Hafta has gone behind the paywall. But since we love our listeners, here’s a sneak peek into this week’s episode. Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan, and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Advaita Kala, novelist and commentator, to talk about the impending Delhi election and how AAP has been mainstreamed into India’s political system. They also discuss the Coronavirus outbreak in China; how the Saudi crown prince hacked the phone of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and the irony of it all; the “reporting” of OpIndia, and much other. Listen to the full episode on Newslaundry: https://www.newslaundry.com/subscription Produced by Ivneet Kaur, recorded by Anil Kumar, edited by Satish Kumar and Harshula Sharma. You can also listen to all our podcasts on the Newslaundry app and get updates about them via Twitter and Facebook.

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Chhota Hafta Episode-260

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Anuradha Bhasin of Kashmir Times. Abhinandan begins the discussion by asking Anuradha about the significance of the arrest of Davinder Singh, a deputy superintendent of police in Kashmir, along with two militants he was ferrying in his private car. She responds that Singh has a shady record. “Obviously these people are not operating on their own,” she adds, “That there’s somebody patronising them, to which level and how deep does this go, these are very vital questions.” Abhinandan agrees, “It is not unheard of for governments to use militants or other people, or even the armed forces.” On whether Singh’s is a case of a cop gone rogue, Raman argues, “If nothing comes out, let’s say in the next two months, three months, then obviously the government has something to hide.” Mehraj doesn’t buy the argument of the cop gone rogue. It’s preposterous, he says. Pointing out that there’s evidence of Singh enjoying patronage, he adds, “A person who is admitting in an interview, on record to a journalist, that he tortured people is sent as a peacekeeper.” Talking about the Indian media’s silence on the matter, Manisha remarks, “I thought it was very fascinating that there was complete silence from this ecosystem for about 24 hours till Sambit Patra gave his press conference blaming the Congress.” Abhinandan believes that it wasn’t a case of the media ignoring the story, it was them being told not to talk about it. Discussing India Today’s JNU sting, Abhinandan expresses his discomfort with the news channel’s “monkey balancing” act on the matter. “Dude, one party was trying to break people’s heads with hammers and hiding their faces doing it, the other party was pulling cables and not hiding their faces doing it.” Mehraj adds that the leftist students were disrupting services which is a legitimate form of protest. Anuradha agrees, saying the whole balancing act was disproportionate. On the ethics of sting, Raman says, “I always say that a sting can be part of an investigation, but it can’t be an investigation in itself.” Manisha’s concern is with the idea of stinging the lowest common denominator. “I would be happy if you sting the VC, sting the Delhi police guy who was incharge, sting the top ABVP guys.” Mehraj echoes her view, noting the Indian media usually go after small fry. The panel also discuss the hanging of Nirbhaya’s rapists becoming a campaign issue in Delhi, Bipin Rawat’s remarks about deradicalisation centres, and much more. Tune in!

Hafta 259: Davinder Singh, JNU sting, Delhi election, and more

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan, and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan from Scroll. The episode also features three Newslaundry subscribers, Dhiraj Krishna Kumar, S.Harikrishnan and Jefferson Simon. Abhinandan begins the podcast by asking subscribers why they chose to subscribe to Newslaundry. The trio also shares feedback about areas where Newslaundry can improve. Moving to the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Rohan gives a blow by blow account of how he was roughed up by middle-aged, saffron-clad men while he was reporting, while personnel from the Delhi police looked on. Expressing his sympathy towards students who had nothing to do with the incident, Anand notes, “Loss of one year is costly for them. Perhaps more costly than a fee hike”. Manisha, on the other hand, thinks Anand’s view is a misreading of what actually happened. She emphasizes how the on-campus scuffle changed when men from outside entered the university, pointing to a criminal conspiracy. Dhiraj seconds Manisha and believes that it was unacceptable. Speaking on the role of the police in JNU violence, Abhinandan says,“ The police’s culpability and involvement in this is so clear.” Meanwhile, Mehraj backs the protest carried by the students and adds, “As long as there is no violence, it is a pretty legitimate form of protest”. Rohan agrees and adds,” Sure, we can discuss JNU separately. But what was happening outside that gate was a law and order situation. That mob, if they wanted to do something else, they had the impunity to.” The panel also talks about Kanhaiya Kumar’s oratory skills, Deepika Padukone’s JNU visit, and Delhi elections among other things. Tune in!

Hafta 258: JNU Violence, Kanhaiya’s speech, Delhi elections, and more

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Joanna Slater, the India Bureau Chief of The Washington Post. They begin with a discussion on the gangrape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad, and the subsequent killing of the four accused by the police. Delving on the psyche of the rapists, Abhinandan says, “I could not believe they actually plotted this all evening. I mean with the intention that they just wanna have sex and they would rape a woman and kill her.” On the police’s shooting of the four accused men, Mehraj talks about the culture of impunity that exists in this country and the lack of accountability. Raman adds that the mindset for lynching the rapists was already out there. Pointing finger at the media discourse surrounding this case, Manish remarks, “One thing that’s really disturbing in cases like these is how the media frenzy just takes over any sane discourse.” By way of example, she mentions TV anchors who ran hashtags calling for the death of the alleged rapists. On the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Mehraj explains how the BJP is selling it as a measure that would help the millions of Hindus left out of the National Register of Citizens in Assam but how it might actually only add to their misery. Speaking about US President Donald Trump’s impeachment process, Joanna says, “From the kind of polling that I have seen from afar it seems the percentage of people who say that he should be impeached and removed has gone up over the course of this process. So it is changing some people’s mind on that.” On senior Congress leader P Chidambaran being released on bail in the INOX Media case, Raman argues, “This has come across as political vendetta. There is not really any case against him in the INOX Media case – and that comes out really clearly.” The panel also discusses the Unnao rape case, the falling GDP in September, the Delhi University teachers’ protest against the anticipated sacking of adhoc teachers, and much more.

Hafta 253: Hyderabad killings, Citizenship Bill, Donald Trump’s impeachment, and more

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. This episode of NL Hafta is hosted by Manisha Pande, who is joined by Mehraj D Lone, Raman Kirpal and Meghnad S of Newslaundry.. They discuss the highs and lows of the year gone by and their hopes for 2020. Coming to the big news of the week, the panel discusses Narendra Modi’s latest speech where he urged anti-CAA protestors to protest against Pakistan instead. The panel also talk about the killing of the Iranian military general Qassem Suleimani by the US, the denouncement of Faiz’s poem Hum Dekhenge as anti-Hindu, among other things. Listen to the full episode: https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/01/04/hafta-257-modis-speech-faiz-ahmad-faiz-iranian-generals-assassination-and-more Produced by Ivneet Kaur, recorded by Anil Kumar, edited by Samarendra K Dash. You can also listen to all our podcasts on the Newslaundry App and get updates about all our podcasts via Twitter and Facebook.

Chhota Hafta Episode-257

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan, and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Aditya Menon from The Quint. They begin with a discussion on BJP’s offensive tweet about the Tamil icon EV Ramasamy Periyar. Pointing out the reason for BJP’s dislike for Periyar, Aditya notes, “It's the Periyar legacy that is preventing the BJP from growing in Tamil Nadu, so they do want to attack the icon somehow.” Mehraj joins in and says it is more to do with ideology than political point-scoring. Talking about Narendra Modi’s mega rally kicking off the Delhi election campaign, Abhinandan expresses disgust at the messaging that asked people to come and thank Modi. About the falsehoods in the prime minister’s speech for which he was widely criticised, Anand argues that it had to be full of bombast given the prime minister was in a mood for tactical retreat. On the Jharkhand election, Manisha says she was impressed by Hemant Soren and how he campaigned and took on the incumbent chief minister, Raghubar Das. Aditya sheds light on the tactics used by Soren’s campaign team which portrayed him as being humble as opposed to Das. On the subject of Soren winning the election by running a campaign focused on local issues, Mehraj says, “That I think is the only turf that you can fight the BJP on right now, hyperlocal issues.” Talking about the protests against the citizenship law, Manisha notes that they have largely been peaceful. But this has been completely whitewashed by the media. She adds that this has been used to justify the police’s brutal response. Anand jumps in to speak on behalf of the police, “The police does not share all information with the media also.” The panel also discuss the Delhi cold, Centrism, and more. Tune in!

Hafta 256: Jharkhand elections, Modi’s Speech, citizenship law stir, Delhi winter, and more

In this episode of Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Meghnad S are joined by Sudhir Suryawanshi, the man behind Katta News, the only media outlet that managed to sift through the chaos during the Maharashtra political crisis. The panel discusses the Maharashtra political drama, Pragya Thakur’s recent remark on Nathuram Godse in Lok Sabha, the controversial Transgender Persons Bill, among other things. Uddhav Thackrey was sworn in as chief minister of Maharashtra after a failed attempt by Ajit Pawar to split Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party. Katta News, managed by Suryawanshi had announced Ajit’s coup two days in advance. Suryawanshi gives us insights on Maharashtra political drama and how Maha Vikas Aghadi (Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP alliance) came to power. On the Godse row, Manisha says, “There is genuinely an active push now to turn the narrative on Godse as a patriot and you can see this in the way his supporters have reacted on Twitter to Pragya’s remark .” Meghnad retorts saying, “This is not just about twitter trolls but the way news channels are calling them on panels and normalising whatever they are saying, that is problematic. So, now twitter trolls are not just on twitter anymore.” On the government’s plan to move a Registration of Press and Periodicals Bill, Abhinandan says, “I think this is a way to kind of try and get control on digital publications which they have the least control over. They can control satellite channels and newspapers much better than digital. I think it’s going to backfire.” Speaking on the Transgender Persons Bill, Meghnad says, “The whole law-making process is so male-dominated. Like when men make laws about women they’re insensitive, when they make laws about LGBT+ community they are inhuman.” They also discuss the removal of SPG cover for Gandhi family and much more.

Hafta 252: Maharashtra, Pragya Singh Thakur, Trans Bill 2019, and more

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. 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 discuss the big news of the week, from the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and police violence to objectivity in journalism to the death penalty for Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. Listen to the full episode:https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/12/21/hafta-255-citizenship-law-data-protection-bill-and-more You can also listen to all our podcasts on the Newslaundry App and get updates about all our podcasts via Twitter and Facebook.

Chhota Hafta Episode-255

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. 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. The panel discusses the big news of the week, from the contentious Citizenship Act and Delhi fire to death penalty for rapists, among other things. Listen to the complete episode here.https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/12/14/hafta-254-citizenship-law-delhi-fire-death-penalty-and-more Produced by Ivneet Kaur and Kartik Nijhawan, recorded by Anil Kumar and edited by Satish Kumar. You can also listen to all our podcasts on the Newslaundry App and get updates about all our podcasts via Twitter and Facebook.

Chhota Hafta Episode-254

In this episode of Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Meghnad S are joined by freelance journalists, Nitin Sethi and Vrinda Gopinath. The panel discusses the big news of the week -- electoral bonds, Pragya Thakur’s nomination on parliamentary defence panel, massive protests by JNU students, among other things. Speaking on the issue of electoral bonds, Nitin Sethi says, “If you pay for journalism, journalism will respond to your requirements and desires and expectations. Similarly, for politics. This is why electoral bonds is such a big issue. Because if you want politics to be responsible to citizens then you can’t have corporates paying for politics. You need to have transparency. You need to have answerability to citizens.” Abhinandan says, “This pretty much implicates the government for lying to the Parliament, ministries and the Election Commission.” On Pragya Thakur’s nomination to the Parliamentary Defence Committee, the panel wonders which committee the Bhopal MP should have been ideally given. Meghnad argues that the decision should not whip up outrage as he reasons, “This was a natural course of action that was supposed to happen.” They also discuss the recent JNU protests. Manisha argues, “I think this just needs to be drummed into everyone, of all the tax that is collected only three per cent is personal income tax. 70-80% taxes are indirect taxes which everyone, even the poor pay for it. So, you are not running the country.” While Vrinda says, “I think it’s very obvious that it’s JNU that they are after. There are hundreds of other universities but they want to finish JNU because they think it is the fountainhead of all your radical, rebellious, leftist thought.” The episode also features a discussion on the announcement of nation-wide NRC by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha, water impurity issue in Delhi, and more. NL Sena - TSRTC-KCR Stand-Off: https://www.newslaundry.com/sena

Hafta 251: Electoral Bonds, JNU, Pragya Thakur, and more

To watch the unedited interview, Subscribe to Newslaundry. Click here to watch the full 1 hour 7 minute interview: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/12/07/nl-interview-gd-bakshi-army-human-rights-the-sarasvati-civilisation Major General GD Bakshi is a decorated Indian Army officer, a veteran of many skirmishes along the Line of Control and counterinsurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. He served in the military for 37 years, winning the Vishisht Seva Medal for commanding a battalion during the Kargil War and the Sena Medal for distinguished service in commanding a battalion during counterinsurgency drives. He has authored as many as 36 books, including on information warfare and psychological operations. In conversation with Abhinandan Sekhri, he talks about how the Army is represented in the media and popular culture, human rights violations, psychological warfare, collateral damage in war. Speaking about psychological warfare, Bakshi says, “There are two negative emotions in combat. These are disorganising emotions. One is fear, the other is guilt.” He claims the Indian Army has been the victim of a sustained campaign painting it as one of the worst perpetrators of human rights violations. “Where human rights stem from compassion, I’m all for it,” he says. “But where they’re used as a pretext to hamper operations, induce guilt and to make sure the insurgent gets away, that I’m totally against.” Discussing his latest book, The Saraswati Civilization, Bakshi says the British colonial historiography had an ingrained bias, for it was employed to justify foreign rule to the Indian population. “There is an amazing level of cultural continuity that comes down to us from that ancient era,” he adds. Tune in.

NL Interviews: GD Bakshi in conversation with Abhinandan Sekhri (Teaser)

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. This week’s episode features host Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Mehraj D Lone who are joined by Joanna Slater, the India Bureau Chief of The Washington Post. The panel discusses the big news of the week, from the gangrape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad, and the subsequent killing of the four accused by the police to Donald Trump’s impeachment process, among other things. Listen to the complete episode, here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/12/07/hafta-253-hyderabad-killings-citizenship-bill-donald-trumps-impeachment-and-more

Chhota Hafta — Episode 253

In this episode, the usual Hafta gang of Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, Anand Vardhan and Madhu Trehan is joined by Alok Prasanna Kumar, a senior resident fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. The podcast begins with the panellists airing their views on the Ayodhya verdict and the Sabarimala issue. While discussing the Supreme Court’s verdict on Ayodhya, Alok says, “The burden of proof falls on both people and both sides have to prove this claim. What the Supreme court has said is quite puzzling.” He points out that the Muslims had been offering namaaz on that particular piece of land since 1857 and that one could not deny their claim to the particular part of that property. Speaking on the Sabarimala issue, he suggests, “You cannot, by law, impose a certain kind of religious prohibition that goes against the constitutional principles.” Speaking about an email by a subscriber about political advertising on Twitter, Mehraj comments, “One person shouldn't have the power to decide what goes and doesn’t go on social media platforms”. He thinks it is ‘undemocratic’. The panel then moves on to discuss the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance in Maharashtra and the political logistics of the coalition. The discussion was sparked by an opinion piece that suggested the trio has fallen into a trap laid down by Amit Shah. The panel disagrees. The panel also discusses the air pollution in Delhi and JNU protests among other things. Listen in! There’s more.

Hafta 250: Ayodhya, Sabarimala, JNU protests, and more

The British author and journalist tackles all the criticism that has come his way since his Overseas Citizen of India status was revoked. Early in November, the Narendra Modi government revoked British author and journalist Aatish Taseer’s Overseas Citizen of India status. Aatish stated that this was the government’s way of punishing him for some of his recent journalistic work — chiefly, the Time magazine piece that described Modi as “India’s Divider-in-Chief”. In a Skype conversation with Manisha Pande, Aatish talks about the government’s decision and the impact it’s had on his life. He also takes on a range of criticism that has come his way since the controversy erupted: why does he keep his father’s surname? What about the piece he wrote celebrating his American Green Card? Listen.

NL Interviews: Aatish Taseer talks about his love for India and dislike for Modi Sarkar

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. This week’s episode features host Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Meghnad S who are joined by Sudhir Suryawanshi, the man behind Katta News -- the news outlet that predicted the Ajit Pawar-Fandavis coup two days before it occured. The panel discusses the big news of the week, from the Maharashtra political drama and Pragya Thakur’s recent remark on Nathuram Godse to the controversial Transgender Persons Bill, among other things. The panel also discusses the Draft Registration of Press and Periodicals Bill 2019. Listen to the complete episode here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/11/30/hafta-252-maharashtra-pragya-singh-thakur-trans-bill-2019-and-more

Chhota Hafta — Episode 252

We want to change the world with information while having fun. Things are clean when they’re washed - Sabki Dhulai. Mission To change the world with information while having fun. Things are clean when they’re washed - Sabki Dhulai. Description News and News on the news. New ways to present the news. Slants, compromises, biases, praise, brickbats and anything else. Here nothing is off limits. We say it like it is and appreciate others who do. News isn’t fair unless its transparent and no information is interesting unless its fun. Click here to support Newslaundry : http://www.newslaundry.com/subscription

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