This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Anand Vardhan are joined by comedian and screenwriter Anuvab Pal.

The panel first discusses the Kunal Kamra controversy. Jayashree lays down the timeline of incidents and Abhinandan highlights the Supreme Court’s comments on free speech in the Imran Pratapgarhi case.

Anuvab says: “We [comedians] take very special care of the names we mention, especially if the video is supposed to go up online…I don’t see any mobs in defense of Kunal Kamra – just the mobs that vandalised the venue in Mumbai.”

“It’s always the sidekicks who want to please the master”, Anand remarks. 

“Now we know who the real Shiv Sena is!” says Jayashree on the vandalism by Eknath Shinde’s followers at The Habitat.

The panel then digs into the mystery of burnt piles of cash found at Justice Yashwant Varma’s official residence last week and the subsequent inquiry into the matter. “There are too many inconsistencies in how it played out”, Jayashree says.

Raman then briefly summarises the Delhi government’s recently announced budget for the 2026 financial year. On how the center has now “started doling out money” for Delhi, he says: “This year, Rs 24,000 crore more was provided by the centre. This shows that the previous government was gagged.”

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introductions and announcements

00:04:47 – Headlines 

00:14:37 – Kunal Kamra controversy

01:06:27 – Justice Varma cash row

01:23:48 – Delhi budget 

01:26:50 –  Letters

01:48:06 –  Recommendations 

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, Ashish Anand, and Anil Kumar. 

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This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri and Manisha Pande are joined by The News Minute’s Dhanya Rajendran and The Wire’s Seema Chishti.

The panel first discusses the recent crackdown on pro-Palestine student protests in US campuses and deportation of two Indian students, Ranjani Srinivasan and Badar Khan Suri. Dhanya says, “Ranjani insisted that she was not a huge part of the protest, but Indian newspapers had already labeled her a Hamas supporter”.

As the panel draws parallels between what is happening in the US and the clampdown on student protests in India, Manisha says: “I always thought that in American universities, despite their issues, there was a certain freedom to voice your opinions. For that to go away is quite something to see."

Abhinandan then moves to discussing if the concept of patriotism can be considered primitive. He says: “Patriotism is love for your country, but your country may be pursuing values based on whichever government is in power. And that value system may not align with yours.” As the panel debates what it means to be a patriot, Seema adds, “True patriotism should be about wanting better lives for fellow citizens, not blind devotion to the government."

The panelists then talk about how the English news media gets to set the narrative in India. On regional media’s limited influence compared to its English counterpart, Manisha says: "English newspapers still have an outsized influence because bureaucrats, judges, and policy-makers read them”. However, English news channels, she points out, “are losing relevance”. “Politicians now prefer giving interviews to local YouTubers and regional media because that’s where the numbers and voters are”.

This and a lot more. Tune in!

We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. 

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Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introductions and announcements

00:04:26 – Headlines 

00:21:16 – US campus crackdown

00:34:40 –Defining patriotism 

00:46:48 – English media’s dominance

01:08:55 - Letters

01:44:02 - Recommendations

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, Ashish Anand, and Anil Kumar. 

This episode is outside of the paywall for now. Before it goes behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, Jayashree Arunachalam and Anand Vardhan are joined by writer and podcaster Amit Varma. 

The panel first discusses pre-Holi communal concerns, including a Sambhal cop saying Muslims should stay inside this Holi if they don’t want to be smeared with colour. Jayashree says communal provocations during Holi have become normal: “We have this delusional idea of Hindus and Muslims holding hands and celebrating Holi. But that is not the country we live in now.” 

Anand explains the history of Bhojpuri Holi songs and the evolution of vulgarity. “The sexualised space has been taken into account by the pop music industry for its titillation value…These songs were not always vulgar, some even represented female desire.”

The panel then moves on to the controversies around the recently concluded Champions Trophy. Abhinandan says, “There was nothing offensive about the Indian team not wanting to go to Pakistan due to security issues. Look at what has happened with the Balochistan train hijack this week.” 

Amit explains the tariff wars with the US: “Of all that Trump is doing, tariffs are the most bizarre. They are a disaster, period, and this has been the economic consensus for the last 200 years.” 

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introductions and announcements

00:03:22 – Headlines 

00:19:33 - Holi and communal narratives

00:26:41 - Holi and vulgar songs

00:42:52 - Introduction to tariff wars

00:45:37 - Champions Trophy and cricket controversies

01:01:08 - Tariff wars

01:39:38 - Amit’s recommendations

01:42:17 - Panel recommendations

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, Hassan Bilal and Anil Kumar. 

This episode is outside of the paywall for now. Before it goes behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, and Anand Vardhan are joined by Dr Sumeet Mhaskar, professor of sociology at Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, and Ajoy Bose, veteran journalist and author of Behenji: The Rise and Fall of Mayawati.

The panel first discusses the controversy triggered by Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Azmi’s remarks on Aurangzeb while addressing the Mughal emperor’s portrayal in the film Chhava.

Sumeet provides historical context to the interpretation of Aurangzeb and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj’s legacies in Maharashtra. Explaining how they are shaped by competing narratives, he says: “Much more communalised interpretation is projected through movies, history textbooks, and plays”. The return of Aurangzeb to headlines shows that we are using the present to judge the past, rather than letting history inform our present, he notes.

Commenting on Aurangzeb’s legacy, Manisha adds, “When you look at the Mughals, I would say Aurangzeb was the worst of them...He's an odd hill to die on, especially for current politicians.”

The panel then analyses the “political decline” of Mayawati, and her decision to suspend nephew Akash Anand from the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Ajoy terms the suspension as a “significant moment”. Commenting on Mayawati’s “disruptive” thinking, he says: “If Kanshiram was the strategic genius who thought of using Dalits to become a political force, Mayawati was the person who delivered”. 

On where things went wrong for Mayawati, he remarks, “She got quite distracted by her prime ministerial dream being thrashed and made fundamental mistakes in handling the social alliance which brought her to power.”

As Abhinandan and Sumeet point to BSP’s cadre being the strength of the party, Anand underlines Mayawati’s “lack of political agility” as one of the reasons for BSP’s decline. 

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introductions and announcements

00:03:09 – Headlines 

00:03:09 – Was history always controversial?

00:17:24 – Aurangzeb’s return to headlines 

00:53:19 – Mayawati and the future of BSP

01:32:03 – Sumeet’s recommendation

01:39:30 – Ajoy’s recommendation

01:51:06 – Letters 

01:59:40 – Recommendations 

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by Nitin Pai, director of Takshashila Institution, and The News Minute’s  Shabbir Ahmed.

The panel first discusses the inception and functioning of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – a new department set up by the United States government and headed by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Nitin says the reason behind something like DOGE “is not just efficiency.” “The ideological reason is to create a government full of people who will act according to the rules of Donald Trump,” he says, adding that federal government employees were laid off en-masse to create fear and uncertainty in the minds of rank and file civil servants. 

On the importance of “small governments,” Shardool says that any system meant to be working fairly working for citizens will be complex. “Mandates given to governments are not for them to run in a fiscally efficient manner, but to run fairly and independently,” he adds. 

Jayashree then delves into the ongoing “language wars” between the Tamil Nadu government and the union government over the National Education Policy’s three-language formula. “The implication that Hindi means the extermination of a local language is true,” she says.

Shabbir adds that the union government demands the NEP to be accepted in its entirety: “The problem the TN government has is that NEP is a uniform policy on education, but education is in the concurrent list. States were not consulted before forming it.”

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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Download the Newslaundry app. Contribute to our latest NL Sena here.

Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introductions and announcements

00:04:01 – Headlines 

00:11:23 – DOGE

00:54:49 – Language row: Tamil Nadu vs Centre

01:28:20 – Letters 

01:48:40 – Recommendations 

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand.

This episode is outside of the paywall for now. Before it goes back behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Anand Vardhan are joined by former Chief Election Commissioner Dr SY Quraishi and cartoonist Rachita Taneja. 

The show starts with a detailed discussion on the controversy surrounding the USAID funds allegedly released to “increase voter turnout in India” and an Indian Express fact-check that found that the said amount was meant for Bangladesh, never India.

“The Election Commission is allergic to the thought of taking money from anyone outside India…We had enough funds and enough self-respect,” says Dr Quraishi, adding that he is also “very confident” about his successors.

On Donald Trump cancelling USAID funding for several projects, Jayashree says, “What he’s doing is terrible…but there is a tendency to paint US aid as US generosity.” The US has used aid programs as part of its foreign policy, she points out.

The panel then moves to discussing the midnight notification issued to appoint Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner. “If you need to be bipartisan, you have to have someone who is not a politician,” Raman says about Kumar’s appointment.

On the selection process, Dr  Quraishi says that India has the “most defective system of appointment” despite having the “most powerful election commission in the world.” 

The panel also discusses the Indian government blocking Tamil news website Vikatan after it published a critical cartoon depicting PM Narendra Modi and Trump.

Rachita, who runs the popular page Sanitary Panels, says: “I don’t know where to draw the line between censorship and self-censorship. If you are being given threats or being told that you can land up in jail, is that not part of censorship itself?”

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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Download the Newslaundry app. Contribute to our latest NL Sena here.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introductions and announcements

00:02:57 - Headlines 

00:09:19- USAID controversy

00:34:30 - CEC appointment process

00:53:06 - Blocking of Vikatan website

01:30:14 - Recommendations 

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan are joined by The Caravan’s Hartosh Singh Bal and Delhi University professor Tanvir Aeijaz. 

The panel begins the show by discussing Narendra Modi’s meeting with Donald Trump which Manisha terms “a test of statecraft” for Modi. The discussion then moves to the Delhi election result, which saw the BJP returning to power after 27 years. 

“This is a new BJP. It has gained strength since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” says Hartosh. “...These elections were not fought on Modi’s back. The party now has organisational strength. Even if Modi falls to the wayside, it does not make a difference to the BJP.” As the panel discusses the AAP and Congress’s performance, Abhinandan says, “One thing BJP has pulled off well is that they won Delhi without a [chief ministerial] face.”

Tanvir talks about the controversy surrounding the new UGC draft guidelines that give state governors a prominent role in selecting vice-chancellors. “This regulation comes in the backdrop of the idea that we need to have one curriculum, one education system across the country,” he says. “But education is a concurrent subject…everything in a monastic form creates a problem for federalism.”

This and a lot more. Tune in!

Hafta letters: Economies and ‘police states’, the question of ads, courts and parole

We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. 

Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. 

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Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/9Az11BtCKQ8

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introductions and announcements

00:04:57 - Headlines

00:11:48 - Modi in America

00:18:20 - Delhi elections

 00:45:13 - Manipur developments

00:51:20 - UGC guidelines 

01:22:16 - Tanvir’s recommendation

01:29:55 - Hartosh’s recommendation 

01:33:17 - Letters

01:46:01 - Recommendations 

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand.

This episode is outside of the paywall, just for the week and just for you. Before it goes back behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan are joined by Supreme Court advocate Mihira Sood and journalist Govindraj Ethiraj.

The panel discusses the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand. Mihira says, “There are many peculiarities of the law, but the strangest is that registration of live-in relationships is more cumbersome than a marriage…The penalty for not registering a marriage is nothing, but the penalty for not registering a live-in relationship can be imprisonment.” 

Commenting on the backlash to inter-faith relationships in the state in the recent past, Manisha adds, “What we know from newspaper reports is that registrations will be scrutinised by the Bajrang Dal…What the Uttarakhand government wants to do here is just police people who are living together.”

On the new budget announced for 2025-26, Govindraj says there’s “nothing really landmark” in the budget but the “benefits offered to the middle class are a good thing”. “It is correcting a problem of the recent past – the pressure of inflation on households and incomes not growing as they did before,” he says.

The panel also discusses the continuing depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, and the ‘unease’ of doing business in India. 

This and a lot more. Tune in!

We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. 

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Download the Newslaundry app. Contribute to our latest NL Sena here.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introductions and announcements

00:02:12 - Headlines

00:13:37 - Uniform Civil Code

00:44:08 - ‘Unease’ of doing business

00:49:57 - Budget

01:11:05 - Depreciation of the Rupee

01:23:27- Letters

01:45:00 - Recommendations 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand, edited by Hassan Bilal. 

This episode is outside of the paywall, just for the week and just for you. Before it goes back behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.

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This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Shardool Katyayan are joined by senior advocate Indira Jaising and independent journalist Saurabh Sharma. 

The discussion starts with tax authorities axing The Reporters’ Collective’s non-profit status. Indira says the I-T department’s action against the investigative news outlet is part of a “strategic and calculated crackdown by the government on independent media and journalism”. She says everyone should stand up for the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression and ensure it is not eroded.

The panel also talks about the tragic stampede at the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj. Saurabh breaks down all that went wrong leading up to the tragedy. “There was absolute radio silence from the government for nearly 19 hours about how many people died,” he says. 

Saurabh adds that he believes the death toll is higher than the official government figure: “I went to the morgue and counted at least 59 bodies.” Raman blames Uttar Pradesh’s VIP culture for the chaos at Kumbh. 

Abhinandan and Manisha take note of how legacy media attempted to drown out the news of the stampede. On the government’s PR push, Manisha says, “All you are trying to do is show the good news, but that is not going to get you good global coverage.” 

This and a lot more. Tune in!

Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/5o8WY9UVKGk

We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. 

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Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introductions and announcements

00:03:35 - Headlines

00:13:55 - The Reporters’ Collective loses non-profit status

00:43:16 - Indira’s recommendations

00:44:32 - Kumbh stampede

01:01:38 - Saurabh’s recommendations

01:02:25 - Mismanagement at Kumbh, VIP culture in UP

01:25:43 - Letters

01:43:08 - Recommendations

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, Tista Roy Chowdhury, and Anil Kumar.

Production assistance by Hanshul Mohan. 

This episode is outside of the paywall, just for the week and just for you. Before it goes back behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.