NL Hafta

This week's Reporters Without Orders features our host Amit Bhardwaj with Rahul Kotiyal, special correspondent Prateek Goyal and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya from Hindustan Times.Amit starts the podcast by asking Snigdhendu about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rath Yatra in Kolkata, which was supposed to be hosted on December 7 but was blocked by the Trinamool Congress. They discuss how the whole thing was rebranded from a Rath Yatra to a "Save Democracy" programme.The panel moves on to the rumours surrounding Varun Gandhi leaving the BJP and joining the Congress and how news reports constantly feed these rumours. Rahul adds: “In the Congress, the sky is the limit for Varun Gandhi and he’ll be a threat to Rahul Gandhi if he joins.”Amit talks about Kamal Nath becoming the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and his race for the position. The panel also talks about the cut-throat competition between the two parties and how the BJP's anti-incumbency factor played out in the state. Rahul notes: “The BJP’s strategy is to praise the Modi-Shah duo and blame it on local leaders if they lose elections.”Next, they discuss the reason behind the strong win of the Congress in Rajasthan, and where Vasundhara Raje failed and Sachin Pilot succeeded. Amit says the unemployment factor amongst the youth and the farmer crisis contributed. Prateek quotes people of Rajasthan saying, “Modi tujhse bair nahi, Vasundhra teri khair nahi” which the Congress claims was given by the RSS while the BJP blames the Congress. Nevertheless, the slogan claims that Narendra Modi still has a certain hold in Rajasthan, but Amit says Modi's charm has diminished as “voters of Modi are in a toxic relationship which you know is not working out, but you just don’t want to quit it”.For this and more, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s episode of Awful and Awesome brings you an action-packed discussion with our hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen on the short film Detour, the new Brexit trailer, Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma and two commercials.Rajyasree and Abhinandan start the podcast with the semi-autobiographical film Roma, written, directed and produced by Alfonso Cuarón. Rajyasree notes that the movie is set in 1971 Mexico and tells the story of characters that are usually ignored by cinema and society. Appreciating the director’s work, Abhinandan says, "There are two things that make cinema survive—the stars and the craftsmen who crafts cinema", and Cuarón is one of those craftsmen who’s keeping it alive. Rayasree believes Roma is all set to win an Oscar.The discussions moves to a Netflix documentary, The Innocent Man, based John Grisham’s book—which Rajyasree notes is Grisham's only non-fiction book—and how the movie portrays the criminal justice system in America in relation to sending people to jail. They then talk about the trailer of the upcoming HBO film Brexit starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch plays Dominic Cummings, the man known to be the architect of Brexit, and how he used social media to bring out the most unlikely outcome. Abhinandan expresses his excitement for the movie but also says, “In the interest of making a compelling narrative, writers and podcast makers are overstating what social media interventions do.”Moving on, Abhinandan and Rajyasree talk about the new Baggit commercial starring Shraddha Kapoor where she promotes the hashtag #PutItOnTheTable. They think it doesn’t resemble a feminist campaign. Abhinandan says, “If this is what a feminism campaign looks like, then good luck, feminism.”Tune in to listen to more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

इस बार की चर्चा का केंद्र पांच राज्यों में हुए विधानसभा चुनाव में आए नतीजे रहे. इसके आलावा आरबीआई गवर्नर उर्जित पटेल का समय से पहले अपने पद से इस्तीफा देना, नए गवर्नर के रूप में शक्तिकांता दास का पद संभालना, रफेल विमान सौदे पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट का निर्णय आदि विषय इस बार की चर्चा के मुख्य बिंदु रहे.इस बार की चर्चा में बतौर मेहमान न्यूज़ 24 चैनल की पत्रकार साक्षी जोशी और वरिष्ठ पत्रकार हर्षवर्धन त्रिपाठी शामिल हुए. इसके अलावा न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के असिस्टेंट एडिटर राहुल कोटियाल भी चर्चा का हिस्सा रहे. चर्चा का संचालन न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने किया.चर्चा की शुरुआत अतुल चौरसिया ने पांच राज्यों के विधानसभा के चुनावी नतीजों से की. उन्होंने पैनल के सामने एक सवाल रखा, “जिस रूप में भाजपा पिछले 4-5 सालों में बदली है, हमने देखा कि हर विधानसभा चुनाव के नतीजों के बाद नरेंद्र मोदी दिल्ली की सड़कों पर विजय परेड निकालते थे. उस दौरान मोदी जो भाषण देते थे उसमें एक विचित्र सी साम्यता दिखाई देती थी. वो अमित शाह को जीत का पूरा श्रेय देते थे बजाय पूरी पार्टी और उसके संगठन के. ये एक अलग तरीके की रणनीति दोनों नेताओं के बीच में विकसित हुई थी. अब इस हार से क्या उस जुगलजोड़ी के ऊपर किसी तरह का दबाव बढ़ा है?”इसके जवाब में हर्षवर्धन त्रिपाठी ने कहा, “जब हम माध्य प्रदेश, छत्तीसगढ़, राजस्थान के चुनावी नतीजों की बात करते हैं तो इससे पहले के भारतीय जनता पार्टी के जितने भी चुनाव हैं उसकी स्थिति में और इसमें एक बड़ा बेसिक सा अंतर है. फर्क ये हैं की ये वो 3 राज्य हैं जहां की मुख्यमंत्रियों को समय-समय पर नरेंद्र मोदी के कद का नेता समझा जाता रहा. यहां तक की अगर आप लोगों ने ध्यान दिया हो तो 2013 -14 के दौरान कई बार चर्चा चली कि शिवराज सिंह चौहान भी प्रधानमंत्री पद के एक ताकतवर दावेदार हैं.”हर्षवर्धन आगे कहते हैं, “पर शायद ऐसा नहीं हो सका. मैं ये नहीं मानता कि अमित शाह और नरेंद्र मोदी ने इन चुनावों में उस तरह से अपनी भूमिका नहीं निभाई जैसे बाकी राज्यों में करते थे. उसके बावजूद वे चुनाव हारे. मेरा मानना है कि मध्य प्रदेश छत्तीसगढ़ से बहुत अच्छा सन्देश है कि एक अरसे के बाद मतलब मुझे नहीं याद है की कब इस तरह से कोई चुनाव पूरी तरह स्थानीय मुद्दों पर लड़ा गया. राजस्थान एक बहुत बुरा चुनावी कैंपेन रहा. वहां कोई जमीनी मुद्दा नहीं था. विपक्ष के अभियान का एकमात्र मुद्दा था वसुंधरा अहंकारी हैं. यानी सब हवा हवाई मुद्दे थे.”नतीजों पर हो रही बहस का दूसरा पहलू था राहुल गांधी और कांग्रेस पार्टी को मिली चमत्कारिक सफलता. क्या इससे राहुल गांधी की नेतृत्व क्षमता स्थापित हो गई है या फिर इसे सिर्फ तुक्के में मिली जीत और एंटी इंकंबेंसी का नतीजा मानकर खारिज किया जा सकता है? साक्षी जोशी इस पर हस्तक्षेप करती हैं, “राहुल गांधी एक परिपक्व नेता के तौर पर साल भर पहले ही स्थापित हो गए थे. गुजरात चुनावों के दौरान उन्होंने जिस तरह से चुनाव अभियान की कमान संभाली वह ध्यान देने लायक है. उन्होंने. उन्होंने बार-बार एक बात कही कि आप (भाजपा के लोग) मुझे पप्पू कहते हैं. आप मुझे चाहे जो भी कहें लेकिन मेरे सवालों का जवाब जरूर दें. वो सवाल बहुत जरूरी हैं. तो जिस तरह से उन्होंने मुद्दों को पकड़े रखा और विपक्ष के उकसावे में बिना फंसे अपना अभियान चलाया वह उनकी क्षमता को साबित करता है.”राहुल कोटियाल ने इसके एक और पहलू पर रोशनी डाली, “राहुल गांधी की जो छवि साल भर पहले थी, ऐसा नहीं है कि उन्होंने उसमें कोई बड़ा बदलाव किया है. इन 3-4 सालों में मोदी की अपनी असफलताओं का इन नतीजों में भूमिका ज्यादा है. जिस तरह से उन्होंने अपनी छवि बनाई थी कि वो सबकुछ हल कर देंगे और बाद में जिस तरह से विधवा के संबंध में उनके अटपटे बयान आए, जिस तरह से प्रधानमंत्री की बातों को संसद की कार्यवाही से हटाना पड़ा, उन सबने मिलकर मोदी के लिए एक नकारात्मक माहौल बनाना शुरू कर दिया है.”राफेल डील और उर्जित पटेल के इस्तीफे पर भी दिलचस्प सवाल और निष्कर्ष के साथ साक्षी जोशी और राहुल कोटियाल ने इस चर्चा में हस्तक्षेप किया. हर्षवर्धन जी ने भी कुछ जरूरी, ज़मीनी जानकारियां साझा की. उनका पूरा जवाब और अन्य विषयों पर पैनल की विस्तृत राय जानने के लिए पूरी चर्चा सुने. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Hafta, we have Shipra Garg, our subscriber from the United States, and Meghnad joining our in-house panel of Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Raman Kirpal to discuss news that made headlines this week.Abhinandan begins the podcast by discussing the recent CBI 'leak'. The panel discusses the role of media in covering a crisis that involves the country’s central investigation agency. They also touch upon CJI Ranjan Gogoi’s statement: “You don’t deserve a hearing.”The panel then talks about the outrage against Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, after a picture of him holding a poster reading ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’ was circulated. Manisha discusses television debates and hashtags like #BoycottTwitter that followed. Shipra adds how this news has also erupted in the US where channels are reporting that “Hindus in India are angry with Jack Dorsey”.Moving on, the panel talks about the death of American citizen John Allen Chau, who was killed by Sentinelese tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Meghnad says “[It’s the] arrogance of the civilised man that is at play [when they say] that our way of living is the best and others who are not doing it like that are somehow doing it wrong.” Abhinandan disagrees, he argues that since some customs of these aboriginal tribes are primitive it’s desirable that they should be integrated into modern society.Hear the panel discuss the dissolution of Jammu & Kashmir Assembly where decisions were made on Twitter rather than Assembly floor. Raman sums up the situation saying, “It is only in this government that the fax machine stops working, or the ink is changed or the EVM machines don’t function properly.”Listen to all this and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So, here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. In this episode of NL Hafta 202, the regular Hafta gang of Manisha Pande, Abhinandan Sekhri, and Anand Vardhan is joined by Saurabh Dwivedi, founder-editor of Lallantop.Saurabh, who travelled for a month in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the run-up to the elections, has some great insights to share. The team discusses the reasons for Congress’ victory in the Hindi heartland and whether it will have any bearing on the 2019 general election.Saurabh explains how PM Modi failed as a communicator in Chhattisgarh and why his speeches didn’t click with the masses.Anand tells us why political analysis as we see in news media is overrated. Abhinandan says the Assembly results were not Rahul Gandhi’s Pappu-pass-ho-gaya moment, but more a failure of the BJP government.The Hafta gang also discusses the resignation of RBI chief Urjit Patel and his successor Shaktikanta Das. Abhinandan says: "...the way everyone is dismissing him on his degree, I disagree with that...I will not diss him on that."Finally, the team discusses the Ambani wedding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.This week, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Meghnad, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande. The panel also features Newslaundry reporters Amit Bhardwaj and Prateek Goyal who are covering the elections from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh respectively.Amit gives us insight into the election rallies in Rajasthan that are being dominated by PM Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath instead of Vasundhara Raje. Prateek shares his experience from Madhya Pradesh, saying people in the state would vote for the BJP despite their dissatisfaction with the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government. The panel discusses the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition and the recent violence in Bulandshahr which led to a policeman being killed. They also looked at how the media, especially television channels, covered the incident.Listen to the full episode here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, Supreme Court lawyer Mihira Sood joins our in-house panel of Madhu Trehan, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande. The gang goes on to discuss topics like sexual harassment laws in India, the cancellation of singer TM Krishna’s concert in Delhi, and CNN’s lawsuit against the Trump administration.Giving us an overview of the shortcomings of sexual harassment laws in India, Mihira, who is currently researching the feminist movement, gives us some insight. The panel goes on to dig into the ever-increasing trend of “performative feminism” wherein media houses carry stories without any proper journalistic inquiry. Raman calls such stories “the easiest stories to report”.Talking more about the propagandist tendencies of media, Madhu mentions why the current government deserves to get the “Best Media Management” award. The panel further talks about the NDA-friendly media as well as the UPA-friendly media.Moving on, this week’s Hafta crew discusses the recent cancellation of Carnatic singer TM Krishna’s concert in the capital which was being organised by AAI and SPIC MACAY. They also talk about the controversy unfolding in the United States wherein CNN filed a suit against the Trump administration when the organisation’s journalist Jim Acosta was discredited from accessing the White House.Tune into all this and much more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The Awful and Awesome brings you an action-packed week with our hosts—Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen—both of whom discuss everything from a political documentary to a very strange award category.The duo begins by talking about the "Bad Sex award" which is awarded by Literary Review to "an author who has produced an outstandingly bad sexual description in an otherwise good novel". Rajyasree says Japanese author Haruki Murakami also made it to this year’s list, while Abhinandan adds that an Indian author called Anirudh Behl was also part of the same list in 2003. Moving on, they talk about something that’s even more ridiculous in a pop-culture context: the trailer of Rohit Shetty's Simmba, which is a sequel to the Ajay Devgan-starrer Singham. Rajyasree says the trailer does not have a cliffhanger and instead gives away the entire plot. "We should warn you, if any of you go watch the film, then you should be ashamed of yourself,” adds Abhinandan.The hosts then talk about a short film starring Naseeruddin Shah called Rogan Josh, which also features Avantika Akerkar and Shishir Sharma. The duo discusses how this film—which commemorates the anniversary of the terror attacks in Mumbai—is conceptually strong. Both of them agree that the problem of the film is a universal problem in Hindi films, i.e. they over-explain.The discussion then moves towards a political documentary, Fahrenheit 11/9, directed by Michael Moore. Rajyasree says though the film is primarily about American president Donald Trump, it's also about the Flint water crisis, Michael Moore’s connection to Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner, the Parkland school shooting, Obama, Hillary Clinton and more. This overload of information is what is the problem with the film, according to her. “The film, which is about everything, becomes a film about nothing,” she points out. The anchors conclude by talking about Priyanka Chopra’s wedding. Rajyasree says it's ironic that "three truckloads of firecrackers" had been burst at her wedding, even though Chopra endorses an ad that is about asthma. Talking further on Indian weddings, Abhinandan says, “Indian weddings have become an excuse for people who could never make it to showbiz. Aaj mauka mila hai, captive audience mili hai, aaj main nach kar dikhaunga, chahe nachna aata ho ya na aata ho.”Tune in to find out more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's Reporters Without Orders features our host Cherry Agarwal along with in-house writer, Gaurav Sarkar. Today, we have three guests joining us on the panel: Mumbai-based Parth MN, Haryana-based Jyoti Yadav, and DNA’s Amrita Madhukalya.This episode focuses primarily on the agrarian crisis—including the Kisan Mukti March which took place in Delhi on November 29 and 30.The podcast kicks off with the panel sharing their experiences of interacting with farmers at the rally. Parth talks about how the presence of Opposition leaders in the rally was favourable for the farmers’ movement. “They (farmers) can use the platform to hold the establishment accountable. It is all about holding the establishment accountable. And if and when they come to power, as media we can hold them accountable for the speeches they have made at the rally,” he adds. Jyoti agrees and says it is crucial to politicise the issue as it makes the issue mainstream.The conversation then moves on to discuss how the media covered the Kisan Mukti March. Parth points out that though this particular rally was covered well by the media, the media has also been largely ignorant of the agrarian crisis that has been affecting almost the entire rural economy. “(The) spurts in farmer suicides happened largely after a drought, hailstorm or a natural calamity,” he said. “This is usually the last straw on the camel’s back. But why the farmer was sitting on the brink is something that we do not explore.”Talking about how the rally was covered by the Hindi media, Jyoti says it's time they stop romanticising the farmer crisis and instead focus on talking about the actual issue as it is. She feels that the pieces being churned out by various publications should be written as reports and not as literary articles.Gaurav draws a comparison between the first farmers’ march in Mumbai and the one that took place recently in Delhi. He points out that while political leaders were not allowed to make speeches at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, in Delhi, they were not only encouraged, but also expected to do so.The discussion then moves to how newsrooms were not very well prepared for the massive rally in Mumbai. Cherry points out that this shows the shortcomings of newsrooms. Amrita adds: “Newsrooms also need to invest in a sustained coverage of farmer crisis. Newsrooms need to take into account that this is going to be the biggest political conversation in the 2019 elections.”Summing up the discussion, Parth points out: “We need to ensure that the farming crisis becomes a part of our discourse and our daily conversations. Long story short—we should not be reminded of a farmer’s struggle only when they die.”For all this and more, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta is back with a bang with our in-house panel comprising Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan and Madhu Trehan. The panel discusses a variety of topics ranging from air pollution and firecrackers in Delhi to Sabarimala protests in Kerala, Trump’s press conference in the White House to Arnab Goswami being appointed a member of the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library in Lutyens’ Delhi. The discussion starts off with Madhu weighing in on the Supreme Court verdict allowing entry to Sabarimala for women of all ages. She questions the ruling BJP for not supporting the verdict of the Supreme Court.The Hafta gang then discusses the various angles of the firecracker ban in India in relation to the air pollution which has been hitting the saturation point, and how the people of Delhi flouted the Supreme Court order on the eve of Diwali, helping Delhi’s AQI levels go through the roof. The discussion then moves on to US President Donald Trump’s chaotic post-midterms press conference which took up plenty of space on social media, and how in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasn’t done even a single press conference since he took office.The conversation then proceeds to the installation of the Museum on Prime Ministers of India, and the gang discusses the validity of such an institution in India. They talk about the killing of Avni, the "man-eater" tigress from Yavatmal district in Maharashtra. The panel brings in contrasting views about the concept of "human versus animal" in connection with the issue. The discussion also steers its way to the recent developments in the Ram Temple issue in Ayodhya.This and more in the latest episode of NL Hafta! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.