Hafta 301: Arnab Goswami’s arrest, France and Vienna attacks, and the Bihar Assembly election

This week on NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Mehraj Lone are joined by Arfa Khanum, senior editor at the Wire.

Starting off with the Bihar Assembly election, Arfa talks about Tejashwi Yadav’s “baggage”, being the son of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Manisha says Bihar was no “paradise” under Lalu, and Mehraj agrees. The panel discusses the coverage and optics of leaders from both marginalised and dominant communities.

On the arrest of Republic’s Arnab Goswami, Abhinandan says the “overpowering support” Goswami received from politicians is a first. Mehraj says the case has been made into a freedom of the press issue, instead of a criminal case. The police has been a “tool of politics”, Manisha says, but it’s not a question of press freedom. “Arnab is a politician, not a journalist,” Arfa says.

On the attacks in France and Vienna after a French schoolteacher was beheaded for showing his students cartoons of Prophet Mohammad, Arfa calls it a “complex issue”. Discussing notions of xenophobia, Mehraj says France’s laws are “vague”. Abhinandan says, “The real-life consequences of lives being lost in the name of religion need to be considered.”

Manisha points out the historical distaste for religion that’s part of France’s culture. Discussing the politics of terrorism, Abhinandan brings out the nuances of situational violence, and says the focus should be on “assimilation”, since religion becomes a “comfort zone”.

The discussion also spans the US presidential election, Glenn Greenwald leaving the Intercept, the Sushant Singh Rajput case, and a lot more. Tune in!

Song: Maula Saleem Chisti Garam Hawa

Hafta letters: Social justice and NRIs, France and Islam, free speech

Timecodes

03:16 - Headlines

05:31 - Bihar election

40:48 - Arnab Goswami arrested by Mumbai police

01:03:56 - France and Vienna attacks

01:04:48 - Subscriber mails

01:06:16 - France And Vienna attacks

01:10:17 - Recommendations

01:11:13 - Subscriber mails

01:12:46 - France and Vienna attacks

01:35:43 - Subscriber mails

01:57:39 - US presidential election

02:00:48 - Recommendations

References

Killed, vilified, cut adrift from the national community. What’s the Indian Muslim to do?

Inside the online cult of #JusticeforSSR

Shekhar Gupta: 5 reasons for crisis in global Islam

Recommendations

Arfa

A Suitable Boy

Mehraj

New Land Laws Put All of Kashmir up for Sale — by Muzamil Jaleel

The Erasure of Mesut Özil

Manisha

Scam 1992 – The Harshad Mehta Story

How the Pawar’s Sakal Media and Pune police have been harassing Newslaundry reporter

Was Harshad Mehta the mastermind or fall guy of securities scam? A bit of both

Abhinandan

How the Pawar’s Sakal Media and Pune police have been harassing Newslaundry reporter

In defence of liberty: It is time to stand up for individual freedoms, against all challengers

Produced by Aditya Varier and Lipi Vats, recorded by Anil Kumar, edited by Harshula Sharma and Umrav Singh.

Transcription by Suhana Sehrawat.

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