In this week’s episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan and Christina Thomas Dhanaraj, co-founder of the Dalit History Month collective.
The podcast begins with Manisha describing the election week that went by and the BJP’s enormous victory. After a recap of the election results announced on May 23, Abhinandan and Manisha highlight some of the keynotes, including Rahul Gandhi’s loss in Amethi, and Atishi and the Aam Aadmi Party’s loss in Delhi. Moving to Narendra Modi’s speech after his victory, Abhinandan says, “The one thing that I thought was a bit cringe-inducing was his mocking the term ‘secularism’. Even if he is saying he is only mocking those people who use it as a badge … clearly, he was mocking the term.”
A letter from a subscriber sparks a discussion on the idea of affirmative action and its application over generations. Christina says: “No one seems to get the basic point that none of the problems gets solved in one generation. And two, there is something called ‘inter-generational deficit’. We are talking about 2,000-year-old oppression.” She asks the panel, “How can one generation completely remove all of that deficit?” The discussion continues with Madhu and Anand chipping in with their opinions.
Going back to the elections, Abhinandan asks what the big takeaways were. Manisha says, “Of course, exit polls were super interesting this time. When the Axis poll came up with the 360 figure … they got a lot of flak on Twitter. It turned out they were correct.” Among other things, Christina weighs in on the political scenario in Tamil Nadu while Anand talks about the results in Bihar.
This and a lot more, so listen up!
A review of NL Hafta by Ashutosh, Sagar, Arvind, Dhiraj, Omar, Vivek, Vidhi and Aditya
References
How the idea of Modi won the BJP a second term
Ten charts that explain the 2019 Lok Sabha verdict
Why is TV media so muddled when it comes to exit polls?
TV Newsance Exposé: Truth About The Khan Market Gang
#MadhyaPradesh: They’ve voted for Scindias for decades, but receive poverty in return
Recommendations
Christina
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes and Black Women in America by Melissa V Harris-Perry
Madhu
Kushner, Inc: Greed, Ambition, Corruption by Vicky Ward
Manisha
I am a Modi Supporter in a Media Office Watching the Ultimate Liberal Meltdown
The Hindutva nation and its discontents
‘People may be fed-up of Modi, but they don’t have faith in the Congress’
Anand
Awakening Bharat Mata: The Political Beliefs of the Indian Right by Swapan Dasgupta
Abhinandan
At Sangam, Pilgrims and Boatmen Claim Surge in Modi Wave
Produced by Kartik Nijhawan, recorded by Anil Kumar and edited by Satish Kumar.
You can also listen to all our podcasts on the Newslaundry App and get updates about all our podcasts via Twitter and Facebook.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
