Home News India Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just For You
Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just For You
Here is a compilation of the best opinion pieces across newspapers.
The Quint
India
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Keep the chai, forget the paper. Read the best opinion and editorial articles from across the print media on Sunday View.
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Across the Aisle: Will Mr Modi Win Sabka Vishwas?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have led the Bharatiya Janata Party to a massive win in 2019, but will his government be able to secure the trust of Dalits, Christians and Muslims? In his column for The Indian Express, former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram opines that the addition of ‘Sabka Vishwas’ to the old slogan of ‘Sabka Saath’ must also be accompanied by the elimination of fear and the betterment of economic status among India’s disaffected sections.
“The sections of the Dalits, Muslims, Christians and below-the-poverty-line, I suspect, voted for the BJP’s candidate because no other candidate seemed capable of winning the contest and certainly no other candidate appeared to be on the ‘winning’ side. It was a vote of prudence; it was not a vote of confidence. The BJP has to do much more to win their confidence.It is an unusual situation. The BJP has formed the government with the votes of passionate supporters (in whose eyes Mr Modi can do no wrong) and the votes of disaffected sections (in whose eyes Mr Modi has not done anything right so far).It will be interesting to see how the resourceful Mr Modi navigates these uncharted waters.”
P Chidambaram, in <i>The Indian Express</i>
Inside Track: Pecking Order
Who is second to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in in his second innings at the Centre? Well, the answer to this question can get a little tricky. While Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is officially the second-most senior minister, Amit Shah, the person who now occupies Singh’s earlier Ministry (Home), is often thought of as the real second-ranking minister in PM Modi’s cabinet. Coomi Kapoor, in her column for The Indian Express, writes how Shah is most likely to depute for the PM –also his long-term confidant– in his absence.
“Rajnath Singh belatedly included in additional Cabinet committees after the normally pliable minister made known his unhappiness. Though Singh may be officially No. 2 in Cabinet hierarchy, few dispute that Amit Shah ranks next only to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in real terms. That Shah will depute for the PM in his absence was evident even before the Cabinet committees were constituted. Shah summoned a meeting of the ministers of Finance, External Affairs, Railways, Commerce and Petroleum at his office to discuss petroleum import and aid to Mozambique, subjects which have nothing to do with his ministry.”
Coomi Kapoor in The Indian Express
Out of My mind: A Hindi Rashtra? An Unwise Idea
Writing for The Indian Express on the issue of Hindi versus regional language, Meghnad Desai says that if uniting the nation is the real goal, then languages like Assamese, Bengali and Tamil must be encouraged.
“Hindi is an obsession of the Hindi belt. When the issue came up before the Constituent Assembly, the Hindi belt Congress members defeated <a href="https://indianexpress.com/about/jawaharlal-nehru">Jawaharlal Nehru</a>, who wanted Hindustani as national language, by one vote during a meeting. In 1965, the insistence on replacing English by Hindi nearly caused the cessation of South India. Lal Bahadur Shastri solved the issue by compromise. Why then start dividing again?The Hindi belt has to learn that it may be the most populous region, but it is neither the majority nor is it the most socially progressive or prosperous region. South and North East, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Punjab-Haryana are important but separate regions of the nation. Hindi is a relatively recent language, at most 200 years old. Tamil is 4,000 years old. If you want to unite the nation genuinely, then encourage the learning of a South Indian or Northeastern language. Hindi and English are both jointly national languages. Learning both is a luxury. Studying Tamil, Bengali or Assamese may bind the nation together better.”
Meghnad Desai in <i>The Indian Express.</i>
Congress Gave Slogans, Modi Made Them Real
Why did the Congress lose to Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019, even after inventing catchy slogans like ‘Suit boot ki sarkar’ against PM Modi? Swaminathan Aiyar, in his column for The Times of India, believes that while the Congress remained busy inventing slogans, PM Modi’s government worked for the poor through better implementation of policies, some of which were originally introduced by the Congress.
“Instead of acting as a right-wing economic reformer, as some had anticipated, Modi took welfarism to new heights. Far from cancelling the UPA’s welfare schemes, he adopted many as his own, expanding and implementing them so strongly that the gains were associated with the BJP, not the UPA that first started down those paths. Examples include Swachh Bharat (toilets for all), Jan Dhan Yojana (bank accounts for all), Sowbhagya (electricity for all), Ujjwala (cooking gas) and PM-Kisan (direct cash transfers to farmers).”
Swaminathan Aiyar in <i>The Times of India.</i>
Personal Attacks on Nehru-Gandhi Family
Indian politics is a telling tale of personal attacks, some even directed at those resting in peace. Writing for the The Times of India, Congress Leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi alleges that the BJP resorted to spreading misinformation on former PM Rajiv Gandhi, while remaining silent on old promises.
“They showed another example of personal attack through misinformation before the last two phases. The party attacked Rajiv Gandhi on Bofors, omitting to even mention or show its own ignorance about a 4 February 2004 judgment which the party never appealed because you knew that there was nothing to appeal. Technically, they appealed after 14 years and it was dismissed in 2018 by the Supreme Court. They did the same thing in the middle of 2019 general elections by talking about; it is quite incredible I cannot imagine how a PM in the middle of elections in May 2019 talks about former Prime Minister who has been dead for over 30 years and about his purported visit to a naval ship. Does this government and this Prime Minister not even know that nobody can set foot unless he is a sitting person of that stature, unless it is an official trip, unless everybody accompanying him, his name is given and known in a list? But I ask them what relation it has today in 2019 to the jobs which you promised, to the agricultural distress, which the NDA government promised to double farm income, to the demonetization which crushed our MSMEs?”
Abhishek Manu Singhvi in <i>The Times of India</i>
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Why Sonia Gandhi should Read Ibn Khaldun
In his coloum for The Telegraph, historian Ramchandra Guha compares the crisis within the Congress with Ibn Khaldun’s in-depth analysis of fourth-generation dynasts. Guha maintains that those in the fourth-generation often lose relevance, as they neither experience nor understand the reasons for the success of their forefathers at first hand.
“Ibn Khaldun helps us understand why Jagan and Naveen succeeded, while Rahul failed. They were second-generation dynasts who saw at first hand what their father did. By the same token, Indira Gandhi had grown up with Jawaharlal Nehru and the ideals of the freedom struggle, and was thus a more credible and effective political leader than her son or her grandson could ever hope to be.Everyone in the Congress needs to read (and digest) these words of Ibn Khaldun. And perhaps Sonia Gandhi above all. As a mother, she may not share this columnist’s assessment of her son as a “well-intentioned dilettante”. But even if he is in fact more intelligent, more energetic, and more politically astute than I believe he is, the fact is that both history and sociology work against him. For, if medieval and feudal Arabia found fourth-and-fifth generation dynasts hard to accept, why would modern and democratic India be any different?”
Ramchandra Guha in <i>The Telegraph.</i>
Fifth Column: Signs of Hope in Kashmir
Their lives perpetually thrown out of gear, a sense of disenchantment against militants has slowly started prevailing among Kashmiris, writes Tavleen Singh in The Indian Express. But what can the BJP government at the Centre do to carry forward these signs of hope in Kashmir? In her tip for the prime minister, Singh points to one thing that most Kashmiris love about the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee – his truthfulness.
“This is as good a time as any for the Prime Minister to make a serious effort at bringing peace to the Valley. Not only because there is fatigue evident in the militancy but because Pakistan is broke. It also has too many jihadist problems of its own to sustain the Kashmir insurgency. And, there is a new government in Delhi that can start with a clean slate. For the Prime Minister may I humbly offer a small tip. Everyone I talked to spoke of Atal Bihari Vajpayee with a reverence they seem not to have for any other Indian leader. Maybe his recipe of ‘Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat,’ may no longer work. We are dealing with jihadists now and not a movement for ‘azadi’. But he is revered because he is remembered as truthful.He was ready to talk to anyone about peace but he made it clear that there would never be ‘azadi’. Pakistan knows this and the Kashmiri people know this. So we must hope the Prime Minister can find a new way forward.”
Tavleen Singh in <i>The Indian Express.</i>
Cricket Mania Hits Fever Pitch, but it is OK Not to Bleed Blue
While India shivers under the grip of the World Cup fever, do you feel somewhat immune to this viral strain of cricket frenzy? When everyone around you bleeds blue, are you the only one who gets away without a scratch? Are you tired of being judged for not displaying excitement every time India take on another team? Well, you are not the only one. Writing for the The Times of India, Shobhaa De says that she has decided not to watch India play at the World Cup, for her own set of reasons.
“Religion often gives birth to fanatics. So it is with cricket. If you dare to admit you are not a cricket <em>bhakt</em>, people give you strange looks, and swiftly move away. Some stare with disbelief and try to convert you. If you resist, you are dubbed an anti-national. “How can you stay neutral? Don’t you love your country? Aren’t you dying to see Pakistan smashed on the 16th? You mean you aren’t praying for India to bring back the Cup?”Of course, India should bring back the Cup -if it is the best team. Sorry. I am not bleeding blue, guys. But that does not make me a traitor. My prayers are reserved for family members and loved ones. I do like a few cricketers, but not sure I can call it love. Who are they to me? How do they affect my life? I readily acknowledge that they are aspirational and inspirational role models for millions. But it’s okay for me to not worship them. Right? Apparently, not!”
Shobhaa De in <i>The Times of India</i>
Makers of 5G Technology Should Put Health First
As India prepares to roll-out 5G, has the government and telecom agencies taken radiation-linked risk factors into consideration? Writing forThe Telegraph, Bidisha Biswas opines that its good to be technologically advanced, but not at the cost of risking the health of all living organisms. The solution, she says, is community-driven consciousness and small changes, that can minimize the impact of radiation.
“If the speechlessness of the wireless technology providers and the general acceptance of the ill-effects of technological radiation are any indication, it is high time we take precautionary measures to save the environment for future generations. After taking charge on June 3, the new telecommunications minister of India, Ravi Shankar Prasad, announced that the nation will hold its next spectrum sale — which will mark the debut of 5G airwaves — this year, and conduct 5G trials within 100 days. All major telecom operators in India are gearing up for the 5G trial from June. Has the government done its homework before allowing operators to launch 5G when the rest of the educated world is reluctant to launch it? A high court in Italy ordered the national government to publicize cell phone risks; certain states in the US introduced bills to review the health risks of wireless radiation for children at schools. Let us not forget that the Indian government has already announced that the entire nation will be equipped and empowered with 5G network by 2020.”
