Hello sir/mam

I have been a subscriber of Newslaundry for 3 months now. I am a big fan of Abhinandan sir.

I am writing this question after I just heard the podcast of 21st December. You guys talked about the role of media and journalists and as to how an ideal journalist should behave or what his responsibility is.

On one hand, while I totally agree with that argument, but I feel we cannot ignore the flip side of that, which is that the ‘GODI’ media‘s role in Modi’s rise to power and re-election and creating a narrative of ‘dissent is wrong’

So like in the case of CAA and NRC protests

I can say for sure that If the ‘mainstream’ media is not playing the role as it should

Will it be wrong for the parallel media so to speak who a lot of people are relying on now, which is independent

Can help in evening the odds. For eg what Ravish Kumar is doing. Why don’t we have more like him ??

And I’m sorry this has become such a big question please forgive me. I want to ask one more point.

You guys talked about the current protest being ‘faceless’ or ‘leaderless.’

I want to know what impact/difference does a leader make?

And you guys talked about Umar Khalid

And why not ‘Kanhaiya Kumar’?

And I’m so sorry again. This question got so big. I apologise. I don’t know if you’re going to cover it in the podcast

But please do give a reply

Thank you

Srijan Kapoor

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Hi All,

There are three things that I picked up from your conversation last week.

1) Abhinandan is just Modi or Shah but on the left-wing side, simply because he has now refused to talk to the other side after not being able to convince the other person. You love Gandhi(I don’t), but his greatest teaching was to talk to the other side and be patient with people who disagree. Remember Mandela(Him I like) and Rainbow Nation.

Remember what an Eye for an Eye does. Calm down, pal.

I have friends who judge me for attending a Modi event. In those groups, by the way, both Indian Express and Newslaundry are both right-wing publications because I propagate both these and The Wire is Centrist. You have idiots on both sides and hell I am a centrist. So just chill bae

Oh by the way – shit it’s the MILLENIALS and Post MILLENIALS who are protesting.

2) Thank you Raman Sir ( The Sir is for that great one-liner) – The Job of a journalist is to report all sides of the story. I was beginning to feel without Madhu, NL will lose sight of this. Thank you very much with you there I can still keep subscribing and expect good fair journalism.

3) Objectivity – Some context – I am an Atheist. I find it easy to see the appeasement politics on both sides because the religions on which the politics are done is irrelevant to me. Objectivity is not difficult if you are ready to remove your subjective lens i.e your personal feelings. The question is whether you can? Abhinandan I have heard enough Haftas to know you can’t! And you are too old to change now

Extra –  Mehraj – “my local opinion” on British elections. Labour lost due to Farage breaking the Labour “Hard Core” Leave votes and delivering it to the conservatives (since they would not vote for Farage) and the Lib Dem’s breaking the hardcore “Remain Vote”. Remember Farage did not contest a single Conservative bastion seat. A look at vote share will give you the correct picture. Corbyn was also responsible because he refused to make a coalition. He refused because essentially during the referendum he propagated Leave.

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/brexit-party-nigel-farage-boris-johnson-labour-leavers

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/16/lib-dems-tories-split-vote-labour

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2019/results

Just in case you guys are having a year-end round-up next week. Would love to be a part of it. Some silly inputs from the common man abroad!

Best Regards,

Dhiraj

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Hello Hafta team,

I’ve been a subscriber for 7 months. I wrote to you guys about two weeks ago complaining about not discussing CAB and since then I haven’t been disappointed. All these protests have made me quite happy, to be honest.

Apologies for the long mail and sounding ignorant in certain places.

On to the reason why I am writing this mail. I had to re-listen from the part where Abhinandan read out Majari’s mail about remodelling restrooms to be gender-neutral and how it is not economically viable. There were quite a few interesting viewpoints put forward by the panellists and here’s my reaction to them.

Since this topic was discussed because trans people face abuse while using restrooms which might be true and there need to be measures put in place to punish those who commit such crimes. They could also have a separate washroom if it makes things better.

On the other hand, when people say they are being genderfluid and want to use a washroom that meets their needs, goes a bit far according to me. A person can feel a countless number of genders but the organs that they use to conduct their business would usually be shared with 50% of the human population so I don’t see why they can’t use the same washroom as the 50% of the population uses.

Are a limited number of people imposing their own beliefs on a large number of people in the name of inclusivity?

Here Abhinandan’s question from around 01:02:49 – “Where will you stop it?” should be answered.

I was taken aback when Mehraj suggested that the teacher, phoning the parents of the kid who believed in the Cheese religion is a good thing. I’m sure the teacher in his/her mind had called BS on the kid’s excuse to go home but his political correctness didn’t allow him/her to say it. This I think is a fair point as to where we can stop it.

There have been cases of parents in the west giving children hormone therapy just because they felt a certain way when they were seven or eight. This also can be called going a bit too far.

A few articles on it –

https://www.livescience.com/62893-transgender-kids-puberty-blockers-hrt-hormones.html

https://www.vox.com/2018/10/22/18009020/transgender-children-teens-transition-detransition-puberty-blocking-medication

Transgender athletes too are allowed to compete with the genders that they indentify with and usually when a male transitions into a female, they dominate the category. Because a woman is forced to compete with someone who has been biologically a male for most of their lives.

A recent article on the topic –

https://www.wired.com/story/the-glorious-victories-of-trans-athletes-are-shaking-up-sports/

The point I’m trying to make is, we as humans have this ability to think rationally. Why does it stop us from doing so in such issues? When a seven-year-old boy wears a skirt or says I want to wear a saree doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to transition into a girl.

The points I’ve raised are more applicable in Western societies and I think India has a long way to go before it reaches this stage.

So I believe that we need to think rationally and not emotionally.

This is a nice segway to the topic of being from the left or right.

So whatever I described above would make me sound right-wing or conservative in North America. But I’m considered a liberal in India so it really depends where you are I suppose.

Thanks for making it this far. Happy New Year!

Regards,

Aroun Amitabh Dalawat

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Hi NL team,

Just wanted to share my thoughts on CAA/NRC. I know it’s too long and Abhinandan is not going to read it fully. However, I hope you guys can read it and put forward some points on how to convince the other side on this issue. Keep up the great work.

After reading tons of online opinions pieces, watching explainer videos and articles and activity debating the issue both offline and online I realized why we are so divided on CAA/NRC issue, and when I say “we” I am talking about a bunch of people who belong to privileged, and highly educated middle to high-income group.

We are divided because we hold separate idea s of “India” and we are evaluating this issue from this lens of “my India”. For the people who are opposing CAA, the writing is very clear on the wall, because their idea of India originated from the Indian constitution, and they often quote the preamble of the Indian constitution to define it,” WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.”

This is a very modern and forward-looking approach, which doesn’t talk about any particular religion or sect. Thus when a law is passed framed around religious identity, it is but obvious for this group to stand up in arms against it.

The side that is supporting the CAA has a different India in mind, a country which has existed long, long before the constitution was written. It acknowledges and takes pride in a civilization which is regarded as wise and compassionate by the entire world. They feel Hindus were the first inhabitants of this land thus India of their imagination will always be the “de facto home” for Hindus living anywhere in the world.

Unfortunately for them the great Hindu idea of “Vasudhiwa Kutumbkam” or “entire world is my home” is a unidirectional idea, that means Hindus can make entire world home yet they are defacto Indians but anyone else’s making India home is somewhat outsider.

They argue a persecuted Muslim can go to so many other countries, where would a persecuted Hindu suppose to go? And I must admit it seems to be a very simple and honest question which has only one right answer.

If you believe in India, a nation governed by constitution and law the answer is he may come to India, and he is also free to go to the USA, Canada, Europe etc. After the 1984 riots, many Sikhs got political asylum and eventual citizenship in western countries, especially Canada and the USA. They were the persecuted minority than in their own land.

What CAA does basically, is put Islam as perpetrators and thus Muslim had to go to a different line if they want Indian citizenship then the rest. Now imagine you are an Indian Muslim, what does you infer out of CAA, that the first right on citizenship is not of people of your faith, this might be currently true for Muslims from only three countries but this thought carries a potent seed for pushing all Muslims in India into secondary citizenship (undocumented yet in practices). This is not the first time Indian Muslims are been alarmed of this idea, from the findings of Sachar committee report it’s clear that the ghost of past from Mughal period to partition to any bomb blast anywhere in the world, Muslims have been seen with suspicion and they have systematically been marginalized. The pro CAA bunch has a deep grudge against Islam (even though they might Tom Tom their few Muslim friends) because their sense of history of India dwells between mid sixteen century to early 20th century and they are not ready to accept the post Independence idea of India, where people who fought for modern India, from Gandhi to Bhagat sing to Neta ji Subhash all were pro-equality and brotherhood. They find it hard to understand why we chose to be inclusive rather than going Pakistan’s way and became a Hindu Rastra, in their minds, this was the great betrayal by Nehru and Gandhi. What they forget that religion can not a binding glue for such a large and diverse nation. Look at Pakistan they formed a nation based on religious ideology but later was again broken into two because although the religion was same but cultural identities were vastly different between a Urdu-Punjabi speaking west Pakistan and Bangla speaking east Pakistan.

The idea of Hindus is more equal than others because way back in history it was like that is a dangerous notion which will not take India into the future. An idea which is stuck somewhere in the distant past, clutching to all bad memories of horrific event is not ready to let go and move forward.

Somehow this dangerous notion has found refuge in many educated homes that Hindus are in danger and thus Hindus need to assert and fight back. In their mind, there is a war going on against Hindus and when there is war, everything is okay, thus they don’t feel sorry to hear that we are building Detention centres and don’t feel sorry for people who are dying in protests, they don’t feel sorry for lakhs of people who are stateless because of a botched NRC in Assam, some of them even after having served in Indian defence services.

When some intellectual criticizes Hindu practices and try to reform it they see it an attack on Hinduism, which is laughable because same people believe Hindus to be most progressive. What they don’t realize that whatever progressives thought has emerged in any religion it has emerged out of the constant debate over merits and relevance of ritualistic practices, all major reformers of past are considered saints from Buddha, to Kabeer to Nanak ji to Vivekanand and so on. The Hindu concept of shastrath literally means “the meaning of sastra (holy text), and shastrath was debated based on different meaning ascribed by different scholars.

The world is moving fast toward a connected future and we are still looking at past to chart our destiny.

I know all the points I have made would only make sense to people who feel the way I feel and in a way, I am not making any sense to my friends on the opposite side as we process emotions differently so my last attempt is to pick on their intellectual side. Imagine the CAA was introduced without mentioning any religion, that means adhering to Indian constitutional ethos of equality we will grant citizenship to anyone who is persecuted minority. What would have changed? Could such a bill could not have achieved its benevolent aim? If not why?

During parliamentary discussions, it was revealed that the number of applicants that CAA in the current form would help is around 31-32000 only, how much you think this number would have gone up if we had made it open for all?

Ashish

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Hi

Please do not mention my name in case you read my email on any of your podcasts.

Thank you Meghnad for reminding Abhinandan to mention the date and time of recording the podcast.

You are my favourite host of the Daily Dose and co-favourite panellist for Hafta where you share the honour with Anand Vardhan.

PS: We miss Anand Vardhan as a live Hafta panellist. Hope he returns soon.

Regards,

S

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