Big fan of Newslaundry, especially Madhu Ma’am.

Just want to ask one question to Anand Vardhan. Why did Anand want Kanhaiya Kumar to lose? 

Anonymous

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Dear Team Newslaundry,

As introductions go, I am a subscriber and regular consumer of your podcasts. 

I am a PhD in Environmental Sciences and focus on climate policy processes and institutions in emerging economies. I am based in Cape Town and work on Climate Policy, Just Transition and Plastic Pollution. So you will understand my pain when I have to point out that in my last 3-4 years of engagement with Newslaundry, the number of times climate and environmental issues has been discussed on Hafta is probably in single digits and very shallow. Whether that be the coverage of 2015’s Paris Agreement or the usual American-centric NY Times recommendation of Madhu (“The Decade we could stop Climate Change”) that suffered from “Captain America” syndrome. There has possibly been only one episode of Hafta/Charcha in last one year where environmental issues were discussed a bit.

 The point is, that in the time of Paris Agreement, School Strikes, Extinction Rebellion, IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C, plummeting number of insects, Nature’s unprecedented and dangerous decline, life-threatening plastic pollution, and the heroic activism driven by Greta Thunberg, you continue to make the choice to remain blissfully ignorant on the stories that affect the future of nature and life. I hope that on June 5, World Environment Day you will do better. Invite some environmental journalist Joydeep Gupta from the Third Pole or Nitin Sethi and have a dedicated discussion on the mess we are in. Otherwise, when it comes to climate and environment, you are no better off than the big media. It is about time that you weigh in on these issues. 

Other than that and a very binary (either Indian or American) take on the things that matter the most, you guys have been doing very good work.

All the best.

Best,

Prabhat Upadhyay

P.S.: Since I am at it, I would like to recommend the series Our Planet’for the Awful & Awesome podcast.

***

Hi NL team,

 Hope everyone’s doing well. I broadly agree with Abhinandan, Manisha, and Anand from the last Hafta that Hindutva was not the only plank on which the BJP won, though it still remains an important one critical to rally the base that actually does the legwork during the elections. So, I don’t have much new to add here except that I think you missed in your discussion the role of political funding and the communication aspect of BJP’s win. Only they had the money and manpower to execute a marketing blitzkrieg on a mammoth scale that made sure their narrative reached every Indian possible—whether it be through complete control over the media, thousands of WhatsApp groups spreading information AND  misinformation—BJP had the monopoly on money to beat everyone else in  the communication department. I would like to suggest a piece by Parth MN in Firstpost that analyzes the contribution of welfare politics in this election win. There’s an interesting point that not everyone benefited from the various schemes (much has been written about the flaws in implementation so I’ll not go into that) but the messaging around the welfare schemes was always that of a “work in progress” that kept the hopes alive in those who did not benefit that their turn would arrive soon, as long as Modi returns to power. At the end of the day, clever marketing won.

I had a great time listening to Christina on Reporters Without Orders a few months ago and was very glad to have her as part of last week’s panel—but I was very disappointed over Madhu’s reaction to Christina’s remark on India being a Hindu state. I like Madhu’s no-nonsense attitude toward most things but this time her reaction felt, well, frankly insulting toward the guest. Christina is a prominent Dalit voice and instead of engaging with her or asking why she felt that way, Madhu chose to dismiss with a curt “this makes me very uncomfortable, I’m not even going to address it”. I would say RWO does a much better job at engaging with guests and differing points of view and Hafta could take a lesson or two. RWO is quickly becoming my most favorite NL podcast.

Anyway, keep up the good work and as always, I look forward to NL’s work.

Thank you,

Sayani Dasgupta

***

Dear Comrades,

Bhagwa Salaam! Congrats on the Modi victory. You will definitely have something to talk for the next 5 years. I look forward to the next 260-odd haftas.

Two questions:

1) Ram Guha has said multiple times that Nehru was popular among the women of India, which  was one factor that made him more suited for leadership than Patel. Since, Modi seems to be popular among women as well. How would you explain this? Only his schemes? Maybe a portion is latent attraction to a smartly dressed desi-looking guy, as opposed to a clean-shaved baby faced Rahul Gandhi. Maybe credit for this election should also go to Modi’s fashion designer and beard man. What says the group?

2) On journalism. Senior journalists after years of reading and working become public intellectuals. N Ram makes well-thought out points in public now. So does Arun Shourie. I think journalists may have a front seat to things that people who live in universities just may not. It should make them better intellectuals. Or maybe they never gain the depth of knowledge a uni. position may give. Please speculate.

Best,

Siddharth Tourani

***

Hello Abhinandan and the NL Hafta team,

While we were busy navel gazing as usual about our elections, a huge multi-phased election also occured in another part of the world. The EU parliamentary elections have confirmed how universal the rise of the far-Right has become. But there was also another more hopeful outcome to be observed. The green parties across the EU have performed exceptionally well. They will now form a substantial and influential grouping in the European Parliament.

The credit for this should go to the popular movements advocating for action on climate crisis, the most notable of them being the School Strike for Climate Movement spearheaded by Greta Thunberg and the Extinction Rebellion movement in the UK.

In India, we have also had popular environmental movements like the Chipko Andolan and the Narmada Bachao movement in the past but they did not have an impact on electoral politics. Our apathy about environmental issues is appalling. The toxic air that we breath and the dirty water that we drink have direct consequences for us, yet these were not even marginal issues in our elections. Media organisations have failed in their duty due to their abysmal coverage of environmental issues. Newslaundry is no exception.

India is one of the most affected countries due to climate change. The rising seas are affecting millions of coastal residents. We have a huge water crisis. The extractive industries, with active collusion of our politicians, are laying to waste vast swathes of our once pristine forests and their precious wildlife while displacing thousands of our Adivasi brethren. Our rivers are dead and our lakes are filthy, our soil is denuded and our wildlife is on the brink of extinction.

 I sound alarmist because the situation is alarming. I suggest that Newslaundry do a series of in-depth, on-ground reports on climate and ecological crises. Only then will you be able to live up to your motto of public interest journalism. 

Shreyas Pathak

PS: It would be great if you invite an environmentalist on NL Hafta and discuss these issues. Also I would like to see Meghnad on the Hafta panel to discuss the legislative priorities of this government and the proposed AFSPA like amendments to the Indian Forest Act.

***

Hi NL Team,

Manisha said it right in Hafta 225 that everybody missed the working schemes of gas cylinders, toilets, etc. as an aspect in this election. Why did Newslaundry miss this? Before the elections, I really expected NL Hafta or a long NL report where you deep dive on various aspects of this government keeping your bias aside: what worked, what didn’t, is national security really an issue for a poor farmer or a lower middle class family and what is their experience today, etc. Instead there were only Abhinandan’s incessant and repetitive anti-Modi/BJP rants on same set of topics that offered nothing to the listener (at least me) and consumed much of Hafta’s precious time. I don’t deny their importance, I am just trying to understand: given that you are an independent media, why did you not put efforts/time in looking at holistic picture and dig all aspects, which others obviously did not want to do.

Anand Vardhan is your star. Frankly, he is the only reason I still listen to Hafta. In every discussion he brings great perspectives (examples: points in Ep 225 and his post-election analysis report and earlier episode where Priyanka Gandhi’s decision on not running from Varanasi was discussed). You lose him, you lose me.

Also, just as what many other subscribers have experienced, your idea of having a book promotion on Hafta has significantly diminished its quality. Episode with Saba Naqvi was easily the worst episode in Hafta history. Your guests used to add a lot of value before this practice started.

While I had many points of contention with Christina’s viewpoints, one I really want to mention here. She said TN did not vote for BJP because of its secular nature when it comes to religion. It may be true that people are less discriminating in TN, but this is not the main reason for rejecting BJP/ADMK. The Dravidian parties have convinced voters that BJP is a party that (i) imposes Hindi and aims to eliminate Tamil (huge topic and sentiment), (ii) brought NEET exam, which favors only North Indians with its difficulty levels (and capable of doing more damages like that in all aspects), and (iii) controls the ADMK party after Amma’s death, and ADMK has in fact put up a pathetic show after Amma’s passing away. Naturally votes swung to DMK, which was well expected.

Finally, really looking forward to a better app. I like to read your reports once in 2-3 days and every time I scroll down in the home page of your app and click on a story, read it and press the back button, it brings me back to the top of the home page of your app instead of going back to the point where I clicked the story (so I can easily continue to scroll down again). This is such a pain. Please, please change this!

Otherwise you do a great job!

Best regards,

Suraj Prabhakaran

***

Dear Newslaundry,

I’m certain you’ve received a lot of mail from your readers in the aftermath of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. I say aftermath because I, personally, view this as a sad day for democracy in India, if you can even claim that what existed was democracy in the first place. I see it more as an effective voting system, not a true democracy, just as India has an examination system, not an education system.

I was first appalled to see someone embroiled in accusations of genocide ascend to India’s highest political office, followed by a priest becoming the chief minister of a state to now someone with credible accusations of terrorism being elected to parliament. The BJP and RSS saw that Advani’s Rath Yatra translated into more votes for them, no matter the lives lost. At that point, Modi was the more hardline figure in the party. Now that evidence of his past crimes has magically vanished and his image whitewashed, Ajay Mohan Bisht (Yogi) is normalised as the more hardline figure. He will soon receive the same PR makeover as Modi and Pragya will be cast as the new hardline figure. The slide is shocking, to say the least and does not bode well.

The election outcome represents one of two, equally disastrous possibilities for India’s future. One, that the electorate is so gullible that literally anything will sway their vote, or two, that they actively endorse discrimination, violence against and the subjugation of minorities, particularly of Indian Muslims. I cannot say which is worse.

I am in a position of tremendous privilege. I no longer live in India and will soon relinquish my Indian citizenship and will do so with no regrets. As someone whose name readily gives away the fact that I am a minority, I have often had the misfortune of seeing what India and Indians really are. My experiences range from being ejected from a wedding because I consume beef to being forced by Indians abroad to tell them my Hindu name. Behind the veneer of tolerance is a gullible populace buying into a narrative of Hindu victimhood and one that is actively obsessed with revenge for past wrongs instead of building a prosperous future. The normalisation of hate is absolutely shocking and the readiness of Indians to buy into it does not bode well for India’s future as a free society. India was and remains a fundamentally illiberal country and the average Indian is a poorly educated, uninformed, war-mongering, psychopath who has few, if any, achievements of their own and whose misplaced sense of pride rests on feeble fables. The BJP have found the magic formula to manipulate the majority of the Indian electorate and have been fantastically effective at ensuring that no opposition party is able to cash in on this. They have legalised and anonymised political bribery, control the media narrative and have access to so much funding that an election outcome where they do not win is likely impossible at this point. Sure, they lost some of the state elections recently but that was a mere blip.

My opinion of India has always been negative but I have held on to the hope that Indians are not as bad as I believed them to be. Year after year, my suspicions have been borne out and I’ve watched the slide towards a Hindu Pakistan.

You may not share my negative views but I’ll bet good money on India being doomed in the long run. Give it a few decades at most but either the people’s own blind bigotry or climate change will doom the country forever.

The future has never been more bleak. India was already broken, held together more by shared poverty than anything else, but will soon shatter completely.

An Indian (for now)