NL Hafta

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by Semafor’s business reporter Rohan Goswami and political consultant and federalism expert Tara Krishnaswamy. 

On Trump’s flip-flop on tariffs and the escalating trade war with China, Rohan says: “Trump created tremendous panic. He got what he wanted. World leaders are calling and begging him... but a 90-day pause is not enough.” He highlights that, unlike the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis, America’s current market chaos is a “self-inflicted situation”.

Manisha analyses the common threads between Narendra Modi’s demonetisation policy and Trump’s tariffs. Shardool adds, “Trump is famous because he is funny. He should be made the TV-President because he understands TV best.”

The panel also discusses the Supreme Court’s scathing remarks about the Tamil Nadu Governor earlier this week. Tara remarks,“The time has come to either define the Governor’s role – starting from appointment to powers – in a bilateral manner, or abolish the position and assign its duties to the appropriate authorities.”

Raman adds, “The battle between chief ministers and governors has increased tremendously since 2014.”

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introductions and announcements

00:04:48 – Headlines 

00:15:34 – Trump’s tariff flip-flops

01:05:29 – Supreme Court on TN Governor

01:32:12 – Letters

01:48:08 – Recommendations 

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand.

Production assistance by intern Pragya Chakroborty.

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

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande are joined by The News Minute’s Sudipto Mondal and Supreme Court lawyer Talha Abdul Rahman.

On the controversial Waqf Amendment Bill, passed in Parliament this week after long fiery debates, Talha says: “Every Waqf that is now created will have to register themselves with the central depository.” He adds that the statute is “a translation of a WhatsApp forward.”

Sudipto questions the motivation behind bringing in the legislation and the manner in which it will be used. He says that the new bill will now “weaponise” bulldozer demolitions, which are increasingly becoming the norm. 

Manisha puts focus on the misinformation being spread in mainstream media about the bill. She mentions one anchor claiming that the new bill will ensure “no one can stop the Prime Minister’s plane from taking off because Waqf can no longer claim the airport.”

The panel also discusses the student protests in University of Hyderabad against tree felling on 400 acres of forest land. Commenting on the Supreme Court taking suo-moto cognizance of the case, Sudipto says, “It’s a great victory for people’s movements, students’ movements.”

This and a lot more. Tune in!

Hafta letters: Uncle behaviour, patriarchy, the right to exist

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Song: Tanha Tanha Yahan Pe Jeena

Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introductions and announcements

00:04:34 – Headlines 

00:13:17 – Waqf bill 

00:58:34 – HCU protests 

01:11:06 –  Letters

01:32:40 –  Recommendations

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, Saif Ali Ekram, 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, 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!

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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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. 

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 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. 

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

Download the Newslaundry app. 

Contribute to our latest NL Sena here.

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!

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. 

Download the Newslaundry app. 

Contribute to our latest NL Sena here.

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!

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. 

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

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!

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. 

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!

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. 

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. 

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

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.