Which Law, Whose Order?
Suspecting ‘law and order’ to have been infused with “perverse meaning”, P Chidambaram, in his column for The Indian Express, questions whether India can remain being called a country governed by ‘rule of law’.
He writes:
“Some countries follow the system ‘show me the person and I’ll show you the rule’. It is a system where there is no rule of law but it is claimed there is rule by law and that is sufficient. Under that system, the law may be different from person to person, case to case, and even day to day. The stark difference between rule of law and rule by law is self-evident; yet, increasingly, the difference is either deliberately not noticed or is being erased. On orders that may — or do — violate the law, many errant law-enforcing officers adopt the Adolf Eichmann justification, Befehl ist Befehl (command is command).”
Karnataka, Not Gujarat
Dissecting BJP’s internal power struggle in finalising the candidates for Karnataka Assembly elections, Coomi Kapoor, in her column for The Indian Express, writes,
“Significantly, Santhosh and Yediyurappa were never called into the room at the same time. Later, Santhosh’s face suggested that things had not entirely gone his way. An RSS leader even chided the BJP high command for insulting Santhosh, who is the RSS representative in the party. However, a pragmatic Modi knows that if he hopes to do well in the state in 2024, he needs the help of caste-based politicians with their ear to the ground and not selections based entirely on ideological considerations, and personal likes and dislikes. Santhosh’s style of functioning is considered too autocratic. A senior BJP leader pointed out that Karnataka is not Gujarat, where all sitting MLAs can be unseated and the party can still expect to win the state.
Franchise Cricket To Take Over
Questioning if franchise cricket will take over the international game, Tushar Bhaduri, in his column for The Financial Express, writes, “Most of the top cricketers in the world are owned by their Indian Premier League franchises as of this moment. Bilateral series and ICC mega-events are put on the back burner as they move around the vast country displaying their T20 skills in front of big crowds.”
He adds,
"There is a fear, not completely unfounded, that in the near future, only the marquee Test series involving the ‘Big Three’ will continue, along with the major ICC events. The rest of the cricketing calendar will be taken up by franchise leagues...What will really put the cat among the pigeons is if the BCCI allows its contracted players to feature in overseas T20 leagues. That’s not the case right now as the board feels that doing so will dilute the IPL brand and provide other competitions with the biggest USP that the Indian league has. If at any time in the future, the decision-makers in Indian cricket permit their players to appear in overseas leagues, upcoming players will have a viable source of livelihood without necessarily aiming to play for the country."
The ‘M’ Word
Commenting on the same-sex marriage hearings in the Supreme Court of India, Upala Sen, in her column for The Telegraph, writes,
“The Centre has said that the demand for same-sex marriage is specific to the “urban elite”. Its worry with this issue is that the court should not create or recognise a new social institution. Dear Centre, have you not heard of an athlete called Dutee Chand? Dutee Chand, who is the daughter of cotton weavers from Chaka Gopalpur village in Odisha's Jajpur district. Dutee Chand, who qualified for the 2016 Olympics. Dutee Chand, who won India a silver in the 2018 Asian Games. Dutee Chand, who came out to all after the Supreme Court of India ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence. The same Dutee Chand who wants to marry girlfriend Monalisa. To get back to the point, the LGBTQ hearings appeared to recognise and endorse the institution of marriage as a desirable and legitimising social framework, while discussing suggestions for new membership."
Seismic Traumas
Urging preparation in the event India suffers an earthquake, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, in his column for The Telegraph, writes, “Anyone looking at the perilously teetering constructions in our Himalayan towns, many of them multi-tiered on stilts, will see in a trice how susceptible they are to collapse in an even ‘mild’ seismic occurrence. But if anything like what hit Nepal eight years ago were to visit us, god forbid, the consequences would be too terrible to contemplate.”
Listing interventions required to be made by the State, he adds,
“The speed with which we rushed relief to Turkey augurs well for our planning betimes for our own seismic safety. As does the most welcome news that a forthcoming satellite, NISAR, jointly developed by our Indian Space Research Organisation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the US, is going to map the earthquake-prone Himalayas “with unprecedented regularity” and in a way that will not be obstructed by cloudy conditions, thereby giving potential warnings of likely seismic threats.”
Karnataka 2023 Enters Indian 2024 Game
With the Karnataka Assembly elections inching closer, Prabhu Chawla, in his column for The New Indian Express, examines what is at stake for the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
He writes:
"Going by the political narrative, it appears that the Southern Mahabharat is a war between the BJP and the Congress, with JD(S) playing a marginal role, hoping to be the kingmaker, if not the king itself. Both national players are keen to eliminate the Gowda Parivar as the dominant third player and turn the state into a bipolar battlefield. The Congress has the advantage in terms of the quality and popularity of its local leadership. Both KPCC President D K Shivakumar and former CM Siddaramaiah are well entrenched in local politics and have massive resources at their command… For Modi and the party, the idea and philosophy of Double Engine Sarkar are at stake. Fed on local mojo, the Congress has taken upon itself the task of demolishing what it calls the BJP's dangerous attempt to impose a Dilli Sarkar in every state at any cost.”
Demography: Destiny or Disaster?
Acknowledging that India is now the world’s most populous nation, Shankkar Aiyar, in his column for The New Indian Express, asks if the growing working-age population can deliver the demographic dividend.
He writes:
“It could be argued that if China could leverage its demographics why can’t India? History may well rhyme but the conditions vary. China invested in health and education. It boasts of a literacy rate of 95 plus per cent. China crossed the literacy rate of 78 per cent in 1990 – India is still at 77 per cent. The new economy calls for better schooling and skills -- the average Indian spends barely 6.3 years in schooling whereas the average Chinese worker has spent about 8.4 years and an American 13 years in schooling… India, in stark contrast, faces headwinds. Its economy must navigate past conflicting compulsions arising out of geopolitics. The return of economic nationalism, the fragmentation of trade, the newly announced industrial policies of advanced economies shrink the potential for global growth. Add to this the triad of disruptions – demography, climate change and accelerated adoption of technology.”
Gangsterism Instead of Justice
In her column for The Indian Express, Tavleen Singh, writes on the “vigilante execution of two mobsters while they were in police custody,” and why the Indian public has lost faith in the rule of law.
She writes,
“What has shocked me most is that it is not just Yogi’s semi-literate cheerleaders who have celebrated the execution of the two mobsters but learned editors and Hindutva intellectuals. These wise men have come out in open support of vigilante justice and openly reviled those who oppose it for being, horror of horrors, liberals, and leftists. If ‘new’ India is going to become a country in which the rule of law is ground into the dust by bulldozers, then we must accept that this new India will not be called a democracy. It will be a country that will be compared with autocracies like Russia and China and theocracies like Iran and Afghanistan. Is this the new India we want? It is time to ask this question.”
Years Ago, a UP CM: ‘My Hands Are Awash in Blood’
“In his book VP Singh: The Quest for Power, Janardan Thakur quotes Singh with reference to the encounters that took place during his tenure, “Mere haath khoon se lathpath hain, par khooniyon ke khoon se lathpath hain (My hands are awash in blood but they are bloodied with the blood of criminals),” writes Shyamlal Yadav, in his column for The Indian Express.
Drawing parallels between the number of encounters in CM Yogi Adityanath-led government with the government of Vishwanath Pratap (VP) Singh, Yadav writes, “Singh, a Thakur from Prayagraj, happens to be one of only two UP chief ministers who went on to become Prime Minister of India (the other was Charan Singh). It is said that on June 9, 1980, on his way to Lucknow to take oath, he asked Sanjay Singh of Amethi (then in the Congress, now BJP) for his opinion on the biggest problem faced by the people of UP. “Dacoity,” Singh replied…Weeks after taking oath, Singh launched a campaign against dacoits. Police encounters or dacoities made it to newspaper headlines almost every other day."
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