NL Hafta

In this week’s episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and journalist Sudipto Mondal. The podcast kicks off with Sudipto talking about the book he’s working on which is centred around the 25-year history of the Ambedkar Students' Association. Although the book was originally intended to be about Rohith Vemula, the Dalit PhD student and ASA member who committed suicide in 2015, Sudipto says: "There were four other students who were suspended with him, do they not deserve to be written about? Just because they didn’t kill themselves? That for me became a big question … that made me expand my quest.” Sudipto also talks about the politics of violence used by the ASA, adding that it's "not pro-violent that it attracted the greyhounds and the anti-Naxal police”. He points out that the frames used to categorise Dalits as "thugs" is what constituted the foundation of their fight. He says it's in the granularity of the politics of representation that we can find the essence of the fight between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Vemula. Abhinandan steers the discussion towards the elections and the panel reminisces on how it has changed over the years. They debate the idea of voter suppression as a genuine concern or general paranoia. Madhu observes, “This election is going to stand out for messing up of the honesty of the elections. Because everywhere you go, it is far more sophisticated than booth capturing.” The conversation moves to the Model Code of Conduct which, as Raman says, "does not even exist anymore”. They discuss how the EC isn't doing itself any favours with its soft attitude, especially in terms of its (non)response to things like NaMo TV. Sudipto compares it to a “nagging South Delhi parent” in the way it's executing its duties. Shifting to AgustaWestland, the panel talks about the recent attack on the credibility of journalists such as Shekhar Gupta. They delve into the ED chargesheet's accusations that journalists such as Gupta were bought off, and describe it as an "outright criminal act" that immediately disregards years of great journalistic practice. The conversation also covers what's right and what's wrong with Dalit politics, the problems with the phrase "Main Bhi Chowkidar" and its casteist connotations, the importance of media literacy—and a whole lot more. Listen up!