The Latest: Top stories of the day
1. Modi hits out in Parliament, says Congress has an inferiority complex that made it disrupt Parliament.
2. Using JNU in Uttar Pradesh: In the BJP’s rank & file, deshdrohi the new enemy.
3. A US body that monitors religious freedom has claimed that India denied them visas.
4. A group calling themselves “Hindus for Trump” believe in the Republican so fervently, they have portrayed him as Lord Vishnu.
5. The Border Security Force has discovered a tunnel from Pakistan to India in Jammu.
6. Strange, but true: Chhota Rajan wants the Central Bureau of Investigation to take him into its custody for all the 68 cases registered against him by various law enforcement agencies.
7. Asia Cup: India crush UAE by nine wickets
The Big Story: Young gun
Kanhaiya Kumar has had an eventful month. The Phd candidate at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and president of its student’s union was accused of sedition a fortnight ago for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans in JNU. Fanned by hysterical news coverage – now mostly shown to be based on doctored videos – the Delhi Police came into JNU and arrested him in a manner. In court, as law and order broke down, Kumar was punched, kicked and beaten. In Parliament, the entire might of the government railed against this university student, as a new brand of hyper-nationalism was sought be sold as a political product.
On Thursday, Kumar was released on bail. Under pressure from almost the entire state and large powerful sections of the media, many others would have laid low and let this storm blow over. Kumar, a veteran of students politics, used this opportunity to deliver a scintillating speech on the steps of JNU’s administrative block. Much has been made of Kumar’s now famous “azadi” slogan – that was the one doctored to paint him as a separatist. Kumar used this very controversy to hit back: “We don’t freedom from India, my brothers, we want freedom in India.”
He elaborated: “Freedom from hunger, freedom from corruption, freedom from the RSS, freedom from Manu-ism, freedom from caste – we will take our freedoms.”
Peppered with humour, Kumar’s speech was a powerful indictment of a political system where asking for liberty has been stigmatised. After seeing Parliament in action this week, it was also painfully apparent just how lacking in talent our political class was – not a single MP is an orator of this calibre.
By the end of the night, #Kanhaiyakuamr was trending not only on Indian Twitter but globally. As more than one commentator predicted, a political star had been born.
The Big Scroll
Stop whatever it is you’re doing and watch the definitive political speech of our times: Kanhaiya Kumar at JNU. Also, read Ipsita Chakravarty on how the crowds that welcomed him were in the mood for revolution.
And when you’re done with that, here’s some azadi dubstep.
Politicking and policying
1. Introducing Aadhaar as a money bill means less scrutiny and more haste in Parliament passing it.
2. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu gets pat on the back from Prime Minister Modi for accelerating the pace of development of rail infrastructure network.
3. India is hopeful of a United Nations terror tag on Masood Azhar, chief of Pak-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed,
Punditry
1. In the Indian Express, Rakesh Sinha says the RSS suffers from an infantile understanding of secularism.
2. “ The Dalit movement has to see itself as part of a class-wide movement,” says Vivek Chibber, Professor of Sociology at New York University in this interview in the Hindu.
3. In the Telegraph, noted historian Partha Chatterjee asks if there could ever be limits imposed on academic freedom.
Don’t Miss
Has Rahul Gandhi finally got under the skin of the Bharatiya Janata Party, asks Anita Katyal.
On Thursday, it was Modi’s turn to launch an all-out offensive in Parliament against Gandhi.
Though the prime minister did not name the Congress leader while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address to Parliament, a large part of his speech was devoted to attacking Gandhi. “Some people may age physically but do not mature,” he remarked.
Modi has, so far, maintained that he is unfazed by the criticism levelled against him, but his prolonged speech on Thursday suggested that the Congress vice-president’s remarks have unsettled the BJP leadership. His lengthy reply to Gandhi’s speech confirms that the BJP has recognised him as the face of the Congress party – inadvertently enhancing Gandhi's profile.
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