This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by Udit Misra from The Indian Express and independent journalist Sanjeev Srivastava. 

The panel discusses the debates in Parliament on Operation Sindoor and the Pahalgam attack. Sanjeev says what stood out was Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s “insistence of accountability”, calling it the “strongest point in her speech”. Raman praises some of the Congress leaders for raising strong questions. 

Manisha says news channels celebrated Modi’s speech in Parliament, using tickers like “showshopper operation” and “PM’s big speech”. “It was a nothing speech and it should be called out for that,” she says. She also deplores the fact that there’s still no detail on what happened in Pahalgam and says the public needs “correct information and clarity”.

Udit then explains Trump’s new tariffs on India. “Trump is not necessarily a free market ideologue. In his head, it’s a zero-sum game,” he says. “He wants zero deficit. That can happen when you and I don’t trade at all.”

Abhinandan sums up India’s failed outreach to Trump as “Modi’s whole diplomacy effort”, pointing out that “all the airtime wasted in telling us how close we are” finally came to this. 

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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