Ankit 

Hello all, 

This is a follow-up to my previous letter on Bihar politics – the “virtue signalling” one. I appreciate Jayashree’s candid admission that she may have a personal bias towards PK. I do want to ask Anand, though, what he means when he says “Bihar is not a problem that needs to be solved.” He has mentioned that a couple of times previously as well. If he means Biharis or Bihari identity, that’s not a debate at all. But I do think Bihar as a state is a problem that needs to be solved, just as I think India as a country is a problem that needs to be solved. It feels like an apology for the substandard administration of Nitish Kumar, even if it may be the better of all evils. But perhaps I’m misunderstanding Anand, and I would love to hear his clarification. 

Thanks and love to you all.

***

Anonymous

I reside in Pune, and for the municipal elections, I am getting a flurry of promotional messages from all parties, which is to be expected – they would have stolen my mobile number from anywhere. But what was alarming was the day before the election, a number from the BJP sent me the exact polling booth and my Voter ID number on WhatsApp. I am alarmed that this data is available to parties. Can you please take this up? This sounds extreme even for our nation in its current state.

***

Anonymous

I just watched Barkha Trehan's interview. It's funny, sad, and Abhinandan is pretty mean in it. The poor woman didn't know what was happening, and how she didn't get the sarcasm is beyond me. And how she had no context for what Abhinandan does! In a strange way, the whole interaction reminded me of Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr’s stand-up routines, where humour exposes uncomfortable truths.

But what struck me most were the examples Barkha gave. They were essentially cases of class-based oppression, and they highlighted how gender, class, caste, and race intersect in very real, everyday ways. It’s a reminder of how important it is to understand these overlapping social hierarchies rather than treating gender issues in isolation.

***

Drishti Bhattacharya 

Dear Newslaundry team, 

Thank you for taking my email on NL Hafta 571. I agree with your point on the Bajrang Dal attack on Christmas. 

On Hafta and South Central, Episode 4, where Manisha and the other two, sorry, I forgot their names, I totally disagree. Once, a group of Kannadigas broke the queue at the Kaal Bhairav temple in Varanasi. And the woman said, “Talk in Kannada,” which I find arrogant.

Otherwise, your work is great.

***

Aridaman Singh Ahir 

Hi,

I am writing this to you after getting utterly frustrated while trying to listen to Haft 569. The audio version of the episode doesn't load on the website and the android app. I don't want to watch it on YouTube.

I had a similar experience the other day while trying to listen to this article. The audio link given on this article only reads the article for the first 5 paragraphs. There is no way to listen to it further. These bugs get me so frustrated at times. Please look into it and try to build a robust platform.

Regards,

Aridaman

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