Hi NL team,

Been a subscriber for the last couple of years and have loved the conversations on Hafta. Had a quick question for Mehraj: What are some of the issues that you see with Islam that are not caused by geopolitical issues or other external factors?

Asking this because though I usually appreciate your views on most subjects, when it comes to the controversial aspects of Islam, I see you either dodging the subject or worse, putting up a weak defense against the arguments. I believe it is easier to point fingers at the problems with other religions, but harder to look within (I see this issue with many people when it comes to Sikhism as well).

Keep up the great work everyone.

Best,

Harkirat Singh

***

Hello NL team,

Long time subscriber and Hafta fan. Perhaps this should be read out when Mehraj is on (although I’d love to get the rest of the team’s take too).

While discussing the recent Kashmir unrest (June 7 episode), one of the points Mehraj and Abhinandan made was that the BJP doesn’t fully understand the long-term implications of pursuing a demographic change strategy, and is doing it for short-term political gains.

However, the Israel example shows, at least in my opinion, that there is unfortunately a somewhat working model to pursue in order to effect demographic change over decades. For context, the Jewish population in the area has exploded (11 to 74 percent) since the British mandate of 1922, bucking the trend from centuries before.

What do you make of the theory that the Hindutva right, even if unwittingly, could be in the initial stages of this long drawn out chaotic, painful process in Kashmir? If this theory holds any water, it will undoubtedly cause suffering to millions of Muslims and Hindus in the valley. But, from the Hindutva perspective, it will be taken in stride as the cost of achieving the ultimate goal of establishing a Hindu Rashtra within India’s borders (and beyond).

Thanks,

Gautham

***

Hi Abhinandan,

Writing to complain about the Newslaundry iOS app. But first things first. Newslaundry is doing great work and I am proud to pay to keep news free. I was prompted to write this letter when I read this week's digest. Such great work!

About the app, I'm underwhelmed, especially after all the wait. There is room for many improvements, but following are my pet peeves:

1. When you leave the app and come back to it after some time, it seems like it refreshes everything again from the server. It's like I am opening it for the first time. I start from the home page.

2. Podcasts in airplane/offline mode. Okay, so this one SUCKS. Even when I have downloaded podcasts in the app, when I try to listen to them on a flight, the app won't even open up! I am not able to navigate to the podcast that I have downloaded because of no internet. Also, if I am already listening to a podcast and then go into airplane mode, the podcast keeps playing but the progress is not saved.

Loved Ye Bhi Theek Hai!

Karan

***

Guys seriously, your Gossip Girl attitude towards the Congress is disturbing. It's like you are all carrying it from the UPA era. What do you even mean, Raman, when you say "there's something wrong with the National Herald case"? Give me the details, especially when Congress spokespersons are doing a better job at giving out financial and legal details of the case.

Priyank

***

Guys, great job on Hafta. Love Abhinandan’s irreverent attitude for saying it as it is! Love Jayashree! Really would like to see her more often on the Hafta panel. Manisha, please stop with the interruptions. It really disrupts the rhythm and flow. Also, I do feel sometimes Manisha plays safe and does a lot of monkey balancing.

Guys, please do fix your app. Every time you open it, it reloads and one loses the last played position and has to keep going back and forth to find the last played position. It’s a very frustrating experience. Please do fix it ASAP. I am using an Apple phone.

Great work. Thanks for doing what you do!

Vee

***

Hi Hafta panel, long time subscriber and ex-employee. I am kinda kicked that I can write letters to you now and express my appreciation for Hafta.

After a decade of constantly following news, I am finally in a place where I'm not required to do that. It feels strange but oddly peaceful. Blissful even. Abhinandan, you'd be happy to know that I have bought a bicycle and have started exercising regularly (building up my stamina to play football with you one day). Just wanted to tell you folks that now, from the outside, I'm looking at Hafta and NL in a new light. I am listening to this podcast on a weekly basis to get the important news and it has been great! Now I know why so many subscribers say they ONLY listen to this podcast to keep themselves updated. I concur.

Just one tiny feedback. There are still a few glitches in the app, like I can't fill the letter form from the app. I have to go to the website to do it.

Thank you for everything that you do!

Meghnad

***

With Russia splitting from the ISS and China launching another module to build its own space station, how long do you think the outer space treaty lasts before countries start putting weapons in space? With China's history of control/occupation, its ambitions should be a huge worry to the rest of the world. Should we have government controlled colonisation or East India? I mean SpaceX/Virgin/Blue Origin. We need resources for the future.

Godwin Madho

***

Hello NL team,

Can I get your opinion on the ministry of minority affairs?

Along

***

This letter is being written with huge reluctance because I do not want to write on the same subject for three consecutive weeks. In Hafta episode 390, Manisha skipped the most relevant portion of my letter. As a result, Abhinandan, in the context of the Supreme Court hearing Arnab Goswami's petition in 2020, dismissed my claims outrightly without verifying the facts. Neither was his case heard at an insane hour in the night, nor were the judges at their residences (as claimed by Abhinandan). It was heard on Wednesday, November 11, 2020, from 10:44 am to 4:19 pm by a Supreme Court vacation bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Indira Banerjee.

As I wrote in my last week’s letter, in 2020 journalist Vinod Dua's plea was also heard on a Sunday and he was given protection from arrest in a sedition case. In 2020, 70 cases were listed urgently in SC in the lockdown period alone.

I am not doing monkey balancing by equating Zubair and Dua's case with Arnab's case. I am simply saying that courts should really think about urgent listing of cases of clients of big shot lawyers. There are more than 4.5 crore legal cases pending in India including 72,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court. As on December 18, 2020, there were 931 bail applications pending in the Supreme Court. 91,568 and 1,96, 861 petitions pertaining to bail were pending in high courts and trial courts respectively. Most importantly, SC has not heard a single constitutional bench case for the last 18 months (only abrogation of Article 370 and electoral bonds have not been put into cold storage). Currently, there are 52 constitutional bench cases pending before the apex court.

Lazy analysis of judiciary by certain "eminent intellectuals" (the day Zubair got bail an "intellectual" tweeted, "court has asserted itself", same intellectual was saying few days ago that SC is pliant) is clickbait. NL must do an LTA on Indian judiciary.

Koshik