This week, Newslaundry’s Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by Sangeeta Barooah, national affairs editor at the Wire and author Sowmya Rajendran. 

The conversation begins with dissecting the controversy around the movie, The Kerala Story. Sowmya delves into her experience of watching the movie, and says that in her view, “it was based on lies and misinformation”. She adds that the movie is “modelled on The Kashmir Files to generate shock values among the viewers”. The panel also discusses that it is not a coincidence that the movie was released around the elections in Karnataka. 

The conversation then moves to the violence in Manipur, which has left more than 60 people dead. Sangeeta explains the root cause of tensions between the two communities, which are the Meitei and Kuki tribe. “While the Meitei community demands Scheduled Tribe status, the Kuki tribe living in the hills fear for their land, and that they might get evicted,” she says. Sangeeta further explains these ethnic tensions and the government’s response to it. “The prime minister is attending rallies in poll-bound states but not a word for the state where people are dying.” 

Tune in!