The Big Story: Freedom festival

In his fortnightly Mann ki Baat radio address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Indians to celebrate the anniversary of the Quit India movement as well as Independence Day not as a "government function" but as a festival of freedom. He also asked people to send in suggestions for his Independence Day speech.

Instead of waiting for people to write to him on MyGov.in, Modi could have just paid attention to his own home state: A massive rally on the same day in Ahmedabad saw Gujarat's Dalits take to the streets in anger after four members of their community had been stripped and flogged by Gau Rakshak cow protection gangs. The march on Sunday managed to unite as many as 30 different Dalit groups from around Gujarat, with those attending taking a mass pledge not to carry away animal carcasses – traditional work done by Dalits that prompted the cow vigilantes to attck them.

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As far as Independence Day speech suggestions go, it doesn't get more clear than this. Modi's government as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party, and its broader network, known as the Sangh Parivar, have fanned the communal flames that led to cow protection rackets proliferating around the country.

There are now thousands of people who think it is perfectly acceptable to attack others on mere suspicion of possessing cow meat when, in many cases, it is actually buffalo meat or worse, it is not actually illegal to possess. Modi's talk of a dangerous pink revolution, a reference to the sale of cow meat, during his campaign and his party's willingness to spread and enforce beef bans have only emboldened these criminals.

If Independence Day is expected to be a Festival of Freedom, Modi can start by strongly asserting that people have the right to eat what they wish – subject to local laws – and more importantly, that the state does not support anyone taking the law into their own hands.

The Big Scroll

At massive rally in Ahmedabad, Dalits pledge not to pick up Gujarat’s carcasses. It's a good thing Gujarat Dalit tanners were beaten for cutting up cow, says BJP MLA Raja Singh. Could gau raksha extremism help firm up a Dalit-Muslim pact in the Uttar Pradesh elections? And why the Supreme Court should take notice of cow protection vigilantes.

Political Pickings

  1. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar intends to bring in amendments to the prohibition law that make all adults of a family culpable if someone is found drinking, and impose a collective penalty on the village or town.
  2. Congress President Sonia Gandhi is going to try and take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the source: In Varanasi, the PM's constituency, where she hopes to use the Ganga against him.
  3. Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan are going to turn their Aam Aadmi Party breakaway outfit into a political party in October.
  4. The Times of India says the government intends to set up a body looking into complaints against Supreme Court and High Court judges, yet another potential flashpoint with the judiciary.

Punditry

  1. Aftab Alam in the Indian Express documents the many ways that the space for civil society is shrinking in India.
  2. Mukul Kesavan in the Telegraph blames the lack of flood coverage in English newspapers on the failure of the journalistic imagination.
  3. Politicians and economists have failed to make the case for free trade and globalisation, an error that is now becoming far too evident, writes Vivek Dehijia in Mint.

Giggles

Don't miss

Harsh Mander salutes Bezwada Wilson, a man who gets his hands dirty to clean the rot of caste oppression.

"Despite an uncaring state and subverted law, Wilson and activists of the Andalon are determined to realise their dream one day – of securing the promise of the Constitution, of equal human dignity, regardless of their birth, for all citizens of this land, which continues to be denied to more than a million Dalits. But they fight not just for these Dalits – they fight for all of us."