Hafta letters: Favourite panellists, farmer protests, questions on misinformation

Yoshimitsu

Hi, I recently was listening to Raw Talks ft. Suresh Kochattil, where he was accusing Dhanya Rajendran spreading fake news about him, clipping his seven-minute video to four minutes and using it. He was blaming NL and TNM for spreading negative news.

I strongly rely on and believe in your news and reports. I would really appreciate it if you could offer some clarity or a response to these allegations. It’s important for viewers like me to continue having confidence in your journalism, and addressing this would help ensure we know you’re not peddling misinformation. Appreciate AS, MP and JS’s wittiness and banter. Keep up the good work.

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Shrinjay

Hello folks,

It is a privilege to listen to you guys and girls every weekend. While the knowledge, experience and context you guys bring is greatly appreciated, the main reason I like listening to you is the tone and tenor of your conversations and the patience you extend to your panlists in letting them complete their thoughts. I wish I was rich enough to extend to you the financial support to really deserve..my yearly Rs 3,000 makes me feel ashamed. 

I also want to explicitly state the immense amount of awe and respect I feel for Anand Vardhan. The sheer breadth of his knowledge is staggering in itself but, the reason I appreciate him is the amount of thought he puts into his statements and his ability to not overlook the utterly simple and mundane reasons for the most complex of problems we in India face today. I am a doctor by profession and in my line of work, nine out of 10 times, the most common possible diagnosis is the right diagnosis, even though we all secretly wish we were Dr House. The amount of time and effort that goes into being him must require incredible discipline and strength and I look up to him for it.

I also appreciate Abhinandan, not just for being a driving force behind Newslaundry but also for giving Anand the voice he deserves. In the same breath, I must mention my admiration for Shardool as well, which is on the same level as that for Anand. For many of the same reasons as above but mainly for the way he articulates the immense emotional cost of the injustices of today's India. I can't remember any specific examples right now but I'm sure you'll understand what I'm trying to say.

Someday, I hope you guys will tell us how this legendary team came into being, right from Raman sir to Abhinandan, Anand, Manisha, Shardool and Jayashree. Truly overpowered. You guys are fighting titans and it saddens me that you're not celebrated like the heroes you are. 

Please keep up the good work and maybe someday you can plan to invite a psychologist or psychiatrist on your show, someone who can talk intelligently about the concept of behavioural ecology, that is the study of the trade offs between different kinds of efforts individuals exert to obtain the resources they need. Essentially to discuss why we are the way we are. Why everyone driving on the road behaves like an asshole, why our first reaction with a stranger is usually to be suspicious of them, why politicians seem to have completely sold their souls to the devil and don't seem to feel any remorse, how presidents, chief justices, IPS and IAS officers debase themselves through blatant corruption and ruin the prestige of the office and the institution they represent. The why and how of these things interest me a lot and I think they might interest others as well.

This was just an appreciation post, because I couldn't keep it bottled in any longer. You don't have to read it on the show, I know you're pressed for time. Take care, stay safe. 

Yours sincerely,

Shrinjay P

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Inayat Khan

Hello!

What happened to the farmers’ protest? I don’t see anyone covering it anymore, including Newslaundry. Last year, while travelling from Delhi to Srinagar, we had to take a detour because the farmers were protesting somewhere along the Delhi-Punjab highway. This year, I made the same trip and there was nothing. No sign of them.

Did their demands get resolved? Or have both legacy media and digital media failed them? Were their demands not legitimate in the first place, or is it just easier to ignore them now?

So much for “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisaan”.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

PS: Jayashree Ji, you’re my new favourite! Love your take on things. I’ve learned a lot from you. Just one small thing: please speak a little slower, sometimes you're way too fast for my brain ! 😄

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Suwaid

In an age where reason is often wrapped in rhetoric, and silence mistaken for peace, you remain a quiet flame; steady, unyielding, and defiantly luminous. Not a blaze that demands attention, but a lamp in the cave of forgetfulness, casting shadows that remind us where truth once stood.

You are Diogenes with his lantern; not merely seeking the honest man, but illuminating the honesty exiled from public squares. In a marketplace where language is bartered and headlines kneel, you choose the harder path: to speak where others echo, to question where others comply.

Today, truth does not roar. It seeps; like a spring through stone – slow, clear, and essential. And like that spring, you persist; not because it is safe, but because to yield would be to betray memory itself.

What you practice is not just journalism; it is moral cartography. You map the contours of our conscience, where others redraw them to fit convenience. Yours is the labour of remembering in a time that rewards amnesia; the ethics of witness in an era that profits from looking away.

Know this: the candle you carry is not small. In the vast cathedral of democratic decay, even a single flame restores the architecture of hope.

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Saurabh

Jayashree's rant about living in an undeclared emergency in Hafta 543 was amazing. Please make just that part public and put it on your YT channel and social media.

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Kezia

Hello,

I am writing to you regarding Hafta's episode 544. I expected a better focus on women's safety following the Udaipur rape case. However, it felt like a tourist's rape was getting more attention than an Indian citizen's rape case was dismissed as just that – a tourist's rape getting more attention.

Firstly, a female tourist's experience in India is different from an Indian woman's experience – let's just accept that. Secondly, some rape cases are always going to get more attention than others. The way I see it, women's safety in India needs a radical change. So, whenever any rape case gets attention, we must leverage the attention to make a case for women's safety rather than seemingly dismissing them as certain cases receiving more attention than others. This does not do any favours to either tourists or Indian women.

Expect better from a platform like Newslaundry.

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