leader speaking lies through his teeth.” Delving into why the government is not taking a more sensible approach, Manisha argues, “We aren’t doing anything to push Pakistan to be more responsible towards its minorities because that would mean we have to be more responsible towards our minorities.”In a brief discussion on Jaggi Vasudev’s remarks on the citizenship law, Mehraj feels the reason his remarks were amplified by Modi and Amit Shah was because he is a prominent Hindu religious leaders who can speak fluently in English and, thus, can connect with the elite.On Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s poem Hum Dekhengae being denounced as “anti-Hindu”, Mehraj says this happens when we “decontextualise stuff”. Faiz, he points out, is talking of a communist revolution. He adds, “In our daily lives, in the art we create, the words we speak, we use idioms, metaphors that come from the culture we live in.”The panel also discuss the assassination of the Iranian military general Qassem Suleimani by the US, and how it could make the Middle East even more volatile.Tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Raman Kirpal of Newslaundry are joined by Neha Dixit, journalist and professor at Ashoka University.The podcast starts with a discussion on media reports on the Delhi riots. Neha believes the death toll will go up, saying, “Dead bodies have been dumped at the hospital with no identification made since the investigation officers are too busy to get the post-mortem started.” Mehraj explains how the police and judiciary responded to instances of communal violence since 1947. The panel also discusses the media coverage of Donald Trump’s visit to India, Harvey Weinstein’s conviction, #MeToo in India, and more. To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, Mehraj D Lone and Madhu Trehan are joined by Vivek Kaul, an author who’s been writing a series on the Union Budget for Newslaundry.Vivek starts the conversation with the 2020 Budget and the Economic Survey. “What used to be a remarkably esoteric document suddenly became very readable,” he says. Vivek says the invariable economic slowdown India is witnessing is a result of a lack of investments. He speculates that the reason for this might be the fact that it’s incredibly hard to carry out any economic activity in India right now, and blames this on operational issues.Mehraj brings up the huge tax cut the government gave mega corporations a few months ago, and wonders why this hasn’t resulted in a jump in investments. Vivek responds, “When a corporate invests, they hope to see a return on their investment, but there has been a consumption dip.”Madhu chimes in, “I’m wondering about the inconvenience that so many traders complain about when they talk about the problems that GST and such have caused them. But they then turn around and express their vehement support for Modi.” Manisha asks: “How much are people driven by the economy, actually, as opposed to ideas?” Madhu calls this a “psychological disconnect between your vote and your daily troubles”.Moving on to the big news of the week, Manisha talks about how Kunal Kamra gave Arnab Goswami “the Republic TV treatment” on an IndiGo flight. Manisha likes the term Abhinandan used in his piece on the incident — “ambush monologue” — and asks Madhu, “How many times have you been accosted by viewers?” “Thousands!” Madhu responds, talking about being waylaid in planes, washrooms, and even restaurants and parties. “Especially after the contempt of court thing,” she adds, “but I don’t object to it.” Madhu then explains how journalists write in a public space and that the public have a right to argue with reporters, and it is a journalist’s responsibility to deal with it.In the context of the ethics of Kunal’s actions, Mehraj queries whether Arnab can even be called a journalist. “Technically Radio Rwanda was considered journalism as well,” he points out. “And because there is no culture of accountability in this country, we just let this happen.”The panel also discusses the shooting at Jamia Nagar, Sharjeel Imam’s sedition case, Prashant Kishore’s ousting from the JDU, and much more. Tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.