Till date, eight journalists, two netizens, and one media assistant have been killed in various incidents in connection with their journalistic work. There are more statistics: 193 journalists are imprisoned while 166 netizens are behind bars, with a total of ten media assistants serving time in prison. The report is[Read More…]
Author: Muqbil Ahmar
What do UP Poll results mean for the Muslims of India
Should the Muslim community start moving towards the BJP? BJP has stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most politically significant state, demolishing any myths of demonetization or identity politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has trumped all odds and emerged as the sole winning factor, in a political battle that[Read More…]
UP Polls: How and why senior journalists and editors batted for the BJP on poll eve
Team Modi’s electoral strategy aimed at capturing floating votes? Elections are a tricky subject in India. Things can change overnight. Rumor mills start working overtime and rumor mongers have a field day because they know that that is the moment when they can bring about a big change if their[Read More…]
UP Assembly Elections 2017: Manufacturing a “hawa” for the BJP out of thin air
Senior journalist and India Today consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai said in the Hindustan Times on March 2: “I am putting my neck on the line once again and forecasting a likely BJP win in Uttar Pradesh. In a seemingly ‘wave-less’ election where 403 constituencies are witnessing fierce competition almost everywhere,[Read More…]
Even if GDP figures despite demonetisation are true, it is still bad news
Everybody knows that disparities exist in Indian society and economy but that the gap would be so huge has become apparent only now. Actually, only 10 percent of India’s population controls all resources. So much for Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. Let’s see why: Just when everyone was expecting the demonetization[Read More…]
Is India staring at a recession? Probably
Big job cuts in Snapdeal, Hindustan Times, ABP, Aircel is worrying In one of the biggest cost-cutting exercises in its history, Snapdeal is laying off about 600 people. Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal have taken cent per cent salary cut, whereas several other employees have gone in for[Read More…]
Decoding the timing of Modi’s Kabristan-Shamshan statement
BJP is panicking and everybody can see it. The significance of elections in India’s politically biggest and most important state can’t be emphasized enough. And rightly so. It holds the key to power in New Delhi and would be a microcosm of the next General Elections. The stakes for[Read More…]
Blow by blow account of the meeting in which Cyrus Mistry was sacked: The inside story
On October 24, when Tata Group Chairman left to attend the board meeting, little did he know that he was going to face what could possibly be the toughest day of his life. What he thought was a normal meeting had a hidden agenda that he was unaware of. In[Read More…]
Remembering Dario Fo: The revolutionary and the clown of the working classes
The Italian playwright wrote for the downtrodden and the oppressed I first came across Nobel Prize-winning playwright Dario Fo during a conversation with noted Hindi and Urdu dramatist and author Shahid Anwar, who did a translation of the Italian playwright’s works such as The Accidental Death of an Anarchist and[Read More…]
Blowin in the Wind: An ode to Bob Dylan
I first heard the song Blowin in the Wind several years back in JNU. I was a new entrant and was straight away swept away by it, such was its all-pervasive power even half a century after its penning. I remember guys meticulously learning to strum the chords of Blowin[Read More…]
Biryani is for all
I looked around apprehensively as I slowly munched on my beef biryani. My furtive glances were met with derision from other eaters in the run-down Muslim restaurant. My mind was fraught with several questions. Did my biryani contain cow’s meat or buffalo’s as many people thought that it did? What[Read More…]