In today's episode of "First Voice Last Word," Sunetra Chaudhary goes beyond the realm of politics as she is joined by Fali Nariman, a senior jurist, for a discussion around his la ... Read more
In today's episode of "First Voice Last Word," Sunetra Chaudhary goes beyond the realm of politics as she is joined by Fali Nariman, a senior jurist, for a discussion around his latest book release, "You Must Know Your Constitution." Nariman sheds light on the contemporary perspective of the Indian constitution. Fali Nariman dissects the constitution comprehensively for the general public, offering insights into why certain aspects are prone to misuse. He addresses and dispels any misconceptions and doubts people may have about the constitution. He draws comparisons between British colonial law and the Indian penal code, while also sharing his perspective on the Sedition Act and its misuses. Furthermore, Nariman explores the recent constitutional experiment in Chile. This episode is a must-listen, as it transcends politics and goes straight into the historical evolution of the Indian democratic system, tracing its roots back to the colonial era. Tune in now Read more
In this episode of "First Voice Last Word," Sunetra Choudhury is joined by Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar, the RJD newsmaker Manoj Jha. Tune in to this unfiltered conversation on the ce ... Read more
In this episode of "First Voice Last Word," Sunetra Choudhury is joined by Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar, the RJD newsmaker Manoj Jha. Tune in to this unfiltered conversation on the central government and the corruption that has been permeating modern India. Manoj Jha breaks down topics like, Freedom of press, the watchdogs of democracy, the Indian Constitution, and how it has consistently been sidelined by the ruling BJP government. He shares his perspective on the Bihar caste census and why it has been delayed by the BJP, and many more presenting facts and numbers throughout the conversation. When faced with criticism of dynastic politics, he offers a thought-provoking opinion that can change the way we view nepotism in politics. With the approaching elections, Manoj Jha expresses strong words for the ruling party, highlighting the mistakes they expressed made in the lead-up to those elections. He also provides advice to his fellow India Alliance members, advocating for a strategic approach that can help break the cycle of hate that has been spreading throughout the country. Tune in now Read more
With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on the horizon, Sunetra Chaudhary is joined by Sushil Kumar Modi, a BJP member of the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. Tune in to hear his perspective on v ... Read more
With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on the horizon, Sunetra Chaudhary is joined by Sushil Kumar Modi, a BJP member of the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. Tune in to hear his perspective on various key topics, including the caste census, insights into the first backward class commission, and the Congress party's attempts to consolidate OBC votes, which have seen recent failures. Sushil Modi also addresses the cloud of confusion surrounding the Adani-Modi connection and the image of the Prime Minister being dragged into parliamentary debates, with Rahul Gandhi leading the opposition's constant attacks on the ruling party. Additionally, he discusses the ruling party's reaction to the opposition's coming together under the banner of the INDIA alliance. As the 2024 Lok Sabha elections approach, the question of who will stand against the incumbent Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, remains unanswered, causing uncertainty and intrigue in both the ruling and opposition camps. Tune in now to witness this dance of politics Watch the video episode here: https://youtu.be/vE4LNELy1m4?si=dFHHhS_aDMbhYJYX Read more
From Brokering peace in congress states like Rajasthan to Building Consensus of opposition forces under the banner of the INDIA alliance to the resurgence of the Indian National Co ... Read more
From Brokering peace in congress states like Rajasthan to Building Consensus of opposition forces under the banner of the INDIA alliance to the resurgence of the Indian National Congress like a phoenix from the ashes, Hindustan Times' Sunetra Choudhury engages in a conversation with Mallikarjun Kharge, President, Indian National Congress, who is nearing the end of his first year in office. Together, they course into Mr. Kharge's political journey, tracing his grassroots origins. The discussion covers topics such as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and his relationship with his collegue Shashi Tharoor along with the persistent criticism of him being portrayed as a puppet of the Gandhi family, clearing his stance on PM Modi, and the Caste Question along with the mass Boycott of Godi Media along with the treatment of the opposition in the G20 which lead to a Special Parliament Session, Kharge speaks his mind and say that this seems to be a 'Prachaar Madhyum' for G20 success. Despite these challenges, Mr Kharge's strategic approach has remained relatively consistent, resulting in notable Congress victories over the BJP in crucial elections. Read more
The murder of a young working woman Ankita Bhandari in the hills of Uttarakhand last month, really shook up the entire country . The story went from local crime news to national he ... Read more
The murder of a young working woman Ankita Bhandari in the hills of Uttarakhand last month, really shook up the entire country . The story went from local crime news to national headlines when police arrested the son of a ruling party leader. But why is the story threatening to change the political dynamics of the state? And why are the people across the state so angry? First Voice Last Word our weekly podcast on Indian politics. In this episode, Sunetra Choudhury, National Political Editor for Hindustan Times speaks with her colleague Amit Bathla on what happened in the lead up to the killing and what’s happened since. She also speaks to the ADG law and order to find out what evidence they have. But while the news cycle has moved on, the case could have a major political impact. Find out why. Read more
In this edition of First Voice Last Word, our weekly podcast on Indian politics, HT's National Political Editor Sunetra Choudhury looks at why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has take ... Read more
In this edition of First Voice Last Word, our weekly podcast on Indian politics, HT's National Political Editor Sunetra Choudhury looks at why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken up a campaign against dynastic politics. The Prime Minister announced it as part of his speech on Independence day and he seemed to make a connection between corruption and dynastic politics but is that reflective of how things are? We spoke to Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, who is the quintessential politician from a political family. His father, Tarun Gogoi was a three-time chief minister of Assam and also served as a Congress MLA and MP for several terms. But Gaurav's point and the point that other dynastic politicians make is that, while they get an advantage and recall in the first election, in all other elections, it becomes a level playing field. That's why, even though the constituency has become a family stronghold since 1991, Gaurav getting 55% of the vote share in 2019, gives him legitimacy. ``Being from a political family no doubt helps you in building those relationships, but ultimately people will judge you on the basis of your track record. If in parliament I don’t speak up for my state, if I don’t spend time with my voters, and understand the aspirations of different sections of society, and if I don’t try to resolve their issues, then people will not vote for me. People are not in awe of your political lineage for too long. They will judge you on the basis of the causes that you’re fighting for, on the amount of time you invest in building relationships with them, and they will judge you for your sincerity and integrity,'' he said. Political scientist and fellow at the Centre for Policy Rahul Verma feels that post-2019, BJP is trying to expand itself in states where regional parties are strong. ``The PM’s speech on 15 August 2022-basically called dynasticism as one of the two great evils that this country is facing at the moment. So, if you see that BJP is trying to expand itself in Bengal, and Telangana and in both these states- state-level formations are led by in some ways political families. The party will also try to expand itself in Maharashtra, and in Bihar now after JDU has left and joined hands with the RJD. Going forward, this plank is going to be one of the important platforms on which the BJP is going to build its campaign on. And remember, the plank of dynasticism, is also closely tied with corruption and nepotism and it's also tied to inability to govern and deliver things properly. So BJP is trying to build a very powerful message around dynasticism, corruption, and misgovernance,'' he said. However, what's important to point out is that while the BJP is making dynastic politics a major issue, they do have several leaders from political families- Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Jayant Sinha, Devendra Fadnavis and so many others. But for some reason, it doesn't stick to them as much as it sticks to other parties like the Congress or the DMK or so many other regional parties. According to data put together by academic Kanchan Chandra in her book democratic dynasties, dynasts are everywhere. For instance, while the Congress had one of the highest numbers of dynasts in the 2014 elections, with more than 47% from some families, the Bhartiya Janata party also had 14% of dynasts, which was a drop from the previous figure of 19%. In fact, Chandra's2016 book says that 22% of the MPs, 33% of India’s current chief ministers, and the leaders of 36% of parties in Parliament have a dynastic background. So how is it that the BJP is able to avoid the dynastic association even tho it has many dynasts in its ranks? For more, listen in to this episode. Read more
This month, a court in Varanasi upheld the maintainability of a case filed by five Hindu women, demanding the right to pray and access to the Gyanvapi mosque. The mosque authoritie ... Read more
This month, a court in Varanasi upheld the maintainability of a case filed by five Hindu women, demanding the right to pray and access to the Gyanvapi mosque. The mosque authorities are challenging the case in Supreme Court because they feel that this please will open a pandora's box and is essentially against the Places of Worship Act of 1991. The fight between Hindu and Muslim parties at Gyanvapi began exactly two years after the Supreme Court allowed the building of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in 2019. In this week's podcast, we speak to one of the five Hindu petitioners, Manju Vyas about how the case started. Manju says it's when she realized that she could only visit the Shringar Gauri deity inside the mosque once a year. ''We all met while visiting the Shringar Gauri temple. It used to open up once every year. I was not sure about the exact place where I could get a ‘darshan’. I saw others praying at the outer premises. I was confused and started gathering information. I discussed this issue with other women. All temples in the nation are opened yearlong and deities are offered ‘bhog’ but people could only pray here from outside," she told HT The Places of Worship Act passed during Narasimha Rao's tenure in 1991 had made it very clear that Ayodhya was an exception and all other religious sites would stick to the same position they had at the time of independence. As the 2019 Ayodhya judgement said, "History and its wrongs shall not be used as instruments to oppress the present and the future,” Lawyers like Shadaan Farasat, who have tracked the case closely, believe that the Gyanvapi case may encourage other groups to challenge the status quo-"I do feel that the Ayodhya judgment has given a lot of energy and force to entities and groups who wanted to pursue such actions. Although the Ayodhya judgment and the Babri judgment itself recognise that this is clearly a one-off and for other matters, the Places of Worship Act protects and prevents such actions, but clearly that seems to have not happened. When the matter itself went to the Supreme Court, at that stage it was not fully stopped by the Supreme Court itself in the Gyanvapi case, lying on its own judgment. I think given all of that, the parties definitely feel that there are opportunities to initiate these kinds of disputes and pursue them." So what does the ongoing litigation mean for each of the parties and for us? Join Sunetra Choudhury as she explores this with all the stakeholders. Read more
On the 7th of September, the Congress party started one of their most ambitious campaigns till date. Led by their former chief and MP Rahul Gandhi, the party launched its mega plan ... Read more
On the 7th of September, the Congress party started one of their most ambitious campaigns till date. Led by their former chief and MP Rahul Gandhi, the party launched its mega plan to have workers walk from Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the country to Srinagar in the North, covering 3500 km in 12 states over 150 days. The message was simple- to expose the BJP government's divisive policy with the countering slogan of - Bharat Jodo or Uniting India. Till now they're only in the second state, but already it's generating a lot of attention- from whether their accommodations and clothes are modest enough to the people that are meeting them along the way. The key question to consider is-will it hurt the Modi government at all? The idea of padyatra as a form of political express really started with Mahatma Gandhi in 1930. Bapu launched the Dandi March as part of his larger civil disobedience movement against the British. As our history books have taught us, Gandhi asked why the British had banned Indians from locally producing salt, forcing them instead to buy the imported variety that was heavily taxed and expensive. It was an issue that was festering for years, and when Gandhi decided to walk from his Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to the coast in Dandi to make the salt, it set the ball rolling on a greater movement against the British. Political researcher and columnist Asim Ali joined Sunetra to explain how the crowds that the Mahatma drew with his walk and mingling with masses, inspired all the other padyatras that followed. He also explained some of the intrinsic factors that the Dandi March had which contributed to its success. ``Gandhi showed that for this sort of political mobilisation to succeed - message and medium need to be in sync. You need two things-one, you need a big message and two, you need a reason as to why you’re choosing this medium as opposed to others,'' said Ali. The next big padyatra was the one by Janata Party leader Chandrashekhar in 1983 to campaign against the Indira Gandhi government. He too started from Kanyakumari but he took a much longer route, covering more than 4000 kilometres, gathering crowds along the way. The impact wasn't very obvious because other factors like Indira Gandhi's assassination soon overtook events, but it's still remembered as the last, most ambitious on-foot campaign, and even Prime Minister Modi paid tributes to his efforts recently. The efforts of BJP veteran LK Advani are very strongly embedded in our memory but the key question is what is the end gain out of such large-scale efforts. ``The yatra that Advani Ji undertook and the huge response it received from people, it should have opened the eyes of Congres and others that this is an issue that is at the very heart of Hindu aspirations,'' said his former aide and activist Sudheendra Kulkarni. Listen to First Voice, Last Word to understand how the Bharat Jodo measures up to these earlier efforts. Read more
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Central Vista, the area in the Capital which marks the power centre with Rashtrapati Bhawan on one end and India Gate ... Read more
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Central Vista, the area in the Capital which marks the power centre with Rashtrapati Bhawan on one end and India Gate at the other, and all important government offices in the vicinity. The inauguration last week also heralds the end of another landmark- the 100-year-old Parliament building. In this episode of First Voice, Last Word, Sunetra Choudhury tells you all you need to know about this change. For instance, did you know that it was this circular Parliament building which also used to be the location of the Supreme Court of India? PRS legislative's Chakshu Roy tells us that the two institutions shared the same space till Supreme Court got its own building a few kilometres away. In fact, even the UPSC's predecessor, the federal service commission was also in the same building. Parliament sessions would be held here in winter, while in the summer, everyone would work from Shimla. However, as this colonial summer getaway didn't work post-independence, the building needed constant updates- from air conditioning, to phone lines to finally, the internet age. Till finally, the current government decided that it was time to move to a brand new building. This move has left all the MPs feeling very nostalgic. We speak to BJP's Prakash Javdekar, NCP's Supriya Sule and Congress' Kamal Nath. ``This round-shaped Parliament has a peculiar architecture and we enjoyed a lot. I used to take walk whenever I get time. The total round shape is 650 steps and that used to give us, 2 rounds make 1 km. That’s how we used to take 4,5,6 rounds whenever time permits. I found this habit with Ghulam Nabi Azad. He also used to take rounds and we used to chat,'' said Javdekar. ``I can’t explain it in words but, you know, you are so proud of hearing the national anthem if we hear it or sing it. Especially, when you hear it in Parliament, I don’t know happens, but it’s something very very special. I think, it emotionally just brings up all the moments one has read about, seen in visuals. Tallest leaders from all party sides, all ideologies have taken this vibrant democracy of 75 years that we are celebrating. I think, it all starts from there, the real story starts from that building. It’s a beautiful building because it’s even an architectural marvel,'' said NCP's Supriya Sule, who followed father's footsteps into Parliament. One of the longest serving MPs, Kamal Nath said, ``We need modernity but do we need a new building? You could build another annexe. I remember the annexe was built. When I joined Parliament there was no annexe then there was a new annexe. Because you don't play around with history.'' Read more
2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the moment that the Indian Army started inducting women in branches other than the medical corps. This historic moment in 1992 was just the begin ... Read more
2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the moment that the Indian Army started inducting women in branches other than the medical corps. This historic moment in 1992 was just the beginning of the journey that women would chart in the armed forces, with a slow progression to the present time where women are also allowed as personnel below officer rank (PBOR). It's been an epic journey, especially for the 615 women who fought for the permanent commission because the Ministry of Defence only allowed women to work for Short Service Commissions (SSC) which was initially just five years of service and then was gradually increased to 14 years of service. From 2003 to 2020, these pioneer women fought a long, lonely battle for equality, to get the same pay, same perks as their male peers. Even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it as a policy division in 2018, that women would be given permanent commission, it was still blocked in other ways in courts. In this week's episode, Sunetra Choudhury tells the story of the fight that went from Delhi High Court to Supreme Court. She also speaks to four women officers to tell their journey as SSC officers and what they feel about women getting equal rights and studying in the National Defence Academy for the first time. The podcast features : Greeshma Mannari, joined Indian Army under SSC in 2000 and served in the Western Sector Lt. Commander Seema Verma, joined Navy in 1993 and left in 2006 ahead of her 14 year tenure Sq Leader Sumedha Chopra who joined the Air Force in 2009 and completed her tenure of 14 years service Sq Leader Varlin Panwar who served for 10 years as fighter controller in the Indian Air Force Read more
