On this special episode of Hafta, our in-house team is joined by two subscribers, Swati Puri and Sayani Dasgupta, and journalist TR Vivek, who won the RedInk Award for his report on Cauvery for Newslaundry.
The team discusses the Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka and the recent incident of open firing in Tamil Nadu. Commenting on Amnesty’s report on 100 Hindus being massacred by Rohingya militants (1:34:00), TR Vivek says, “The funny outcome is that the right wing has fallen in love with Amnesty International.”
He also talks about his report, “Cauvery: A basin on the burn” (5:00). He says, “The river has played a very, very large part in the upbringing and cultural life for all our family and extended family etc.” He adds, “Cauvery is the lifeblood of everything in that culture.” Abhinandan says, “In part one, he travelled along the river on the Karnataka side and in part two, he will be traveling along the Tamil Nadu side.”
After this, Sayani and Swati, our NL subscribers talk to Abhinandan to discuss the topic of gender issues (10:20).
The discussion kicks off with Sayani’s critique of NL Hafta podcast. She says, “Since you are (NL Hafta) in a position to shape opinions, Hafta panelists should frame their arguments around gender matters more responsibly.”
Abhinandan agrees, that the world is optimised for men (whether it is policies, organisations or use of language). But in regard to cases such as Raya Sarkar’s list and the Babe.net article that accused Aziz Ansari of misconduct on a date, equating all cases to the #Metoo campaign worries him. He argues, “If everyone was put into the same category, you will lose a lot of people.”
Swati says, “When women sign up for work, they do it because they want to work. They don’t do it because they want to have sex with their bosses.” She adds, “To say that there is some degree of discretion in this without pointing out in the same breath that there is a clear imbalance of power is wrong.” She adds, “It is also about recognising the degree of choice that this person (who avails sexual favour) is exercising in this situation is not as much as you are making it out to be.”
Sayani applauds the Kerala government’s efforts to contain the outbreak of disease caused by Nipah virus. Sayani holds a PhD degree in Biochemistry from National Institute of Immunology.
Moving on to the oath-taking of Chief Minister of Karnataka (48:50), Raman weighs in and says, “I see the significance of using that platform…the Opposition wanted to send a message for 2019.” Abhinandan talks about Mayawati meeting Sonia Gandhi at the oath ceremony to which Raman says, “That’s the picture talking about 2019 also.”
Anand talks about the emergence of BJP as “true blue national party”. He urges to look beyond the contemporary narrative and acknowledge that it is the “single largest party in the southern state”. He confirms, “2018 will only be about 2019”, keeping in context the recent political developments. Raman adds, “the permutations and combinations which are going to emerge now are going to be very interesting”.
Abhinandan shifts the attention of the panel to the shots fired at a group of protesters in Tamil Nadu (1:00:10). He talks about the “videos evidence of cops telling each other, ‘at least one should die’”. Abhinandan wonders over “why is the BJP defending the cops”. TR Vivek says, “Their insensitivity would have no consequences.” Anand explains, “Natural resources when equated with public good elicit this kind of reactions.” Vivek also talks about Tamil Nadu emerging as the protest centre of the country. He adds, “While this is not to whitewash what has happened…every industrial activity in the state is protested.” Raman talks about the fundamental principle of shooting one below the belt.
This and more, listen up.
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I went on a date with Aziz Ansari. It turned into the worst night of my life
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Produced by Shubham Mishra (@ShubhamMishra__ )
Recorded by Anil Kumar
Audio switching by Samarendra K Dash
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