Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just for You

We sifted through the papers to find the best opinion reads, so you won't have to.

(Photo: Canva)

Unless Quality Of Swadeshi Improves And Politicians Get Out Of The Way, Our Story Will Remain Hopeless

Columnist Tavleen Singh juxtaposes the pristine beauty of a scenic Swiss village with the underdeveloped, squalid rural regions of India, in her piece for The Indian Express. In doing so, she critiques the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, for his advocacy of going ‘local’ and ‘Swadeshi’ without having a coherent economic policy in place.

As for becoming ‘vocal for local’, it should be evident even in that private housing estate called Lutyens’ Delhi that most Indians already buy locally made products. There are some Indian products that are so good now that I have foreign friends who load up with Indian shampoos, conditioners and Ayurvedic skin products every time they wander by. But when it comes to more sophisticated manufacturing, we are obliged to buy laptops made in other countries and, as the Prime Minister knows well, he would feel unprotected if he did not have a fleet of German cars to travel in.

Tavleen Singh, for The Indian Express

Although India aspires to become a developed country by 2047, Singh argues that policy ambiguity and bureaucratic hurdles will be major impediments. Sophisticated manufacturing, like laptops, is dependent on imports, while India has yet to excel in technological innovation. Hence, more than rhetoric, India needs tangible reforms.

Atmanirbhar Bharat Needs Swadeshi 2.0

On the same topic of Swadeshi, Prabhu Chawla explains how India has historically been vulnerable to foreign invaders — only that the colonial exploitation has shifted from physical commodities to modern gems, in the likes of data and intellectual property. In such a scenario, replacing foreign systems with Zoho is merely a symbolic gesture, writes Chawla for The New Indian Express.

One minister bragging about Zoho isn’t going to change the ‘data chor’ operation by the Big Four. Globally, these firms are stained by scandals like fraudulent audits, billion-dollar penalties, and compromised ethics. A Canadian court case revealed explosive details of US short-seller Hindenburg Research—which accused Adani of stock manipulation—allegedly colluding with a hedge fund to make money. But in India, American firms thrive, showered with ever-expanding contracts.

Prabhu Chawla, for The New Indian Express

The author contends that for India to embrace a ‘Swadeshi 2.0’ model, the nation must build indigenous audit and consulting firms, thereby restricting the Big 4’s influence in government and corporate sectors.

Restive Youth And The Coming Angst Storm

Donald Trump’s H1-B visa fee hike might have been optimistically portrayed as an opportunity to strengthen domestic economy, but the real scenario paints a grim picture, writes Rahul Jayaram for Deccan Herald. The author compares India’s situation to that of its neighbours, with Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka experiencing youth-led uprisings.

To some degree, India’s size and internal disparateness appear to have forestalled an upsurge of the sort we see in our neighbourhood. For what it’s worth, our federal structure (despite being subject to sustained extreme shocks in the last decade), warts and all, has appeared to (unsteadily) hold our democratic fort. Some states, such as Karnataka, have made controversial but visible gestures (like the free bus ride scheme for women) to signal that the government cares. Yet, we’d be deluded if we think that India’s youth are not on the brink.

Rahul Jayaram, for Deccan Herald

Indeed, an upheaval is not expected in India owing to its vast size and federal structure, yet, growing youth discontentment demands immediate attention. Jayaram believes India must invest in domestic educational and economic infrastructure to create more opportunities for the youth.

India’s Democracy No Match To Nepalese Fragile Governance

Contrary to Jayaram’s analysis, former Indian diplomat Pavan K Varma believes the narrative equating Nepal’s uprising to India’s protests is flawed. For Deccan Chronicle, he explains how Nepal’s turmoil stemmed from an unstable transition between monarchy and democracy, while despite cases of dissent, India has had a democratic structure in place for over 75 years.

In any functioning democracy, dissent is not a luxury, it is a necessity. The Indian Constitution enshrines the right to free speech, peaceful assembly and protest. To now suggest that protests by students, farmers, workers or civil society are tantamount to sedition or anarchy, like we saw in Nepal, is to trivialise legitimate grievances by conveniently branding them as destabilising, rather than addressing their root causes. If criticism becomes indistinguishable from subversion, then the only permissible citizen is a silent one. And a democracy of silent citizens is a democracy in name only.

Pavan K Varma, for Deccan Chronicle

However, the author also contends that dissent is essential for a functional democracy, and any attempt to stifle the dissidents’ voice will be a politically catastrophic move. Owing to its federal structure, India is capable of absorbing dissent without threatening its democratic fabric.

Reading From The Same Hymn Book

In his column for The Indian Express, P Chidambaram observes the balancing act in State of the Economy, published in the Reserve Bank of India’s monthly bulletin, which mirrors government policy while carefully disclaiming official endorsement. The word “uncertainty” recurs repeatedly in the article, yet, the RBI asserts that the economy is resilient.

The RBI’s answer to the prevailing uncertain economic conditions is the familiar refrain that ‘the economy is resilient’. Like the government, the RBI is clutching at straws. The latest straw is the GST rate cuts. RBI describes the reduction in rates as landmark GST reforms. What is ‘reformative’ about cutting the high and multiple rates of tax that were the original sin? The design of the GST laws was wrong, the tax structure was wrong, the rules and regulations were wrong, the tax rates were wrong, and the implementation of the GST laws was wrong. Correcting error-ridden multiple tax rates is, in my book, not a path-breaking reform.

P Chidambaram, for The Indian Express

The RBI has cited the GST rate cuts as truly transformative, but Chidambaram challenges this narrative by elaborating on how it merely was a corrective measure. The former Finance Minister warns against the perils of repeated economic optimism.

Why It’s Just Not Cricket Any More

Writing for The New Indian Express, sports scribe Anand Vasu reflects on how the India vs Pakistan rivalry, once celebrated and cherished, has been hijacked by political overtones. Pakistani cricketers Sahibzada Farhan and Haris Rauf have, with their machine-gun and plane celebrations, showcased how the sport is being weaponised for agenda-driven symbolism.

By all accounts, the sports-watching world wanted India and Pakistan to play each other, as evidenced by the feeble response to the boycott calls. And yet, when it happened, there was a sense of being underwhelmed. Not by the lack of a sporting contest, but by the emptiness it left viewers feeling after they had invested so much in it.

Anand Vasu, for The New Indian Express

Vasu contends that cricket loses its purpose when it becomes an insignificant pawn in the larger game of nationalism. By enslaving cricket to politics, we have robbed the sport of its essence — the pure joy it used to bring.

Fasting Anatomy Requires Feasting Autonomy

Drawing inspiration from the Indian tradition of fasting-to-feasting from Navratri to Deepavali, S Vaidhyasubramaniam believes the Indian education system needs a similar arc. In his The New Indian Express piece, the author argues for the higher education institutions (HEIs) to transition from fasting, marked by limited autonomy, to feasting, that is academic freedom.

This transition from fasting to feasting is an annual ritual in our Indic tradition practiced in an unparalleled way with unbroken continuum. Just as this celebration feasting from regimental fasting signals human anatomy’s lifestyle transition, there needs to a cerebral feasting from regimental fasting in higher education institution (HEI) to signal academic autonomy transition.

S Vaidhyasubramaniam, for The New Indian Express

With Donald Trump reversing his promise of giving green cards to graduates, Indians are bound to be impacted as they constitute the largest group of H1-B beneficiaries. It is time for restrictive policies to be made obsolete, in a bid to ensure India becomes a global hub for education as opposed to a talent supplier.

Everyone’s Goddess

Writing for The Telegraph, Uddalak Mukherjee recalls memories from the 1980s’ Durga Puja, wherein the Left-leaning families used to frown upon the occasion due to a rigid interpretation of socialism. Yet, over time, this very Puja became the embodiment of India’s secular fabric, with Muslims contributing significantly as artisans and participants.

This, though, is a time for the devi’s return from the liminal to a sphere that is expressly political and pluralist. In a nation where there are mischievous attempts to stop a Booker-winning, Muslim author from inaugurating the Dussehra festival in Mysuru, where there are advisories issued to check the Aadhaar details of enthusiasts before allowing them to participate in garba events during Navratri so as to sieve out Muslims, where self-proclaimed sanatani Hindus object to Bengalis partaking of meat during Durga Puja, or, in another revealing incident, scoff at a pandal playing Sanskrit hymns and the azaan to mark syncretism, the goddess and her admirers — the devout and the disbelievers — cannot afford to occupy in-between, abstract spaces.

Uddalak Mukherjee, for The Telegraph

In present times of rampant polarisation, where minorities are ostracised, Aadhaar card checks are weaponised to exclude Muslims from Garba festivities, and there are protests over a Muslim author inaugurating Dussehra, Mukherjee hopes the goddess will descend into the socio-political realm yet again, and confront the divisive forces.

Rahul-Tejashwi Friendship Intact; Naveen Goes For Some Retail Therapy

Rahul Gandhi’s non-committal stance on the Mahagathbandhan’s Chief Minister candidate in Bihar should not be equated to a possible sign of discord with Tejashwi Yadav, argues Anita Katyal in her piece for Deccan Chronicle. She believes it has been done for appealing to the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), who might be wary of Yadav’s dominance.

However, it transpires that Rahul and Tejashwi have not fallen out but the Congress leader’s non-committal response on the leadership issue is part of the Mahagathbandhan’s carefully crafted strategy to wean away the extremely backward classes (EBCs) from the Janata Dal (United). The EBCs have traditionally been wary of the Yadav community because of its tendency to dominate over the backward classes lower in the caste hierarchy. 

Anita Katyal, for Deccan Chronicle

In Jammu & Kashmir, incessant rain and landslides have impacted economic activities. With residents attributing the disaster to government fallacies, unchecked development projects are now under the scanner.

More From The Quint