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

"Reform of the law is not what the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 does. On the contrary, it has taken a scythe to the existing law and mutilated it beyond recognition," writes Congress leader P Chidambaram in his column for The Indian Express.He critiques the controversial Amendment Bill (now law) which has turned on its head all the time-honored principles and practices.Hindu religious and charitable institutions are administered by Hindus and Hindus alone. No one would suggest — or accept — that in the administration of Hindu temples and religious/charitable institutions, non-Hindus may have a role. (In fact, there is a demand by the Andhra Pradesh CM that non-Hindus ought not to be appointed even as employees of the Tirupati-Tirumala Devasthanam). The same view will be held by millions of believers in any other religion. At present, in no religious place of worship or religious/charitable institution of Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism or Buddhism does the law allow any role for a believer in any other religion.P Chidambaram, The Indian ExpressWriter Tavleen Singh in her column for The Indian Express draws attention to the reforms needed in our judiciary beyond the discourse about how judges should be appointed to the higher courts. She talks about two recent demolitions cases, one wherein the girl was trying to save her books when her house was being bulldozed and the Supreme Court's order asking authorities to pay Rs 60 lakhs compensation in a Prayagraj demolition case."Supreme Court would do India a huge service if it acted against chief ministers who continue to use bulldozers to deliver justice. What about at least contempt charges?" she asks.Cases of terrorism, murder, drug trafficking and rape usually languish in our courts for so long that by the time justice is done, the victims are forgotten as well as the crime. It is because of this that the consensus on social media (the new public square) is that chief ministers who order bulldozers to demolish the homes of suspected criminals are doing the right thing. The people who lost their homes in Prayagraj did so because Yogi Adityanath believed that these homes were on land belonging to a gangster. It is impossible to convince someone who enjoys the sobriquet ‘Bulldozer Baba’ that even gangsters should have the right to a trial in a court of law.Tavleen Singh, The Indian ExpressIn this piece for the Deccan Herald, TCA Ranganathan, a former Indian diplomat, reflects on the recent tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump's administration and its impact on India. He states that we are "not likely to majorly suffer from the tariffs unless we are uniquely targeted."We need to instead focus on our present situation which is quite worrisome even without Trump's actions. We not only languish in global exporter rankings despite focussed government support but, in a sense, have been strategically weakened in the globalisation era. Our imports from China have shown steady growth (but not our exports) despite governmental efforts to curb the same, post the Galwan border crises. This was not accidental; it is an outcome of the recent surge in industrial capacities within China. Meanwhile, our industrial class has been cagey about investing in technological manufacturing in the same last decade or so, despite an array of tax cuts and PLI schemes on offer. Our mutual industrial strength has thus widened.TCA Ranganathan, Deccan Herald"We, the people of India, will be the losers." Journalist Karan Thapar, in The Hindustan Times, writes about the censorship and cuts Sandhya Suri's film 'Santosh' has been asked to make, thereby affecting its release in India. He references several studies to show the reality of police cruelty and torture against the marginalised as portrayed in the movie."Santosh, if it were to be seen, would give us the chance to ask why. Why is this permitted? Why is it continuing? Perhaps that’s why the CBFC has ensured the film will never be seen by us," writes Thapar.Having seen it and felt its impact, which is undeniable, I believe this film is important for us to see. I know Bollywood frequently depicts police high-handedness, but it does so in a mild and sanitised way. There is always a relieving good side. That is not the case with Santosh. It portrays an unvarnished, unrelenting, unrelieved reality that may be hard to watch but we cannot be blind to. Indeed, we must not. Yet the extent of our denial goes further. Santosh is only the latest addition to it. India is one of few countries that has refused to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Torture and also doesn’t have its own law to prevent custodial violence. But those are also truths we rarely discuss or, if we occasionally raise them, it is only to quickly forget.Karan Thapar, Hindustan TimesIn his piece for The Indian Express, Pratap Bhanu Mehta makes scathing arguments about the need for India to work on international coalition to resist US President Donald Trump's imperiousness. "Trump’s play on tariffs must be seen in the context of the larger wrecking ball he has thrown at the world system; it is not just a technical economic issue," observes Mehta.Trump’s trade proposals are fundamentally not about a minimally rules-based and predictable trading system. When Trump says he is aiming at reciprocal tariffs, it might sound like that, but it is anything but. Laws or rules, by their very nature, are enabling or constraining devices. They do not dictate outcomes. Countries might run trade surpluses with some and deficits with others; these change over time. Trump’s tariffs are not about tariff reciprocity; they are about balancing trade on a bilateral basis, which is an absurd idea. Even if you end up with reciprocal tariffs, Trump will up the ante on volumes on balancing and so forth, as the tariffs imposed on Israel, America’s closest ally, suggest. It would be foolish to assume that once you have negotiated tariff levels with the US that will be the end of the matter. Instead, what you are opening yourself up to is endless haggling and uncertainty.Pratap Bhanu Mehta, The Indian ExpressIndian academic Pushpesh Pant, in this column for The New Indian Express, writes about the relationship between the state, nation and its people and how courts have failed to repeatedly protect its citizen from police atrocities while acting as the Jury, Judge and Executioner at the same time.It is shocking that so many young officers who have taken oath to protect the Constitution seem to have weak knees and spines of rubber. But why blame only the ambitious young who have sensed which way the wind is blowing? Learned judges who routinely thunder from the bench most intriguingly follow a different logic while deciding cases. The draconian laws of contempt of court keeps critics petrified. Where specific cases need to be highlighted as hypocrisy, bigotry and partisan conduct, the public discourse is directed to the Constitution, the state envisaged by our founding fathers and how we have strayed from the course.Pushpesh Pant, The New Indian ExpressIn this column for The Telegraph, Mukul Kesavan writes about China's retaliation to US President Donald Trump's tariffs. "China didn't panic when it imposed retaliatory tariffs, nor did it, in Trump's words, 'play it wrong.' Xi just let Trump know that there was a real game on," he writes.For countries outside America’s orbit, regardless of their view of China, it must come as a relief that China put an end to this World Wrestling Entertainment style of international relations. For Trump, geopolitics ought to be like the pro-wrestling that he loves: fixed in advance, where Trump gets to body slam every country every time. It has been genuinely shocking to see Trump’s America rampage around the world, lay waste to Gaza, expropriate Ukraine, trash Europe and generally behave as if it were the master of the world twenty years after the passing of the unipolar moment. One of the revelations of this young Trump term has been the embarrassing servility of America’s European allies. It has fallen to China by a kind of default to restore geopolitical equilibrium.Mukul Kesavan, The TelegraphManish Tewari in the Deccan Chronicle calls for a stronger framework for greater accountability. He talks about the challenges with impeachment of judges, limits of 'in-house' procedure and lack of deterrence, among other things.Judicial accountability should not be perceived as a threat to judicial independence. Rather, it serves as a cornerstone of a well-functioning democracy. The absence of a robust system of checks and balances has led to concerns over opacity within the judiciary. While the Indian judiciary is widely respected for its role in upholding constitutional principles, the lack of an independent oversight mechanism has drawn criticism. Strengthening accountability measures, is therefore, crucial to ensuring transparency and reinforcing public confidence in the judicial system.Manish Tewari, Deccan ChronicleChaitanya K Prasad opines in the Hindustan Times on how re-releases of old films, coupled with remakes and digital restorations have aided in bridging generational gaps and reviving cinema heritage. These re-releases have "allowed audiences to discover — or rediscover — films that were ahead of their time, with a newfound appreciation for their artistic vision."Though OTT platforms offer convenience, nothing matches the grandeur of watching a film in a dark hall, surrounded by the collective energy of a live audience. Movies such as Mughal-e-Azam and Sholay were crafted with the scale and spectacle that the big screen alone can provide. Re-releases leverage this irreplaceable experience and draw in audiences to theatres for a communal celebration of cinema. As modernisation accelerates, the desire to stay connected to cultural roots grows stronger. Old films serve as powerful reminders of India’s artistic traditions, moral values, and storytelling craft. They provide a bridge between the past and the present, allowing audiences to reflect on where cinema has come from while contemplating its future. The re-release era is not just about nostalgia. It is a celebration of identity, heritage, and an enduring love for stories that have stood the test of time.Chaitanya K Prasad, Hindustan TimesUnboxing Trump's Tariff Rationale: Fortress America Seeks Solace in the PastL2 Empuraan: A Cinematic Defiance Against Political AmnesiaWaqf Waqf Ki Baat Hai: Understanding the Controversy Around New Waqf BillTrump’s Tariff Typhoon: Where India Stands Amidst the WreckageTrump’s ‘Liberation Day’: Why US is on War Footing over Tariffs & DeportationsModi in Nagpur: BJP Knows it Must Stay Rooted in RSS 'Akshyavat'

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

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