Akhilesh Comes of Age as National Leader and Modi is Feeling the Heat; Bangladesh Protestors Now Want Hasina to Quit
A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK
Snapshot of the day
August 2, 2024
Siddharth Varadarajan
The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the sub-classification of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribe communities based on socio-economic criteria and the apportioning of existing quotas on that basis will not only benefit the most marginalised of communities (like the Madigas in the Telugu states) but is also likely to strengthen the hands of those demanding the enumeration of Other Backward Classes through a nationwide caste census.
Caste-wise data on each SC and ST community has always been recorded and published in the decennial census and the government thus has readily available statistics on intra-SC and intra-ST differentials in educational attainment, quality of housing, etc. But there is no firm data on the overall size of the OBC population, let alone of relative disparities within the cohort and this is the demand the Congress and the INDIA alliance are aggressively made. Now that the apex court has emphasised the link between deprivation and reservation, the case for data has become ever more compelling.
One of the judges on the constitution bench, Justice Pankaj Mithal, has come under fire from commentators for his (ahistorical) claim that there was no caste system in ancient India, “only the Varna System” in which people were categorised according to their profession, talent, qualities and nature. Serious historians and sociologists have long refuted this notion – which is part of the Hindu nationalist reading of the past. Speaking of Hindu nationalism and the past, Justice Mithal had once said – back in 2021, when he was Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, that the inclusion of the terms “secular” and “socialist” in the Preamble of the constitution had “narrowed” India’s “spiritual image”. He had spoken at an event organised by a front organisation of the RSS.
The protests in Bangladesh which began as a call for ending quotas for regime favourites has now morphed and escalated into a movement that has one demand: the exit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, reports Faisal Mahmud from Dhaka.
Will you file a case against the water, the acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court asked the police during a hearing on the death of three students in a flooded basement. Delhi Police invited widespread ridicule earlier this week for arresting an SUV driver for driving through the flooded street and “triggering waves”. The court has handed the case over to the CBI – a major vote of no-confidence in the Capital’s police force.
Speaking of scapegoats, the Union government has prematurely terminated the tenure of Border Security Force chief Nitin Agarwal and his deputy, who was handling the Pakistan border. The unprecedented move comes in the wake of a marked uptick in militant infiltration and attacks in the Jammu region.
The rupee slipped to a record low on Friday, becoming the second worst Asian currency this quarter. The slump is the result of global investors selling equity in response to growing fears about a wider war in West Asia. The rupee closed at 83.75 against the US dollar today.
Despite evidence that the purchase and donation of electoral bonds was linked to threats and favours by the Union and various state governments, the Supreme Court today refused to order a special probe. Prime Minister Modi certainly isn’t interested in any investigation either. So is this the end of the road for the Rs 16,000 crore scam?
Do farmers have the right to peacefully protest in Delhi against government policies? The Union government disagrees, and wants to ensure they are kept far away from the Capital’s borders but a bench of the Supreme Court today spoke up in favour of the right to protest. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had recently ordered the opening of the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana – hitherto blocked by the Haryana government at the Centre’s insistence – and the matter is now on appeal in the apex court.
A cloudburst has triggered floods in Himachal Pradesh. The visuals emerging from the state show fast flowing rivers in spate, swallowing land, bridges and temples. Four persons have been killed and 50 are missing.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) “insiders” have told him that a raid is being planned against him following his ‘Chakravyuh’ speech during the discussion on Union Budget 2024. “Apparently, 2 in 1 didn’t like my ‘Chakravyuh’ speech,” Gandhi said in a post on X, in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Earlier in the week, Gandhi used the Mahabharata concept of ‘Chakravyuh’ to criticise the BJP. He argued that the BJP had created a modern-day ‘Chakravyuh’ in the form of a lotus, in an apparent reference to the BJP’s symbol. “It is in the form of a lotus and the prime minister wears the symbol on his chest,” the Rae Bareli MP said, referring to the logo of the BJP. “What was done with Abhimanyu is being done with India, with its youth, women, farmers and small and medium businesses.” However, the Congress leader stated that he is waiting for the central probe agency with “open arms,” and “chai and biscuits.”
Expressing solidarity with Rahul Gandhi over his claim that the ED is planning to raid him, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that all the partners of the opposition INDIA bloc will strongly oppose if the agency knocks at the doors of the Congress leader. “The people are watching how all the agencies are being misused to target opposition leaders. Today, all our central agencies have bowed down to the central government,” she said.
The claim was made days after an analysis showed that the central agency had registered 5,155 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the last ten years, as compared to just 1,797 cases filed in the previous decade. However, it secured conviction orders only in 36 cases, leading to the prosecution of 63 persons.
Meanwhile, the dance from the Lord continues. But how long will it go?
While the external affairs ministry had so far only confirmed the deaths of four Indians who died while serving in the Russian military, the government said in a response in parliament yesterday that “eight deaths have been reported where the citizenship of the deceased has been verified as Indian”. Minister of state of external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh also said that as per “information available currently … 12 Indian nationals have already left the Russian armed forces while another 63 individuals are seeking early discharge”.
The police in Manipur’s Imphal East district on Thursday fired tear gas shells at protestors who were demanding the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons amid the ongoing ethnic conflict in the state. Nearly a hundred persons living in the Akampat relief camp conducted a march to demand that those displaced by the violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities be rehabilitated, and the conflict be resolved. The police claimed that the crowd turned unruly and threw stones at their vehicles, because of which officials “had to resort to firing minimum rounds of tear gas shells”. Several persons were hurt in the clashes, including a journalist named Mutum Rameshchandra who was covering the rally. Meanwhile, the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union and Editors Guild Manipur alleged that Rameshchandra was attacked by a police official, and demanded a “thorough and impartial investigation” into the matter. The north-eastern state has been gripped by ethnic clashes between the Meitei and tribal Kuki communities since May 2023. Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Wednesday told the state Assembly that at least 226 persons were dead and more than 59,000 persons displaced since the beginning of the clashes. Meanwhile, Deccan Herald reports that Singh has asked Mizoram Chief Minister to mediate and convince the Kuki-Zo organisations and Meitit community to come forward for talks with the Manipur government. A complete failure of the double engine government in the northeastern state.
Meanwhile, the CRPF is all set to replace two battalions of the Assam Rifles in Manipur’s hill districts. Around 2,000 personnel from this historic paramilitary force will be redeployed to Jammu, which has experienced a surge in terror attacks since 2021 after two decades of relative peace, reports Vijaita Singh. But why is this happening? Because Meitei groups want it. The Assam Rifles, a trusted force operating under the army, is being sidelined.
A group of men dressed as kanwariyas turned violent and pelted a school bus with stones after it brushed past their vehicle, a modified four-wheeler, in Ratia town of Fatehabad district earlier this week. Nearly 40 students of the private school, run by a Sikh organisation, were travelling in the bus when the mishap occurred. Though the students are learnt to have been allowed to alight from the bus before it was attacked, the children were in for a shock following the violence as angry kanwariyas gheraoed the vehicle. Ishita Mishra writes on the Kanwar Yatra and what it leaves in its wake.
But one of the biggest concerns surrounding tourism and pilgrimage in Uttarakhand is waste management. During the 2023 Kanwar Yatra, official figures reported an astounding 30,000 metric tons (3 crore kilograms) of solid waste generated in Haridwar city alone. Anoop Nautiyal has some important observations on the issue.
Urbanisation coupled with problems of climate change and increasing population density is leaving Indian cities utterly unprepared for the future, writes The Economist. “No one knows how many people live in [India's] cities today. The central government shows no signs of conducting a fresh [census] … One thing is clear: the hundreds of millions of urban Indians will soon be joined by hundreds of millions more.”
Conflicts of interest in clearances afforded to the airport at Great Nicobar Island, land allocation, the airport’s intended use, and its impacts on residents and the ecology of the island are all grave concerns, writes Suman S.
During Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit to India yesterday, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening defence ties and continued cooperation in the oil and gas sector on Vietnam’s South China Sea continental shelf.
Siddhi Nayak cites at least a dozen bankers as saying that loan defaults have increased in key agricultural states like Punjab and Haryana – they attribute this to heatwaves, erratic rain, higher input costs and promises of loan waivers from political parties during the election. She also reports that India’s top five private banks have registered a higher number of loan slippages in the April-June quarter, “mostly driven by rising dues in agriculture and microfinance loans”.
The Congress has cited Union minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari's letter to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman urging the withdrawal of GST on life insurance and medical premiums as a sign of growing dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Legislators in Uttar Pradesh’s assembly quietly listened earlier this week as Pratappur MLA Vijama Yadav described her pain to see one of the men convicted for her husband’s killing walk out of prison, his life sentence commuted five years after it was delivered. Omar Rashid reports on the history of the case, on the Yogi Adityanath government’s efforts starting 2018 to release the man, former BJP MLA Uday Bhan Karwariya, and how “speculation is already rife on what kind of political impact his release would have”.
India had already secured a spot in the hockey quarter-finals at the Paris Olympics but their 3-2 victory today over Australia – the team’s first in an Olympics since 1972 – has made the journey sweeter.
The GMR group, owners of the Delhi Capitals, have bought their way into English country cricket, buying Hampshire for 120 million pounds.
Supreme Court slams NTA for “flip flops” in NEET-UG Exam
The Supreme Court has heavily criticised the National Testing Agency (NTA) for its inconsistent decisions regarding the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) 2024 exam, citing “flip flops” that harmed students’ interests, reports Live Law. The apex court bench comprising Chief Justice Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, highlighted the NTA’s lapses, including allowing candidates to change exam centres and opening a “rear door” for new registrations. It also questioned the decision to award grace marks to students who received wrong question papers, only to later retract it and make them retake the test.
CJI Chandrachud highlighted another lapse by the NTA, where they initially granted grace marks to students who chose an alternative option for a question with ambiguous wording. However, an expert panel from IIT-Delhi later determined that the question had only one correct answer. Consequently, the Court instructed the NTA to revise the results accordingly. Notably, the NTA’s initial decision to accept two answers as correct led to 44 students scoring a perfect 720 marks, as observed by CJI Chandrachud.
Bangladesh bans Jamaat-e-Islami party under anti-terrorism law
Bangladesh has banned the Jamaat-e-Islami party, its student wing and other associate bodies, terming the party as a “militant and terrorist” organisation as part of a nationwide crackdown following weeks of violent protests that left more than 200 people dead and thousands injured. Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her political partners blamed Jamaat-e-Islami, its Islami Chhatra Shibir student wing and other associate bodies for inciting violence during recent student protests over a quota system for government jobs. The government cited threats to public security as the reason for banning the outfit, an important ally of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
NITI Aayog may not have done due diligence in scrapping ‘agromet’ units
Until January, there were 199 district-level agro-meteorological or ‘agromet’ units in the country that provided free, localised weather advisories to farmers. But then the NITI Aayog ordered they be shut down. Citing RTI documents she obtained, Rishika Pardikar reports that the think-tank and the government misrepresented agromet units’ role as simply disseminating central weather data, when their work could be more accurately described as “customising” it for local use. One scholar also pointed out that the units provided auxiliary services to farmers that seemed to have gone unaccounted for. Nitin Gadkari is among those who have asked that their services be restored.
The Long Cable
Akhilesh Yadav Has Come of Age as a National Leader and Modi is Feeling the Heat
Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
Even as Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has hogged most of the limelight in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament by making a series of stinging remarks on Narendra Modi and the government he leads, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, too, has registered a strong presence in the house.
Now leading the second-largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, the Kannauj MP has shown his mettle by hitting out at the government in an inimitable style that is not only reflective of Uttar Pradesh’s tongue-in-cheek satire but also scathing in a way that complements Gandhi’s aggression.
Yadav has put Hindi idioms and heartland shayari to good use while aiming at the NDA government’s failure to stem growing unemployment, inflation, ‘paper leaks’ in entrance examinations, the agrarian crisis and state-patronised communal politics. At the same time, he has taken deep digs at the BJP for its defeat in Ayodhya – which he attributed to “Ram’s will” and rising resentment among the backward classes, Dalits, and Muslims – to claim that the government has been morally defeated by “positive” politics of the opposition.
Here’s an example. Responding to the Union budget 2024-25, Yadav mocked the treasury benches for praising a document that only showcases “despair” across sectors.
He then went on to roast the Prime Minister—though on grounds J.D. Vance is getting pilloried for in the US: “Those with family know how difficult it is to run the household, provide education to children and take care of the treatment of the elderly”. He immediately followed this barb up with a Wasim Barelvi’s couplet. “Woh jhoot bol raha tha bade salike se, main aitbaar na karta toh kya karta? (He lied with such finesse, I had no option but to believe)” he said, amidst a cheering opposition.
“Ever since the government has taken over, there is a competition between rail accidents and paper leaks,” he said, as if there was no stopping him.
“This government is not one that would run, it is a government that will topple.” the SP chief said, fuelling further conversations on Modi’s dependence on his capricious allies.
Yesterday, Yadav was quick to broadcast the leaking roof of the new parliament building, asking whether it was a case of “paper leakage outside, water leakage inside”. Amidst these light-hearted jabs, of course, Yadav has also shown nerves of steel when he directly confronted BJP MP Anurag Thakur for mocking Rahul Gandhi as a person who “did not know his caste” but was still demanding a caste census. “Jaati Kaise Pooch Li? (How can you ask someone’s caste?),” he asked the chair immediately after Thakur’s remark, reasserting himself as a flag-bearer of social justice politics.
His barbs at the government which convey serious criticism in accessible but effective language has distinguished Yadav from other opposition leaders, who have been more direct than him in their defiance. Yet, Yadav has shown that he is second to none in being at the forefront of holding the opposition flag in the Parliament.
Yadav has drawn added confidence from his electoral strategy of consolidating backward classes, Dalits, and minorities or Pichde, Dalits, Alpasankhyak (PDA). Yadav often invokes “PDA” as the reason for BJP’s downfall in Uttar Pradesh, and never misses to address their socio-economic concerns in Parliament and outside. The success of this approach in the Lok Sabha polls has surely given him the room to pursue and reinvent Mandal politics and pitch it as the strongest ideological opponent to Hindutva.
The SP chief appears to be following in the footsteps of his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, the founder of his party and former UP chief minister, who brought together a large number of backward communities under the SP’s umbrella. Like his father, Yadav, too, has understood the significance of building both social and electoral alliances, while taking care not to offend a community that may not be a part of the SP-led social coalition. His decision to choose senior SP leader Mata Prasad Pandey, a Brahmin, as Leader of Opposition in the UP assembly, points to Yadav coming-of-age as a truly pan-India leader.
In 2017, the coalition between the SP and the Congress backfired in the UP assembly polls as both parties could not channel their energies organically. The lack of chemistry showed in the campaign, and also in the backroom. However, much water has flown under the bridge. With Gandhi refusing to bend even an inch as LoP in the Lok Sabha, Yadav has been firmly by his side, in the front rows showing a combined fearlessness against a formidable BJP.
The "UP ke Ladke", as the SP-Congress alliance’s tagline went in 2017, seems to have found its feet, as Gandhi and Yadav's jugalbandi in 2024 has truly been indefatigable.
Reportedly
Swati Chaturvedi reports that the ‘leaky’ Central Vista project – which our Gujarati Prime Minister conjured up to leave his imprint on the National Capital and which a Gujarat-based architect, Bimal Patel designed and is executing – has been supervised so far by a Gujarat cadre IAS officer, D. Thara, in the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Narendra Modi’s preference for officials from his state has already been documented. Chaturvedi reports:
“A meeting was held at the Lok Sabha secretariat. D Thara was also present, two representatives from Bimal Patel’s HCP and top reps from Tata projects, which built the new House. Patel will also attend the next meeting with Tata reps. Patel & Tata reps ordered to rectify all issues and ensure that no further leakage anywhere.”
Deep dive
The Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) is locked in a tussle with the Modi government over accusations of misusing funds and favouritism, Soumya Pillai reports. Once led by India’s scientific legends like CV Raman, Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, AL Mudaliar and Homi Jehangir Bhabha, this prestigious organisation now struggles desperately to retain its autonomy. “We will fight till the end to preserve the autonomy of our institution. The government can withdraw its funding, but we will not let them control our operations,” said Goutam Paul, ISCA general president to Soumya Pillai. “We are scientists, not beggars.”
Prime number: 10% ➡️ 150% ➡️ 10%
Following protests from scientists against the 15× hike in customs duty for imported chemicals, the finance ministry has ‘clarified’ that the hiked amount will apply only to denatured ethanol, Jacob Koshy reports. There was some speculation that the new 150% duty – up from 10% earlier – was a “misprint”, but that was not the case; the government was apparently looking to curb imports of ethanol misrepresented as intended for laboratories to avoid higher duties. Importers of lab chemicals will now have to pledge to use them only for research purposes and not for commercial gain.Opeds you don’t want to miss
A seven-judge constitution bench will soon hear arguments relating to what makes for a legit money Bill. Suhrith Parthasarathy reminds us of what is at stake – the fate of the government’s draconian amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (smuggled in as a money Bill) and the “role of the Upper House in acting as a mirror to the pluralism that our nation represents”.
Yogendra Yadav and Prannv Dhavan write that the Supreme Court’s judgment allowing sub-classification of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities for the purposes of reservation “affirms the long-standing requirement of evidence-based policies of social justice.”
For some Modi supporters to claim his visit to Ukraine would re-engage India with Europe’s security is much of a muchness when the Europeans themselves have subcontracted the job to the US, writes Bharat Bhushan.
Vijaita Singh writes on how journalists are being squeezed out by the government system, including from the parliament.
On the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Kumaramangalam Birla is ranked 87, way behind Mukesh Ambani (11) and Gautam Adani (12). Menaka Doshi analyses why his business diversification plans have not delivered the kind of growth the Big Two have enjoyed.
The Congress government in Karnataka wants to increase the length of thr working day to 14 hours, especially for IT and IT enabled services sector workers. Shardha Rajam explains why this is a terrible idea.
Contrary to what Donald Trump said, Kamala Harris didn’t “turn Black” – she’s both Black and Indian, and Trump’s comment was an attempt to continue a tradition of White men “wield[ing] the right to decide who is which race”, writes Sathnam Sanghera.
India’s toys exports have risen significantly since 2020 and we have become a net exporter of the product. But the devil’s in the details: Bibek Ray Chaudhuri and Surendar Singh write on what could make our “toy exports success story” more sustainable.
Listen up
Every year, over 35,000 people drown in the country. On The Hindu In Focus Podcast, Lopa Ghosh gets straight in explaining “how drowning deaths occur in India, what measures need to be put in place to prevent every such death and what India’s strategic framework for drowning prevention says.”
Watch out
A clause by clause analysis of the Broadcasting Bill by journalist and Youtuber, Meghnad S. The bill is a joke.
Over and out
Matt Sedensky travels to Garhmukteshwar in western Uttar Pradesh, where a welfare society cares for those elderly who were abandoned or expelled by their kin, and in some cases were found living on the streets. His story is accompanied by an equally heartbreaking portrait gallery of the society’s residents (though there is also a pinch of heartwarming in the former).
That’s it for today. We’ll be back with you on Monday, on a device near you. If The India Cable was forwarded to you by a friend (perhaps a common friend!) book your own copy by SUBSCRIBING HERE.