In this episode, the usual Hafta gang of Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, Anand Vardhan and Madhu Trehan is joined by Alok Prasanna Kumar, a senior resident fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
The podcast begins with the panellists airing their views on the Ayodhya verdict and the Sabarimala issue. While discussing the Supreme Court’s verdict on Ayodhya, Alok says, “The burden of proof falls on both people and both sides have to prove this claim. What the Supreme court has said is quite puzzling.” He points out that the Muslims had been offering namaaz on that particular piece of land since 1857 and that one could not deny their claim to the particular part of that property. Speaking on the Sabarimala issue, he suggests, “You cannot, by law, impose a certain kind of religious prohibition that goes against the constitutional principles.”
Speaking about an email by a subscriber about political advertising on Twitter, Mehraj comments, “One person shouldn’t have the power to decide what goes and doesn’t go on social media platforms”. He thinks it is ‘undemocratic’.
The panel then moves on to discuss the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance in Maharashtra and the political logistics of the coalition. The discussion was sparked by an opinion piece that suggested the trio has fallen into a trap laid down by Amit Shah. The panel disagrees.
The panel also discusses the air pollution in Delhi and JNU protests among other things
Listen in! There’s more.
Hafta Letters: On Obama’s hatred for Twitter, Aatish Taseer’s exile and more
References
Ayodhya verdict: A conundrum of fact, fiction and faith
Ayodhya verdict: How claims of ‘mental worship’ at Babri Masjid helped win it for Hindus
Lights, Camera, Jai Shri Ram! A reporter’s account of news debates live from Ayodhya
TN Seshan: The crusader and newsmaker India needed in the 1990s
Listen, Mister Muslim. You are rightly upset with the Ayodhya verdict as it puts faith above law
Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are walking into an Amit Shah trap in Maharashtra
Sending my son Aatish Taseer to exile is not just wrong but evil
Recommendations
Mehraj
History is being deliberately neglected: Sabarimala and the Brahminisation of an Adivasi deity
Manisha
Eyewitness: Babri Masjid demolition
Abhinandan
In India, temple-building can be an antidote to the slowdown
Ayodhya verdict: A conundrum of fact, fiction and faith
TN Seshan: The crusader and newsmaker India needed in the 1990s
Sending my son Aatish Taseer to exile is not just wrong but evil*
Anand
Vashisht Narain Singh – आपका जीवन प्रतिभाओं को रोशनी देता रहेगा
Ayodhya 2003: Uncovering what lay beneath
Produced by Kartik Nijhawan, edited by Satish Kumar and recorded by Sapan Kumar.
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