This week on NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Jayashree Arunachalam and Anand Vardhan are joined by author Tushar Gandhi. 

The conversation begins with Tushar recounting the police action against the silent march in Mumbai to commemorate the Quit India Movement, and the “insecurities” of the Maharashtra government. The panel divulges how a peaceful march is perceived as more dangerous by the state than one involving hate speech and people armed with weapons.

The discussion stirs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech, which Abhinandan views as “pale” and “a bit under confident” in comparison to his earlier speeches. “Even an Independence Day speech is not about the nation, it is about Modi’s electoral prospects,” says Tushar, while the panel highlights the significance of Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s absence from Independence Day celebrations at Red Fort as a mark of protest.

Dwelling into the times of the independence movement, Tushar talks about his great grandfather Mahatma Gandhi’s relations with nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, and the manoeuvres to show Gandhi and Ambedkar as adversaries. Jayashree asks Tushar about the fake news and hate campaigns against Gandhi, while Abhinandan delves into how Indian history has suffered from a chronic ignorance of truth.

Meanwhile, on the floods and the consequent devastation in Himachal Pradesh, Raman highlights the inadequacies of Modi’s Har Ghar Nal campaign, and the purported absence of scientific approach in the infrastructure projects in sensitive Himalayan region. 

This and a lot more, tune in!

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Song: Vaishnav Jana to

Timecodes

00:05:15 - Headlines 

00:14:03 - PM Speech on Independence day

00:41:36 - Gandhi’s Legacy

01:10:45 - Himachal floods

01:21:47 - Subscriber letters

01:32:50 - Recommendations 

References

The Lost Diary of Kastur 

Lets Kill Gandhi

India’s retail Inflation surges to 7.4% in July to high vegetable prices; food CPI highest since October 2020

Recommendations

Tushar

The Story of My Experiments with Truth

Hind Swaraj

Anand

Court on Trial: A Data-Driven Account of the Supreme Court of India

More bat & ball, less song & dance

Jayashree

Shaadi Like a Savarna

‘No riot can last for more than 24 hours unless the state wants it to continue’

Raman

Complaints, non-compliance, pro-govt stance: Inside the rise and ruin of India’s human rights regime

Himalayan blunders

Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food

Abhinandan

Adani Group complained against farm law. Gov’t diluted it to allow hoarding by corporates

What India’s foreign-news coverage says about its worldview

Check out our previous Hafta recommendations.

Produced and recorded by Tehreem Roshan & Prashant Kumar, edited by Hassan Bilal.