Under 6 Per Cent Is Uninspiring
Congress leader P Chidambaram, in his column for The Indian Express, attempts to decipher Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promises of a 'USD 5 trillion economy' and 'Viksit Bharat'. He asserts that with a growth rate of only 5.9 per cent over ten years, the BJP and NDA's track record has been "uninspiring."
He writes that there are certain 'relevant questions' that need to be debated and answered. When will 22 crore people be lifted out of poverty? When will young people be gainfully employed? When will the stagnation of wages in real terms end?
"Unemployment and inflation are the two biggest concerns of the people. I cannot remember when the Hon’ble PM last spoke on the two burning issues. I cannot also remember when the Hon’ble PM last spoke on China; on Manipur; on political defections; on breaking political parties; on the right to privacy; on moral policing; or on bulldozer justice. Political parties must raise these issues again and again and force the Hon’ble PM to break his calculated silence on the issues that matter most to the people. As the only one who matters in the BJP, he must speak."P Chidambaram, for The Indian Express
Electoral Bonds: It’s Time for a Reality Cheque
Writing for The Times of India, Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar argues that the striking down of the electoral bonds will only give way to black money dominating our elections, and white money shrinking more than ever.
He argues,
"Many critics shed tears over the role of money in elections. But democratic politics is expensive. The link between elections and money is very close in democracies and cannot be wished away. Critics say that even though money is linked to politics, transparency is needed on who is funding whom. Alas, aiming for such transparency may simply drive funding underground, making the process less transparent than ever."Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar, for The Times of India
Miscalculated MSP and Other Unkept Promises
Former Union Minister Manish Tewari, in his piece for for The Asian Age, writes that the way the government has been dealing with the farmers' protest, using colonial-era laws, is distressing and that it is suppressing "the farmers’ legitimate right to articulate their anguish on grounds of “public emergency” and “public safety”."
He writes,
"The anti-farmer policies of the current dispensation has increased income inequality among farmers. According to the Centre for Financial Accountability, New Delhi, an average of 30 farmers commit suicide per day during the NDA/BJP government’s tenure. Moreover, we also see that the absolute number of indebted farmers has increased from 902 lakhs to 930 lakhs in the same period. And the average amount of outstanding loans has surged about 1.6 times compared to 2013."Manish Tewari, for The Asian Age
Dissidence Strengthens Democracy
In her column for The Indian Express this week, Tavleen Singh says that she wants to make a political point through a personal story. Her son could not get a visa to India to visit his dying grandmother. She writes that after his 2019 article in Time magazine, his Overseas Citizenship of India was revoked. But, she argues, "If dissidence dies, then democracy dies."
She says that political dissidents who speak out when they disagree with the government are heroes and not criminals.
"The more important question is why a Prime Minister with the highest approval ratings of any world leader should be so thin-skinned? Narendra Modi likes to see himself as not just the leader of India but as a world leader of great influence and unusual power. A Vishvaguru. He appears not to have noticed that only those leaders who have democratic credentials can achieve this position. Men like Vladimir Putin, who recently killed Alexei Navalny in a penal colony above the Arctic Circle, will always only be seen as brutal dictators. Modi also likes to boast in the high forums of the world that India is the 'mother of democracy'. It sounds like no more than an empty boast every time dissidents are punished for their dissidence."Tavleen Singh, for The Indian Express
Sandeshkhali: Bengal’s Bahubali Is a Throwback to an Earlier Era
As West Bengal's Sandeshkhali becomes the epicentre of protests and a political slugfest, Swapan Dasgupta, in his piece for The Times of India, comments on the "reign of terror unleashed by Sheikh Shahjahan."
He writes, "That the state government has stood resolutely with the don and rubbished all local charges of tyrannical conduct suggests Sandeshkhali is not the only instance of political power being outsourced to criminals in return for ‘help’ during elections."
"The significance of Sandeshkhali lies in the subordination of the local police and administration to the overlordship of Shahjahan. Nominally he was under the control of political bosses who held ministerial posts in Kolkata. However, like subordinate Mughal functionaries, he was conferred an exceptional measure of autonomy in return for two services: first, financial tribute that came primarily from creaming off state resources intended for welfare payments and development expenditure and, second, an assured supply of votes during local, state and national elections."Swapan Dasgupta, for The Times of India
The Joke’s on…
In her piece in The Telegraph, Upala Sen comments on America's "age phobia" in the run up to the 2024 US elections. With TV anchors laughing at the expense of President Joe Biden's age, Sen points out that it is unbecoming of "a culture apparently so very sensitive of every small and big community and their rights."
"It is election season in America and television show hosts have Biden, 81, in the dock for his age. It is not as if Biden’s rival in these elections, the Republican candidate Donald Trump, 77, is being spared either for his advanced years, but he has actual misdemeanors to discredit his candidature (...) The articles, observations and greater criticism all add up to a valid point. But what does not quite add up is their attitude to ageing, their near vilification of it."Upala Sen, for The Telegraph
Leagues-vs-Country Conflict Finally Reaches India
In his piece for The Indian Express, Tushar Bhaduri writes about the ethical conundrums that come up when players like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer skip the Ranji Trophy to likely avoid injuries and prepare for the Indian Premier League.
He writes, "(This) shouldn’t leave anyone in doubt over the long shadow cast by T20 franchise leagues on Test cricket as well as domestic cricket around the globe."
"Gone are the days when playing for the national team was the only way to earn a decent livelihood or develop a fan following. Remuneration for playing the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments has gone up exponentially over the years, but they still pale into insignificance in comparison to what a typical T20 gig can bring, which also involves only a fraction of the hard work that first-class cricket entails. And with domestic cricket usually played in front of empty galleries and T20 leagues enjoying big crowds and TV viewership, a few big hits or a few lucky wickets can get one in the headlines."Tushar Bhaduri, for The Indian Express
Labour’s Libel
Writing for The Telegraph, Mukul Kesavan comments on the what transpired in the House of Commons when the Scottish National Party raised a motion asking for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Kesavan writes that to "save himself the mortification of frontbench resignations and mutinous MPs," Keir Starmer was quick to paint Muslim voters as a violent threat.
"The historical significance of the battle over the SNP’s motion was Labour’s willingness to dog whistle about British Muslims, to insinuate that pro-Palestinian activist posed a violent threat to its MPs. Inverting an anti-Semitic trope, an attachment to the Palestinian cause was cast as a form of extraterritorial loyalty that hindered Muslim assimilation into the mainstream and imported alien contagions from the Muslim world into Britain."Mukul Kesavan, for The Telegraph
Separating the Art From the Artist in the Age of TMI
In her piece for The Times of India, Vandana Vasudevan writes that in the age of internet, when one is constantly consuming information about celebrities, it becomes difficult to separate the art from the artist.
She says that celebrities are expected to "hold the exact political opinions and conform to the same hallowed beliefs as their fans."
"Afflicted with information overload, we can no longer separate the art from the artist. We cannot process the paradox that a person can be horrible, but his music can be divine. An actor can be a Marxist in his political views but still portray the role of a priest convincingly in a movie. In the pre-internet age, audiences were able to make that distinction because we knew little about artists’ private lives except for some odd whispers."Vandana Vasudevan, for The Times of India
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