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Politics

Modi Government Must Answer for India’s Historic Bank Loss of Rs 12 lakh crores

[ Originally published in The Wire, June 18th, 2023 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

Five months ago, on January 16, 2023, The Wire published an article on How in First Eight Years of Modi Government, Nearly Rs 12 Lakh Crore ‘Disappeared'. The humongous amount of Rs 12 lakh crore was calculated partly on the basis of actual numbers revealed by the government in parliament for five of the ‘eight-year period’ and on extrapolations and estimates where actual figures were not available.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • 2023। ২০২৩
  • Finance and Economics । অর্থব্যবস্থা ও অর্থনীতি
  • Bank NPA । ব্যাংক এন পি এ

[ Read More ]

A building with a design

[ Originally published in The Telegraph Online ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

Narendra Modi is in a hurry to tattoo his signature right across the chest of Delhi even after his costly gambit of redoing an already splendid Central Vista (Rajpath) flopped at the box-office. He had blocked the central artery of Delhi for almost three years, dug all around, pumped tonnes of pollutants into the city’s notoriously noxious air, sent traffic haywire, and blown up some 700 crore rupees. But when the new ‘Kartavya Path’ was inaugurated with orchestrated flourish, even the moles of the area yawned and went back to their burrows around the Boat Club.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Government । সরকার
  • 2023। ২০২৩
  • Central Vista । সেন্ট্রাল ভিস্তা
  • Parliament building । সংসদ ভবন

[ Read More ]

A Documentary Screening and a Stadium Event: Notes From Narendra Modi's Australia Trip

[ Originally published in The Wire, May 26th, 2023 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

The BBC’s telecast in January immediately triggered highly inflammable memories of communal riots in Gujarat in 2002, when Narendra Modi was the chief minister. These wounds were just too raw to be touched, even after Modi’s professionals had adroitly managed to cover them up, with the assistance of several legal eagles and the indulgence of judicial officials and those even higher up. Modi has been pronounced “not guilty” on certain specific narrow charges, for the present and to the extent possible, but many other questions continue to fly, all around, thick and fiery. This riot, in which over a thousand people – mainly Muslims – were slaughtered simply refuses to behave and lie still in its grave.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Government । সরকার
  • 2023। ২০২৩
  • BBC documentary । বিবিসি তথ্যচিত্র

[ Read More ]

নতুন সংসদের খেলা

[ Originally published in Jago Bangla, May 23rd, 2023 ] [ View PDF ]

শোনা যাচ্ছে যে আগামী ২৮ মে মাননীয় প্রধানমন্ত্রী একটি চকচকে নতুন সংসদ (New Parliament) ভবন আমাদের উপহার দেবেন। অবশ্য, আমরা কখনও এটি চেয়েছি বলে কেউ মনে করতে পারছি না। তা সত্ত্বেও তিনি দেশবাসীর দেওয়া আয়কর আর জিএসটির ১২০০ কোটি টাকা খরচ করে এই ত্রিকোণ গৃহটির উদ্বোধন করার জন্যে ছটফট করছেন।

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • 2023। ২০২৩
  • New Parliament Building। নতুন সংসদ ভবন

[ Read More ]

Is the Modi Government Helping Private Companies Benefit from the Russia-Ukraine War?

[ Originally published in The Wire, May 16th, 2023 ] [ View PDF ]

Having watched Narendra Modi for nine years, of which more than two were spent “in his government” – as head of a national organisation – I can state with certainty that every action of his has an ulterior motive of helping someone make huge profits. I guess these crony capitalists, in turn, look after Modi’s needs. But what is more important is how the state machinery is calibrated to suit the requirements of these beneficiaries

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • 2023। ২০২৩
  • Finance and Economics । অর্থব্যবস্থা ও অর্থনীতি
  • Russia-Ukraine War । রাশিয়া ইউক্রেন যুদ্ধ
  • Crude Oil । অপরিশোধিত তেল

[ Read More ]

The Utility of Futility: Requiem for a Washed-Out Parliament Session

[ Originally published in The Wire, April 10th, 2023 ] [ View PDF ]

For a government that constantly measures the ‘productivity’ of parliament in terms of hours or minutes wasted in non legislative business, this Budget session that has just ended ‘sine die’ would normally have been really heart-breaking. Data just released shows that Lok Sabha’s productivity had fallen from 83.8% in the first part of the Budget session that ended in February to just 5.29% in the second part in March-April. Over 96 hours and 13 minutes were lost to disruptions in the Lok Sabha, while they claimed 103 hours and 30 minutes in the Rajya Sabha. Whatever Modi and his captive media may propagate, Houses of parliament are not some sort of industrial assembly lines of production where machines and numbers matter the most. What is not noticed is despite its apparent futility, this latter part of the Budget session has been extremely productive in bringing the Opposition together.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Parliament । সংসদ
  • Government । সরকার
  • 2023। ২০২৩
  • Rahul Gandhi । রাহুল গান্ধী

[ Read More ]

Disruption by the Ruling Party Signals a New Low for India's Parliament

[ Originally published in The Wire, March 23rd, 2023 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

Seventy-three years may not be enough to pronounce a judgement on whether parliamentary democracy has worked in India or not. In a democracy, it is the lowest common denominator that prevails, and hence, it is futile to accept only Pericleses in the rough and tumble of the demos. But it is this same Indian parliament that has managed, without doubt, to bring together under one roof, into some sort of dialogue, the incredibly diverse peoples, ethnicities, and religious denominations. Issues are settled in Sansad through debate – sometimes, a bit too loudly. But let us not forget that some of today’s participants had once favoured the gun rather than talk. In just seven decades, governments and the parliament have, indeed, succeeded in cooling off numerous intractable sectarian and secessionist passions. The first election to the Lower House (Lok Sabha) will go down in history as one of those wonders that only Indians are capable of demonstrating – maybe once or twice in a century.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Government । সরকার
  • 2023। ২০২৩

[ Read More ]

মোদিজি, শুনছেন?

[ Originally published in Jago Bangla, February 8th, 2023 ] [ View PDF ]

আর কিছুদিন পরেই নতুন সংসদ ভবনের উদ্বোধন, যদিও সাংসদরাই এখনও পর্যন্ত জানেন না উদ্বোধনের সঠিক দিনক্ষণ-মুহূর্ত। কিন্তু ১২০০ কোটি টাকা ব্যয়ে এই নতুন ভবন নির্মাণের আবশ্যকতা কী ছিল? গৃহ ও নগরোন্নয়ন দফতরের মন্ত্রী জানিয়েছেন পুরনো সংসদ ভবনটি অনাকাঙ্ক্ষিত ভাবে ঔপনিবেশিক স্থাপত্যের ঐতিহ্যবাহী এবং শতবর্ষপ্রাচীন হওয়ার কারণে বিপজ্জনকও বটে। এভাবে প্রয়োজনীয়তা ব্যাখ্যাত হওয়ার পর এনিয়ে প্রশ্নবাণে প্রধানমন্ত্রীকে জর্জরিত করলেন সাংসদ জহর সরকার।

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • 2023। ২০২৩

[ Read More ]

কীভাবে ১২ লক্ষ কোটি উধাও হয়ে গেল !

[ Originally published in Jago Bangla, January 31st, 2023 ]

কেন্দ্রীয় অর্থমন্ত্রক সংসদে প্রশ্নের জবাবে এমন ঘুরিয়ে-ফিরিয়ে কিছু সংখ্যা পরিসংখ্যান প্রদান করছে যে তার থেকে পুরো চিত্রটা অনুধাবন করা সহজ নয়। তাই আমরা ঠিক করেছি দীর্ঘদিন ধরে অনাদায়ী ঋণের দায়ে ব্যাঙ্কগুলো ক্ষতির বিষয়ে কেন্দ্রীয় অর্থমন্ত্রী ও এই দফতরের প্রতিমন্ত্রী যেসব কথা সংসদে বলেছেন, সেগুলো একত্রিত করে পরিবেশন করব। আমরা আবিষ্কার করেছি ১২ লক্ষ কোটি টাকা ব্যাঙ্কগুলো থেকে সরানো হয়েছে এবং এই কম্মটি করেছেন মূলত বড় বড় কর্পোরেট সংস্থাগুলো। এই অপকর্মটি তাঁরা করেছেন নরেন্দ্র মোদির শাসনকালের প্রথম আট বছরেই।

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Government । সরকার
  • 2023। ২০২৩

[ Read More ]

India & Fake News: Can Govt Spare Extra Effort & Let Fact Checkers Do Their Job?

[ Originally published in The Quint, January 21st, 2023 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

The government’s concern at the circulation of patently false news items is quite understandable as there is a noticeable rise in the visibility of such items circulating on the social media. In fact, 2023 is the tenth year since this new weapon was added to the arsenal of India’s major political parties. These items stir up emotions, for or against the regime, and whip up rage at perceived attacks and insults on one’s religion. There are clear reasons to assume that several hordes of people or teams must be working overtime to disseminate them in order to raise the temperature in people’s minds with these distortions of the truth.

  • On Media । গণমাধ্যম বিষয়ে
  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Government । সরকার
  • 2023। ২০২৩
  • Fake News । ফেক নিউজ
  • fact-check । ফ্যাক্ট-চেক
  • Press Information Bureau (PIB) । প্রেস ইনফর্মেশন ব্যুরো
  • AltNews

[ Read More ]

How in First Eight Years of Modi Government, Nearly Rs 12 Lakh Crore ‘Disappeared'

[ Originally published in The Wire, January 16th, 2023 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

There are reasons to believe that some 12 lakh crore rupees have been systematically siphoned off from banks in the first 8 years of Narendra Modi’s rule — mainly by big corporate borrowers,. This was/is done quite ‘legitimately’ by taking loans for units and then getting them written off as unrecoverable non-performing assets (NPAs) The scale of that is 4 to 6 times higher than the internationally accepted norm. Obviously such a massive but smooth operation is simply not possible without complete political backing. Every GM, ED or CMD of a bank knows that when he is told by someone representing the core of political power “to lend to X”, he jolly well does it.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Government । সরকার
  • 2023। ২০২৩

[ Read More ]

A Few Questions from an MP to the Prime Minister About the New Parliament Building

[ Originally published in The Wire, January 30th, 2023 ] [ View PDF ]

Like many other ordinary Members of Parliament, we wait with bated breath for the day that we shall all be herded in silence into the august presence of the interior of the new Parliament building. We shall gaze with yokelish amazement at the latest wonder that you are bestowing upon India.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Government । সরকার
  • 2023। ২০২৩
  • New Parliament Building। নতুন সংসদ ভবন

[ Read More ]

আলোর চেয়েও দ্রুততর নির্বাচন কমিশনারের নিয়োগ

[ Originally published in Jago Bangla, December 2nd, 2022 ] [ View PDF ]

নির্বাচন কমিশনার অরুণ গোয়েলকে যেরকম তড়িদগতিতে নিয়োগ করা হল, তা নিয়ে প্রশ্ন তুলেছেন শীর্ষ আদালতও। মোদি জমানার আরও কীর্তি ‘সুপ্রিম’ প্রশ্নের মুখে। লিখছেন সাংসদ জহর সরকার

যেরকম দ্রুততার সঙ্গে অরুণ গোয়েলের নিয়োগে ছাড়পত্র দিয়েছে কেন্দ্রীয় সরকার, এই বাহ্য, স্বয়ং প্রধানমন্ত্রীর অঙ্গুলি নির্দেশে যেভাবে বিদ্যুৎ গতিতে এই নিয়োগ প্রক্রিয়াটি সম্পন্ন হয়েছে, সেটা এককথায় তুলনারহিত। তাবৎ পরম্পরা এবং প্রতিষ্ঠিত নীতিসমূহ পরাস্ত হয়েছে এই দ্রুততার কাছে। অরুণ গোয়েল কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের সচিব পদে ইস্তফা দেন। ইস্তফাদানের কয়েক মিনিটের মধ্যেই ভিজিলেন্সের ছাড়পত্র পান আর প্রধানমন্ত্রী সেই পদত্যাগ পত্রটি সঙ্গেসঙ্গে অনুমোদন করেন। অন্যদের চাকরির নথি ঘেঁটে অবসরকালীন সুযোগ-সুবিধার জাবেদা-খতিয়ান প্রস্তুতিতে যেখানে কেয়কদিন কেটে যায়, সেখানে মাত্র কয়েক ঘণ্টার মধ্যে শ্রী গোয়েলের পেনশন, গ্র্যাচুইটি, প্রভিডেন্ট ফান্ড-সহ তাবৎ বকেয়া প্রদানের ব্যবস্থা হয়ে গেল এক ঘণ্টার মধ্যে। এটা আরও বিস্ময়জনক বলে প্রতীয়মান হয় যখন দেখি শ্রীগোয়েলের চাকরির মেয়াদটি বড় কম ছিল না। তিনি দীর্ঘ ৩৬ বছর সরকারে চাকরি করেছেন, কখনও রাজ্যে কখনোবা কেন্দ্রে।

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী

[ Read More ]

In Arun Goel’s Appointment, Paperwork Can’t Paper Over Surgical Strike on Due Process

[ Originally published in The Wire, November 29th, 2022 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

They are caught playing around with the time-tested established principles and procedures of good and fair governance.

In a democracy, public affairs are no one’s personal fiefdom, though those in power often get their way in, say, getting someone into a position. But even here, the rules of eligibility must permit or be stretched to cover the executive’s will, or be vague enough not to stand in the way.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Government । সরকার
  • Arun Goel । অরুণ গোয়েল

[ Read More ]

The Ramayana tradition and Indian secularism

[ Originally published in The New Indian Express, January 21st, 2021 ] [ View PDF ]

Two recent news stories about Ram from two extremes of India, Ayodhya and Ram Setu, would have caught one’s attention. Where Ayodhya is concerned, the Pandora’s box had actually been opened long ago, in December 1949, when KKK Nair, the not-so-secular district magistrate of Faizabad, facilitated the sudden ‘appearance’ of Ram-Sita images inside Babri Masjid.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Religion । ধর্ম
  • Hinduism । হিন্দু ধর্ম
  • Ramayana । রামায়ণ

[ Read More ]

The Modi Government’s Blatant Disregard for Regulations in the Making of Kartavya Path

[ Originally published in The Wire, September 20th, 2022 ] [ View PDF ]

Narendra Modi is not all oratory or glory with trumpets – he has a long track record of boasting and bungling, and sometimes just disregarding rules and conventions as well.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Central Vista । সেন্ট্রাল ভিস্তা
  • Kartavya Path । কর্তব্য পথ
  • Delhi । দিল্লি

[ Read More ]

India Needs to Hit Back at Trump but Not on Russian Oil

[ Originally published in The Wire, August 10th, 2022 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ][ View on ResearchGate ]

Now that US President Donald Trump is getting more overbearing by the day, Prime Minister Modi has, at last, decided to stand up to him. No self-respecting nation can exist at the mercy of another and India has a track record of standing up to American hegemony and its Seventh Fleet gunboats and paying the price for them. Remember former Prime Minister Indira ticking off Nixon-Kissinger or even Vajpayee going ahead with his Pokhran II nuclear demolition?

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Donald Trump । ডোনাল্ড ট্রাম্প
  • Reliance Industries। রিলায়েন্স ইন্ডাস্ট্রিজ

[ Read More ]

'Agnipath' Adds To Modi's List Of Inglorious Blunders

[ Originally published in NDTV.com, June 20th, 2022 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

As fire and protests rage across the country, one is reminded of the utter lawlessness that Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, the three classical political philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries had referred to as the 'state of nature'. Things are not yet so bad, thankfully so, in spite of scenes of thousands of the unemployed young torching millions' worth of public property. They are up against the new Agnipath scheme that seeks to recruit some 45,000 short-time 'soldiers' into the army on a contractual basis. Modi's India has not seen such a worrisome breakdown of law and order, one that is so expressly violent and widespread in so many states.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী
  • Agnipath । অগ্নিপথ

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An Unrelenting Patriot

[ Originally published in Millennium Post, June 5th, 2022 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

The Sangh's mouthpiece, Swaraj, in its issue of June 23, 2019, insists that Syama Prasad Mookerjee had actually saved Hindu Bengalis from "imminent annihilation", and its powerful social media repeats this claim incessantly. The PM renamed Kolkata Port Trust in his name and there appears a renewed interest in Mookerjee — the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh that later metamorphosed into the Bharatiya Janata Party. As the son of the most powerful Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University — Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee — Syama Prasad's academic achievements were under a bit of a cloud in the 1920s.

  • People & Memories । মানুষ এবং স্মৃতি
  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • History | ইতিহাস
  • Personalities / ব্যক্তিত্ব
  • Syama Prasad Mookerjee । শ্যামাপ্রসাদ মুখার্জি

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The Bulldozer Is the Latest Symbol of Toxic Masculinity to Create Havoc in the Populace

[ Originally published in The Wire, May 13th, 2022 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

The bulldozer style of saffron politics has provoked quite a few articles from different angles, but we may like to look at the juggernaut vehicle as the latest expression of toxic masculinity – something which was quite evident in its predecessors, the horse, the motorcycle and the speedster car.

So, let’s begin with the horse. From amidst the wealth of literature on the relationship between man and the horse, we zoom directly into Adrienne C. Frie’s report in the Oxford Journal of Archaeoolgy in October 2017, on an archaeological examination of burial ground culture at a site in Slovenia.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Government । সরকার
  • Bulldozer । বুলডোজার

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There Is Much to Be Learned from Modi’s Electoral Strategy – Including How to Counter It

[ Originally published in The Wire, March 28th, 2022 ] [ View PDF ][ View on Academia ]

Now that we are slowly getting over the shock and disappointment over the recent results of elections to five state assemblies, it may be time to stop fooling ourselves.

  • Politics । রাজনীতি
  • Narendra Modi । নরেন্দ্র মোদী

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