Did Periyar call for a genocide of Brahmins ? KARTHICK RAM MANOHARAN  Mar 29, 2024 https://frontline.thehindu.com/politics/periyar-genocide-brahmins-tm-krishna-sangita-kalanidhi-music-academy-madras-carnatic/article67997754.ece
In hierarchical societies, reformers challenge the status quo with provocative and uncivil speech. Accusing them of hate speech is ill-intentioned.

Hate speech and offensive speech are ruptures in civility. But, importantly, both are not the same...

In an important chapter on hate speech in his book Offend, Shock, or Disturb (2018), Gautam Bhatia writes: “Hate speech legislation is constituted upon the understanding that words can have consequences, that words cannot be separated from broader practices of subordination and inequality in divided societies, and that words can actually impede equal enjoyment of rights, and equal access to social and physical infrastructure”

For example, statements like “white people are racists” and “Black people have criminal tendencies” both rely on generalisations. Both could be legitimately considered offensive. But in racially hierarchical societies where whites enjoy disproportionate social, political, and economic privileges, the first statement is extremely unlikely to cause actual grievous collective harm, while the latter can actually affect the progress of Black people. The latter can be said to constitute hate speech.

Civility has its advantages because often it is the right wing that makes optimal use of the collapse of civility. We can and must insist on civility, but this should not blind one to the difference between uncivil speech from dominant forces and those representing subaltern interests. The former instigates and sustains violence in society; the latter, as provocative as it may be, is a comment on inequalities in society. The use of offensive speech in social justice movements could be hurtful, but it compels a rethinking of society; hate speech, entrenched in dominance, stifles thought, including civil dialogues.

The totalitarian project behind the electoral bonds scheme https://frontline.thehindu.com/politics/bjp-modi-electoral-bond-scheme-truth-hindu-rashtra/article68001490.ece 
.  Mar 29, 2024 PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA,ABIR DASGUPTA Beyond trade-offs and extortion, the scheme goes to the very heart of the Sangh Parivar’s long-term goal of an ideological dictatorship

Transparency in political finance requires transparency on both sides—fund-raising and expenditure. These structural features are barriers to transparency at both ends. ..Transparency as a lens and a goal, however laudable, is not a political principle in itself. It cannot be disconnected from the ideological. This is where it is necessary to return to the larger political project within which the electoral bonds scheme was implemented...

when the government brought in the electoral bonds scheme, the BJP was already far outstripping the other parties in donations: so what was the need for the scheme? The answer to this question lies in the form of society and polity that the Sangh Parivar’s wider project seeks to create. That society features a totalitarian and authoritarian state, with a permanently mobilised para-state, primed to the over-riding priorities of its ideological project. This system oversees every individual’s life, in as granular detail as it is able to, and it relies on people to act as its enforcers, whether out of belief or fear. Virtually no personal choice remains in that society, every person’s life and mission is to serve the national project. That state brooks no form of independent motivation in any institution or individual in the public sphere (including anyone who might donate funds) that does not adhere to its political project and priorities. It is inconceivable for any committed individual, association, or company, to not contribute to the national project, whether monetarily or otherwise—it is everyone’s civic and national duty.

How did Future Gaming & Hotel Services pay for its electoral bonds  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiLt0Lgelyg Mar 29, 2024
Ever since news came out that Future Gaming & Hotel Services was the largest purchaser of electoral bonds, questions arose about how a company with such small profits could afford to buy large amounts of bonds. An investigation into its financials, and the working of the lottery business, lends a lot of insight, Deputy Editor TCA Sharad Raghavan finds.

लोकसभा टिकटों के बंटवारे के चलते भाजपा में विद्रोह का ज्वालामुखी फटा? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yG8bkkmNY4  4PM

Gujarat BJP faces dissent over Lok Sabha ticket distribution  https://www.deccanherald.com/india/gujarat/gujarat-bjp-faces-dissent-over-lok-sabha-ticket-distribution-2953182  The fresh protest erupted on Tuesday, a day after the party released the names of the last six candidates, including for the Vadodara and Sabarkantha seats. Discontentment among BJP workers refuses to die down in Gujarat over the selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections to be held on May 7, even after the central leadership changed two candidates after party workers raised concerns.

कांग्रेस पर आर्थिक हमला, 1823 करोड़ का जुर्माना Mar 29, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsJTUZulRnc 
यह कैसा चुनाव है? बीच चुनाव में आयकर विभाग ने कांग्रेस को 1823 करोड़ का नोटिस भेजा है। क्या कोई भी पार्टी चुनाव के बीच इतना पैसा दे सकती है? अगर उस पर इस तरह से जुर्माने लाद दिए जाएंगे तो वह आयकर विभाग की बंधक बन कर रह जाएगी, उसके नेता जनता के बीच पहुंच ही नहीं पाएंगे। कांग्रेस के कई खाते पहले ही बंद किए जा चुके हैं, 135 करोड़ रुपये ज़ब्त किए जा चुके हैं। कांग्रेस कह चुकी है कि उसके पास जहाज़ बुक करने से लेकर विज्ञापन देने के पैसे नहीं हैं। जिस पार्टी को इलेक्टोरल बॉन्ड से कुल 1,334 करोड़ का चंदा मिला हो, उस पर 1823 करोड़ का जुर्माना लगा दिया गया है। कांग्रेस ने कहा है कि जिस आधार पर उस पर जुर्माना लगा है, उसी आधार पर भाजपा पर 4600 करोड़ का जुर्माना लगना चाहिए।

Rahul Gandhi After ₹ 1,800 Crore Tax Notice: "When Government Changes..."
Mar 29, 2024 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today promised the party will take exemplary action against those who have destroyed democracy - "when the government changes" - after the party received a ₹ 1,800 crore income tax notice which it called "tax terrorism".

https://thewire.in/politics/congress-accuses-bjp-of-tax-terrorism-after-receiving-fresh-it-notices The Congress on March 29 said that it had received fresh notices from the Income Tax (IT) Department to pay Rs 1,823.08 crore and accused the IT Department and the Election Commission of turning a blind eye towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s tax evasion which it alleged was to the tune of Rs 4,617.58 crore, writes Sravasti Dasgupta. 

Congress Treasurer Maken said that the party had analysed the BJP’s donations on the Election Commission’s website and found that in FY 2017-18 the saffron party had taken 92 donations without names worth Rs 4.5 lakh and 1,297 donations without addresses worth Rs 42 crore. The party said in a statement that while political parties in India are exempt from Income Tax Act under Section 13, “only Congress and other like-minded opposition parties are being singled out and selectively targeted by BJP’s frontal organisation-the Income Tax Department, for coercive action.”

https://twitter.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/1773650737374847183 @INCIndia allegedly committed violations to the tune of Rs. 14 lakhs in 2017-18, and was fined Rs. 135 crores. In the same year, the BJP committed the exact same violation to the tune of Rs. 42 crores.  For alleged violations committed in the last six years, INC was served with a notice of Rs 1,823 crores. For those very same violations, in the very same time period, the BJP should have been slapped with notices for Rs. 4,600 crores. All that Ajay Maken did was to use the R programming language to drill down the data submitted by the BJP itself, which is available publicly on the ECI’s website. We have attached the code to this tweet.

Why this fuss about income inequality? https://www.business-standard.com/opinion/columns/why-this-fuss-about-income-inequality-124032801231_1.html 

India has always had income inequality. In the past, it housed a large swathe of the world’s poor, and now it also houses some of the world’s richest, and many in between. This columnist, a homegrown, non-economist people researcher, struggles to understand the expectation that moving from socialism to capitalism should have decreased income inequality, despite the starting point of a steep pyramid on income and human development parameters.
After 1991, a smaller group with skills, assets, education and enterprise, set free with the world as their oyster, seized the opportunity and made quantum leaps in income and wealth. 

There is still a huge gap between aspiration (what I want for myself and my family) and opportunity/ access for decent education, health care and employment — more so, In some parts of the country than others. It is this gap that needs constant monitoring and fixing more than the gap between the rich and the poor.

Comment on WA: newer conservative narratives pushed in between blatantly communal divides. namely gap between aspiration and access to education, health care and employment .. in effect Socially Necessary Goods as the carrot... ie the case for Socially Necessary Time of the people with the illusion of "Ease of Living" being provided by IT, phones, communications,

Modi Attacks Congress; CJI Letter Sparks Debate  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUtmPmZLQUc Law Chakra

600 lawyers, including Salve, write to CJI: 'Vested interests' trying to influence judiciary;  https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/600-lawyers-including-salve-write-to-cji-vested-interests-trying-to-influence-judiciary-full-text-423270-2024-03-28 Over 600 Indian lawyers, including senior figures Harish Salve, have written to Chief Justice Chandrachud, alleging that a "vested interest group" is pressuring and defaming the justice system using "frivolous logic and stale political agendas."

More than 600 lawyers, including senior advocate Harish Salve and Bar Council of India chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra, has written to the Chief Justice of India, alleging that a "vested interest group" is trying to put pressure on the judiciary and defame courts "on the basis of frivolous logic and stale political agendas". "Their pressure tactics are most obvious in political cases, particularly those involving political figures accused of corruption.

PM Modi backs lawyers' letter on 'bid to pressure judiciary' https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pm-modi-backs-lawyers-letter-on-bid-to-pressure-judiciary/articleshow/108860938.cms Akhilesh Singh & Amit Anand Choudhary "To browbeat and bully others is vintage Congress culture. Five decades ago, they had called for a 'committed judiciary' - they shamelessly want commitment from others for their sellfish interests but desist from any commitment towards the nation ..

https://twitter.com/pbhushan1/status/1773321429523533894 Prashant Bhushan : Governments favourite lawyer Salve tried very hard to stop the exposé of bribery and extortion details of Electoral Bonds. His accounts in tax havens were exposed by the Panama and Pandora papers. He now leads a pack of 600 nondescript lawyers trying to influence the CJI to back off from tough orders

"Hypocrisy": Congress On PM's Post After Lawyers' Letter To Chief Justice https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/hypocrisy-congress-on-pms-post-after-lawyers-letter-tochiefjustice-5327989 
Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, "The PM's brazenness in orchestrating and coordinating an attack on the judiciary, in the name of defending the judiciary, is the height of hypocrisy!"

Jayram Ramesh: https://twitter.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/1773314306290954401  The PM's brazenness in orchestrating and coordinating an attack on the judiciary, in the name of defending the judiciary, is the height of hypocrisy! The Supreme Court has delivered body blows to him in recent weeks. The Electoral Bonds Scheme is but one example. 

https://twitter.com/kharge/status/1773351581070578014  Kharje Post

1. You conveniently forget that 4 senior-most Supreme Court judges were forced to hold an unprecedented press conference and warn against "destruction of Democracy". That happened under your regime. One of the judges was nominated by your Govt to the Rajya Sabha. So WHO wants a 'committed judiciary' ?

2. You forget that your party has fielded a Former HC Judge in West Bengal for the current Lok Sabha elections. Why was this candidature bestowed on him?

3. Who brought the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)? Why was it stuck down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court?

Modi ji, Institution after Institution is being 'bullied' by you into submission, so STOP pinning the blame on the Congress party, for your own sins!

You have mastered the art of manipulating Democracy and hurting the Constitution !

India's elections are coming up...are the media up to the task? | The India Report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHEgb8ZSA1c Al Jazeera English

With India amid a national election campaign, its news media is in sharp focus. Until recently it was believed that the sheer diversity of outlets ensured a range of perspectives, but now, India’s mainstream media has largely been co-opted by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just how did the media in India get to this point and what does it mean for the upcoming elections?

Featuring:
Ravish Kumar - Former Host, NDTV https://youtu.be/rHEgb8ZSA1c?t=250
Shashi Shekhar Vempati - Former CEO, Prasar Bharati https://youtu.be/rHEgb8ZSA1c?t=294  TV rating system responsible...
Pramod Raman - Chief Editor, MediaOne 
Amy Kazmin - Former South Asia Bureau Chief, Financial Times
Meena Kotwal - Founder, The Mooknayak 

‘Journalists of Republic TV are propagandists’: Sagarika Ghose on BJP, media, Marxism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LxOWpdGWKQ  The News Minute  

Sagarika Ghose, the journalist-turned-politician who recently made headlines for joining the Trinamool Congress, is set to contest the Rajya Sabha polls.

In this candid conversation with Sudipto Mondal for What’s your ism? – a podcast by The News Minute and Newslaundry – Ghose talks about the BJP, Mamata Banerjee, media, Marxism and intellectuals in Indian politics.

She says the mainstream media has been “captured by the Modi government” and the “journalists at Republic TV are not journalists but propagandists”.

What brings her to politics? What does she think about being compared to France’s infamous queen Marie Antoinette? Why does she think intellectuals don’t make good politicians?

https://theprint.in/opinion/arvind-kejriwal-cant-absolve-himself-ethically-excise-policy-encouraged-alcohol-intake/2018285/ 

The Kejriwal government in Delhi disregarded the Directive Principles of State policy with the corrupt excise policy on liquor.

what is this liquor policy that landed both Kejriwal and his lieutenant Manish Sisodia in jail?

This article makes an attempt to decipher New Delhi excise policy 2021-2022 on liquor and its objectionable points. At the outset, it would be interesting to note that the said policy was withdrawn within one year of its existence, not by the judiciary or any central agency but by the Kejriwal government itself. Since then, doubts have been raised regarding the integrity associated with the policy.

by ASHWANI MAHAJAN