Dear Newslaundry team,

(Abhinandan, I am sacrificing a lot of sleep and rest to write this email because of my schedule. So PLEASE COVER THIS!)
You have indeed changed news!

This NL Hafta is one of my favourite episodes because of the range of the content covered, Madhu taking on Anand and because you followed up your discussion on reforms in religion.

Anand, I understand where you come from when you say that religious reform has to happen from someone outside the religion. I too am a man of science and it is hard to even imagine someone religious ‘reforming’ religion because that would mean that religion, per se, is still in the picture after the reform. And for someone like you who bracketed religion with astrology, homeopathy and witchcraft, a reform in religion that doesn’t totally remove religion is just a brushing operation that has had no impact. However, it will be really cruel to take God away from a hopeless person. The only reason that a lot of us work tirelessly is in the hope of some exalted being recognizing our efforts. Take that away, and you will find communists everywhere, most of whom do not believe in God not because they have a scientific basis for it, but because it doesn’t serve their ego to imagine someone more powerful than them. (Also, if you analyze communism, it has all the makings of superstition. Zero success rate, worshiping false Gods {Mao, Stalin, Che et al.}, relentless adherence, believers who simply refuse to listen to a contrarian view, even some violent groups and the believers claiming that the violent lot would not have had the approval of their founding fathers. 🙂 ) This is not a discussion on religion, so I’ll stop here by saying that religion is an essential part of our society, like it or not, and as Madhu said, reform has to be aimed at eliminating the fringe and extreme practices and can be done by someone who shares the belief set of the believers. An external agent will always be seen as an inhibitor and not as a catalyst.

A few words on Swamy here. I am 25 and my generation has been bombarded with the stories of corruption, entitlement, impropriety, crime and तू  मेरा क्या उखाड़ लेगा from politicians since childhood. For a majority who come from humble backgrounds, these stories were really painful. Such “rulers” can never make any difference. Enter Swamy, who took the bull by its horns. Radia, 2G, National Herald, Augusta Westland and his work during the Emergency paints a picture of someone who finally has the courage to change the status quo and challenge the mighty. Yes, his views on homosexuality is cringe-worthy and his recent statement on death punishment being necessary and only a few “crazy liberal European nations” having abolished it would make you catch hold of his head and shake it till his brain falls in the right socket, but him taking on the first family and their almost atrocious rule on the nation is far more important. This generation does not need to be in the छत्र छाया of the first family and we totally understand that such an autocratic family is the biggest threat to the nation. So Madhu was a little harsh on him. I think we are trivializing the task he has undertaken, given the fact that almost every strong, powerful and mighty person (some even in the BJP if the rumors are to be believed) are in the favour of the first family.

I have a few suggestions. Anand is a scientist and a political observer. And the amount of pseudo science pelted by our politicians, like homosexuality being unnatural, Modi saying that Global Warming is actually a reduction in our immunity and on and on is nauseating. Anand can host a podcast or a show where he interviews or gives the scientific end of these issues. Madhu is a veteran journalist and I have been yearning to see a book from her on the lines of what Tavleen Singh writes. (And Abhinandan, I read the whole of India’s Broken Tryst in her ‘accent’!) It would really be an experience to read about the struggles and challenges Madhu faced while coming up with her media empires.

Finally, I am a broke student and not a subscriber, but I promise that my first salary after finishing my masters will have a chunk dedicated to supporting independent media. I have been following Newslaundry since its birth and I have learnt a lot about the nation and the world from Newslaundry. A few independent media have clear biases (Scroll and The Wire) but other than Abhinandan, who is openly a Kejriwal Bhakt, NL is fantastic. But I like Abhinandan too. 🙂

Also, Anand, you still haven’t got back to me on twitter explaining the motivation of Ipsita in doing what she did in the final act of For Love and Honour!

With lots of love,
An ardent follower,
Karthik.