Hello NL Hafta team,

I have been an NL subscriber for close to two years now. I thoroughly appreciate the work the team is putting in to keep public-interest journalism alive. I sincerely hope that NL finds many more subscribers to keep good journalism thriving.

But here is my concern. The letters being read out on NL Hafta are only from subscribers. And, for what I understand, the majority of subscribers of a news portal are people who have been influenced by or firmly believe an ideology or a line of thought. Doesn't that make the exercise of reading only 'subscribers only letters/emails', exactly what social media does to the masses, that is, trapping them in echo chambers. I am sure there would be people who are not subscribers of NL but willing to voice their opinions on your platform. Hoping that more different and varied voices from people who are not NL subscribers could be heard on the podcast henceforth.

Best wishes and regards

Prakhar Sachdeo

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Hello Hafta team!

Another interesting discussion this week, and to the panelists' point on democracy within a political party, I’ve a question/observation. In Indian parties, we have seen a second layer of leadership emerge and question the status quo, that’s invariably resulted in their implosion into smaller independent parties or factions. At the risk of overgeneralisation, I think Indian democracy has never been a favorable ideology. Considering our familial structure, societal hierarchy, even majority of our movies, we crave for a protagonist, a demigod. Everything and everyone revolves around them. So, how do you think we can break out of this predilection? What do you think would catalyse a change? Or is this a flawed premise? For example, when Fox News ran New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment scandal story, both republican and democrat lawmakers went on television and called him out. It is inconceivable to think a BJP official would call out a Yogi Adityanath on something.

I also agree with Jayashree’s response to the reader’s letter about E Shreedharan joining BJP and subsequently the rise of BJP in the south as I'm from Karnataka.

All my love to NL that I can express within the word count!

Best,

Abhishek

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Hello all,

I am Nikhil, a regular subscriber to Newslaundry. A big fan of all your shows. I love A&A, even though my pop culture awareness is worse than Abhinandan. A huge shoutout to Manisha's courage for consuming godi media day and night. Hope she gets a weekly bonus just for that, haha!

Another reason why I like Newslaundry is the fact that Abhinandan and I are from the same college and course (Hansraj, Economics). Wonder who all taught you?

Coming to Episode 319,

1. Completely agree with Raman sir about how a party can't be completely democratic.

2. I partially differ with Manisha when she said competency and autocracy can be tolerated. But by that logic, all world dictators should have been tolerated. Rather, competency and autocracy should be tolerated when there exists the ability to change the leader as and when needed.

Thanks! Keep doing the dhulai!

Best,

Nikhil Vuyyuru

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Hi Everyone.

Two things about Hafta 319.

First, I understand you guys have a freewheeling conversation and sometimes facts may get misquoted, but I didn’t really get why you guys called BJP the main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Being a techie from UP, now in Bangalore, even I could sense something doesn’t sound right, so I just googled it.

BJP has zero seats in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly where TDP is the main opposition while BJP has two seats in Telangana Legislative Assembly where AIMIM has seven seats, so bigger opposition than BJP.

Even with the Modi wave, they have zero MPs from Andhra and four MPs from Telangana, In 2014, they had two MPs from Andhra and one from Telangana. Also, in ongoing municipal elections in Andhra, they’re nowhere. Wonder what makes it the biggest opposition in Andhra & Telangana?

Second, you guys briefly touched upon inner party democracy in India. I believe, since India is a multi-party democracy, we can work even if the parties don’t have inner democracy. But surely, we need to get the whip system removed from the Parliament/ assemblies at least for bills other than no-confidence motions.

Stay safe!

Thank you,

Ashu

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Dear NL team,

This is just a short critique.

Please ask Manisha to stop commenting on south Indian politics. More specifically, politics of Telugu states. She made numerous errors in referring to politicians and their parties multiple times and no one on the panel was able to correct her.

One specific example was her reference to Jagan Mohan Reddy and TRS a week or two ago. Please google either TRS or Jagan and you will see why this is wrong if you don't already know.

Thanks

Mahendra Varma

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Hi NL team

I am a new subscriber and NL Sena contributor. Appreciate the great work you are doing.

I am a Bengali who left Kolkata due to lack of opportunities. I cringe at the possibility of the BJP government in Bengal. However, Bengal’s political situation for the past 40 years has been the same as India’s in recent times, that is, opposition-less. So I hope BJP does not win this election but stays in the hunt.

My questions regarding the upcoming election is: Do you think having BJP as a strong opposition in Bengal will make the situation better?

Also leaving aside the personality politics of Modi vs Mamata or identity politics of Hindu vs Bengali, who do you think can be better in terms of policies after this election? Do you think BJP will push more infrastructure projects like they just completed the Dakshineswar metro before the elections, which was waiting for 11 years?

Final question for your ground reporters - it is rumoured that a lot of CPM cadres switched to BJP in the past years, will you be able to establish if this is a trend?

Hoping for a great coverage from NL with chai, Charminar and political banter.

Thanks,

Satwik Banerjee

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If at all you decide to read this letter out on Hafta, please don't mention my name.

Recently, I saw the interview of Kapil Mishra on the Wire and BBC, and the interviewers weren't articulate enough to bring out the stupidity and maliciousness of this buffoon. I urge you, because you can pull the strings elegantly, to interview this fellow, if he agrees.

I am pretty sure you'll be having facts and other video evidence as defence in case he makes contradicting claims, which was not so much the case with the two interviews mentioned.

And then, we'll have some memes after the interview, just like we had for Vivek Agnihotri with HAHA facts aren't facts, This t-shirt isn't white. You can even market these memes on merchandise. Amazing journalism by Newslaundry, much appreciated. More power to you, in the wake of upcoming censorship on digital media. On the front, when you're considering breaking up the big tech companies is an option worth pursuing, I feel it's a bit displaced. Kindly listen to this podcast if you haven't already.

Himanshu Verma

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Hi,

This is my first letter and I have a confession to make. I had never heard of Newslaundry till about two years ago when it was mentioned in one of the episodes of the Deshbhakt. This is partly because I had not taken much interest in politics as it is hard for me to find logic in what goes on in it. Do you all think there is logic in how politics works?

Now, I like the overall structure of Newslaundry so much that recently went from monthly to annual subscription though I wish the discount was optional. Since sarcasm is my taste, my favourites are Abhinandan, Manisha and Meghnad, in that order.

I remembered a couple of things when Abhinandan made his recommendation – Empty Houses, Reclaimed and talked about his experience in Dehradun. The first is how the municipality of Indore dumped people living on the streets on the highway to keep its place in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and second was the wall that was built to hide slums in Ahmedabad during Donald Trump’s visit. This is the same government that had called Congress suit-boot wali sarkar when contesting the 2014 general elections.

Thank you for the work you all do every day.

Vaibhav Vernekar

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Dearest NL team,

Absolutely love your work. Keep it up!

I was sitting in my verandah listening to Hafta number 218, with a cup of tea, and some pakoras. It had been raining all afternoon, and then the song Kuchh na Kaho came up.

I got chills, partly from the cold wind, partly from my hot cuppa, majorly from the song. Moment ho gaya tha.

Please convey my regards to whoever chooses the outro songs. Love them.

Also! Could you please bring back Madhu once in a while?

Regards,

Manik Dhama

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Dear Abhinandhan and team,

Please refer to me as "Shaf" if you read the letter. Don't want the UAPA as I am a Muslim, liberal, Kashmiri, and speak my mind. That puts me in a rather dangerous place in the current society.

Hugely disappointed with Hafta 319/318. If you compare the topical, objective and subjective discussion against NL Charcha, that should be the one behind the paywall. I am an avid fan and, after being a mufatkhor for quite a bit, decided to take the plunge a couple of months back. I really like what Mehraj and Manisha bring to the show. The analysis of the invited guests, Shardul and mister “Good” Churasiya are intellectually stimulating and make you think and reflect. I don't want to whine, but I believe that you can give the podcast a lot more than what you're lately bringing to the table. Also please do not be an apologist for the AAP, it reeks of favoritism. I mean, Raman Sir saying that AAP's recent Ayodhaya thing was a masterstroke is truly disappointing. Contrast that with Charcha, which pointed out that Rajiv Gandhi played a similar card, look at the domino effect that it caused. vis a vis the rise of the "party that is the fringe".

On the Bengal elections, I just wanted to point out that it is an election between xenophobia and communalism. Whoever wins, India will lose. I had previously also mentioned that I will support a dynast David than a communal Goliath. I have no love for Congress either, however, objectively there is no option left. The dynast at least seems to be a honest dimwit rather than a conniving, lying, incompetent, guileful, deceptive and clandestine "self made" man.

Shafaf Bhat

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Hi team Hafta,

I have been a subscriber for the past six months and regret subscribing late. I thoroughly enjoy the podcasts and kudos to the ground reports that NL has been doing.

After hearing this week's discussion on names and surnames, I thought you guys will be interested in discussing how the concept of caste surnames has ceased to exist in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Upper caste people like Iyers, Nairs, Menons and others still continue to use it which just shows how deep rooted the concept of caste is for the privileged. Contrast it with the rest of India, the concept of caste surnames like Pandey, Sharma, Tiwari is still the norm which, badly enough, they get attached to kids.

Even the practice of women changing their last name after marriage is just submissive. I look at it as the owner's name written on the property, sorry if this comes across wrong but women are not the property of men. This is just benevolent patriarchy at play and women giving into this custom is appalling. Why don't men change their surname to their wife's surname after getting married? Will be happy to hear you discuss this. Also two questions for the panel, If given an option, will you be ready to drop your caste surnames? Have you ever taken any steps to do so in your current or next generation?

Regards,

Mathivanan (Pronounced मदिवानन )

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HI NL Team,

This email is in regard to the intermediate guidelines issued by the government around regulating digital media and its impact thereof.

Do organisations like Newslaundry worry about defamation lawsuits like the one that Times Now filed? As ludicrous as they may sound, you still have to go through the grind of the judicial process. I am not getting into the commerce involved with the cost of the judicial battle and logistics which is an ordeal in itself, but more so around the concept of justice. Do you ever have apprehensions that a judgement not going your way may end up being a huge risk to the company?

Whatever the past precedents may be in adjudicating issues around freedom of speech, isn't there always an outside chance of a case going to a bench that may not appreciate the idea. A country like the US, where Supreme Court judges are clearly demarcated as right and left, can still afford to exercise the freedom because the right is enshrined in the First Amendment of the constitution. That obviously isn't the case with us. I heard Abhinandan making a comment on the previous Hafta about judges being very well read. But that alone may not guarantee the quality of the judgements passed. Just like you cannot a expect person who isn't quite acquainted with gender and caste dynamics of the current age to reflect on matters around patriarchy, marital rape with the same lens as someone who does. Advocating rights around freedom of speech also requires a degree of openness and maturity that's sadly absent amongst a lot of us.

Or does Abhinandan trust the broader conscience and spirit of the judiciary to keep things in check? Would love to hear the panel's thoughts.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

Thanks

Sandeep Ghatikar

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Hello NL team,

Congratulations to you all for great content, generating trust among the subscribers and news consumers, and for starting to make a significant mark in the digital news space. I have been a longtime consumer of NL content and a fairly recent happy subscriber. I have a few comments (good and negative) regarding Hafta and other NL content in general and a couple of questions.

Good:

1. Newsance, Tippani, Hafta, Daily Dose, Charcha are all simply brilliant! I love the coverage of media reports and what's happening in Indian society and news through these shows and podcasts. I live outside India and these shows and podcasts are a perfect way to get my news (and Newsance). The discussion, the longform conversation and most importantly all the recommendations in Hafta are all very engaging. I go through almost every recommendation from Hafta.

2. Some of the reports from NL Sena projects are super. My particular favourite is the series on Cauvery. It was done like an educational and thought provoking essay. Brilliant reporting.

Question:

1. Is NL Recess content going to be available for subscribers? I haven't been able to access recent recess videos. The livestream times for NL Recess do not suit me with work and family commitments but I would like to listen to the conversation at my convenience and would appreciate it if the content is made available for later listening.

2. At the end of every podcast, we hear 'Catch all our podcasts on news, pop culture, current affairs and sports.' There isn't a NL podcast on sports, is there? And none of the existing podcasts discuss sports. So this sentence is misleading.

On this note, I understand none of you are interested in cricket as sports, but you do not have to put it down during conversations at Hafta and since not many of you have knowledge or interest, it would be better to either not discuss or discuss with objectivity like every other topic brought as a discussion point. The condescending tone toward cricket (or any other topic that is being discussed) does not give credibility to discussion.

Negatives:

1. Please let others complete their thoughts and sentences. Especially Abhinandan, who interrupts or tries to complete other's sentences a lot. Recently, Manisha has joined in interrupting and these interruptions make for very unpleasant listening.

2. The 'Awesome and Awful' podcast is the worst podcast on pop culture (or anything). The discussion is quite low quality, the content is uninteresting and both Rajashree and Abhinandan discuss with immense biases of their own structured thinking that there is no space for a good, meaningful discussion. I stopped listening to it and would NEVER recommend it.

Apologies if the mail sounds too negative. I just wanted to give honest feedback.

Keep up the good work and look forward to all the interesting and relevant reporting from Team Newslaundry.

Thanks,

Sahana Annadorai

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