NL Hafta

In this episode of NL Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Hafta regulars Anand Vardhan and Manisha Pande, and special guests Arunabh Saikia, staff writer at Scroll, and economics journalist Vivek Kaul. The discussion revolves around the Citizenship Bill, the 10 per cent Reservation Bill, Alok Verma's reinstation, the All-India Marathi Literary Meet, and more. The discussion starts with Arunabh talking about the Citizenship Bill and its impact on Assamese politics. “Is it even possible that no Indian is left out?” Abhinandan asks. The bill allows people of all religions except Islam to enter India from Bangladesh. The panel calls it explicitly anti-Muslim, even more so than Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban”. Moving on to the Reservation Bill, Vivek says, “Reservation is useful when the government is creating jobs.” He says he's been dissatisfied with the government’s job creation over the past three years. “A cut-off has to be useful,” he points out about the new quota, saying the cut-off includes so many people that it's useless. The panel then has a comprehensive discussion on the desirability of government jobs in relation to reservation. Anand starts the discussion on #CBIvsCBI with a prediction that the conversation on CBI will disappear after the Supreme Court verdict, just as it disappeared in the case of the Rafale deal. Manisha is sceptical of the impact of the controversy. The panel debates whether or not the #CBIvsCBI case interests the wider general public. Manisha talks about the laws surrounding private radio news broadcasting and the pro-government bulletins (or lack thereof) on AIR. Vivek questions the law that private radio cannot broadcast news when private TV can. The panel then talks about HS Phoolka's resignation from the Aam Aadmi Party. Anand scrutinises Phoolka’s argument that an anti-corruption movement should not have become a party at all. On the trend of capable leaders leaving the AAP, Abhinandan remarks, “You cannot be a single point person and survive in politics.” This and more on NL Hafta, so tune in!