How Much Do People Care?
P Chidambaram, in his weekly column for The Indian Express, wonders if a middle class with values of Constitutional correctness, concern and care exists in India today.
He writes that middle class leaders led India's struggle for Independence with the energetic support of the people, and passionate concern about every development in the country. That middle class is conspicuously absent today, he adds.
"Nothing seems to stir the middle classes out of their self-imposed isolation. The relentless price rise, the crushing tax burden, the massive unemployment, the tragic internal migration of 2020, the uncounted millions of Covid-related deaths, the excesses of the police and investigating agencies, the flagrant denial of human rights, the hate speeches, the fake news, the systemic exclusion of Muslims and Christians, the egregious Constitutional violations, the oppressive laws, the subversion of institutions, the overturning of electoral mandates, the unspoken border conflict with China – nothing seems to disturb the middle classes."P Chidambaram, The Indian Express
A Bit Player
Boris Johnson is not in the league of great statesmen, Sunanda K Datta-Ray opines in his piece for The Telegraph. While Johnson has the dramatic flair, is prone to posturing and putting up elaborate pretenses, much like Jawaharlal Nehru and Winston Churchill, he doesn't have the qualities that made them great, he adds.
"But of both Churchill and Nehru it can be said that despite all vanities, they gave generously of their greatness to the motherland which was all the greater for that gift. Perhaps Japan’s cruelly murdered Shinzo Abe can join their ranks. But Johnson is not in that league. For the best that can be said of him, I must return again to Reagan who compared politics to show business. 'You have a hell of an opening, you coast for a while, you have a hell of a closing.' No bit player can expect more. His successor has a more arduous task for he must shape the future… if post-Brexit Britain has one."Sunanda K Datta-Ray, The Telegraph
How Democracy Grows Weak
In her column for The Indian Express, Tavleen Singh notes that while PM Narendra Modi is spot on about how dynastic politics weakens democracy, he seems to not understand much about other things that weaken it, like jailing journalists, locking up dissidents, threatening the media, and weaponising government agencies.
"India’s journey as a modern nation state has been damaged by our inability to end extreme poverty and by other economic and social failures. But through it all, if there has been one thing that we can be rightly proud of, it is our democracy. Anything done to weaken it weakens India. Since those who have perpetuated electoral feudalism grow more irrelevant every day, it is the other things that weaken democracy that need to be paid more attention to. Dissidence and dissent are the very lifeblood of democracy. They should be celebrated. Not crushed under a brutal jackboot."Tavleen Singh, The Indian Express
Good Golly, Ms Kali
Documentary filmmaker Leena Manimekalai recently sparked controversy after she tweeted a poster of her film in which the Hindu goddess Kali is shown smoking, with a pride flag in the background.
Chidanand Rajghatta, in his piece for The Times of India, points out how controversial depictions of Kali have often been used by western publications as a metaphor for India and women.
"A frequent go-to for magazines is Maa Kali. Time magazine pulled this in right from the get-go after India won its independence, depicting a self-injuring Goddess Kali to illustrate India’s Partition in an October 1947 cover. A more recent Time cover in 2012 celebrated Kali as “Goddess of the Year.” Ms magazine took Kali to a whole new level... In the 1972 cover, Miriam Wosk created the iconic first cover depicting a modern version Kali, with tears streaming down her face while she uses eight arms to juggle an overabundance of work and household tasks."Chidanand Rajghatta, The Times of India
Shinzo Abe Repositioned Japan in the World Order
Shinzo Abe, who was Japan's longest serving Prime Minister, will be remembered for framing the Indo-Pacific narrative based on a liberal order of common values and rules-based order, Srabani Roy Choudhury writes in The Hindustan Times. Abe died at the age of 67 after he was shot earlier on 8 July, in the city of Nara, Japan.
"Abe made his presence felt through his charm and astute decisions in multilateral outings, including the successful shepherding of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to completion. Anchoring on India, in his first outing, Abe elevated India-Japan relations to a Strategic and Global Partnership, in the process reframing the Asian landscape."Srabani Roy Choudhury, The Hindustan Times
Rupee’s Yoyo Calls for New Playbook
In his column for The New Indian Express, Shankkar Aiyar writes that the value of a currency has the "potent power" to trigger national pride or dismay. While steps like a hiked repo rate, higher levies on the import of gold, and a windfall tax on oil producers are welcome due to the global economic downturn, RBI should have reacted sooner, he opines.
"What is troublesome is that the approach in 2022 seems just as reactive as in earlier years even though the economy has evolved in scale and complexity. Insufficiency of attention and inadequacy of strategy has economic and political consequences. An economy approaching the five trillion GDP mark and positioned to be the third-largest in a decade needs a modern playbook aligned to its aspirations. India can do better."Shankkar Aiyar, The New Indian Express
What India’s Presidents Have Brought to the Table
James Manor, in his piece for The Hindustan Times, points out that while the role of a President is considered ceremonial, they can act independently in certain situations.
Against the backdrop of India's upcoming presidential election, the terms of former Presidents KR Narayanan and R Venkataraman hold key lessons, he writes.
"(Venkataraman) disapproved of a postal bill that Parliament under then PM Rajiv Gandhi had passed because he believed that by empowering state and central governments to intercept, detain, or dispose of any items in the post that were seen to endanger national security, the bill compromised fundamental freedoms. His predecessor, Zail Singh, also withheld assent from the bill without sending it back to ministers, partly for the same reasons, and partly because he was at odds with Rajiv Gandhi. Venkataraman quietly continued to take no action until the 1989 national election brought in a non-Congress government, which allowed the bill to lapse."James Manor, The Hindustan Times
Caste to Muslims, BJP Is Changing Orthodoxies
New India, steered by BJP-RSS, has a great capacity for "innovative articulation" when confronted with unforeseen situations, Khalid Anis Ansari writes in The Indian Express.
He points towards the BJP's plan to shed its upper caste image by reaching out to the aspirational political class within neglected castes and how it has engaged with the Muslim community with a more nuanced strategy.
"While Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany were the inspirations for RSS-BJP ideological ancestors, Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore, a development State with no Opposition and significant un-freedoms, seems to be an aspiration for the New India project. The RSS-BJP combine has reinvented itself to manage the socio-religious diversity through a carrot and stick policy, a mix of policy change and strategic social coercion. For the Opposition political parties and progressive sections not seduced by such a future, this may be the apt time to shed their dated political orthodoxies and learn from their adversary."Khalid Anis Ansari, The Indian Express
Hate Speech Cases: Courts Should Act and Not Just Scold
When the police fails to understand and sensibly implement India's vague criminal laws, it's up to the judiciary to keep it in check, Arghya Sengupta writes in his piece for The Times of India. But India's judicial system is failing, particularly at the district and taluka level, and is in desperate need of an overhaul, he opines.
"Chastising Nupur Sharma and everyone else who makes such statements without adjudicating on them speedily is like an umpire who scolds bowlers for bowling no-balls – avuncular and well-intentioned, but ultimately not performing their core function. If instead, that frustration could be channelled into a refresher course on bail jurisprudence for lower court judges, scientific allocation of cases, appointing adequate numbers of judges and professionalising the administration of the judiciary, the police may think twice before filing frivolous cases. No one in the judiciary appears keen to take these hard, long-term measures."Arghya Sengupta, The Times of India