Bharat Bhushan Narendra Modi’s blame avoidance has been made possible not only by his oratorical skills, but by televised proceedings of Parliament. Live-streaming allows soap-box oratory to supplant accountability Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to address in Parliament the controversies and allegations surrounding businessman Gautam Adani’s meteoric rise and, now, his perceptible decline. By removing… Read More A masterclass in blame avoidance
YOGENDRA YADAV This week the country saw a new Rahul Gandhi. Unlike his solo and strident attack on the Rafale scam before the 2019 Lok sabha election, his interrogation of PM Narendra Modi’s complicity in the Adani affair was at once sharper and calmer. This was not a piece of classical oratory. But he took… Read More You saw a new Rahul Gandhi in Parliament. I saw the change in Kashmir
RAJU RAMACHANDRAN The recent controversy over the appointment of advocate L Victoria Gowri as an additional judge of the Madras High Court has raised the question as to whether people with political allegiances should be made judges. Disclosure: The author led the team of lawyers who challenged Gowri’s appointment before the Supreme Court. The challenge was not… Read More Here are SC, HC judges with political pasts. Gowri’s unconstitutional views were the problem
Today the greater adjutant is endangered, with fewer than 1,200 adult birds in its last strongholds – the Indian states of Assam and Bihar, and Cambodia. Most of the global population is found in Assam, making Barman and the hargila army’s work critical to its survival. Indian conservationist Purnima Devi Barman transformed attitudes to the bird –… Read More Assam’s ‘hargila army’: how 10,000 women saved India’s rarest stork
The Indian prime minister’s attempts to suppress a critical BBC documentary show how sensitive he is to his international reputation. (NB: The problem is that the ‘parivar’ boasts about the same thing at home which its proponents wish to deny on the international stage. DS) Mukul Kesavan The clue to the Indian government’s thin-skinned response… Read More Narendra Modi is struggling to be both anti-Muslim strongman and global leader
Raksha Kumar Adani Watch is a unique news organisation. Its only goal is keeping tabs on an Indian conglomerate from outside the country. There are three reasons for this. The first one is the crisis in business journalism. “Business journalism in India is not investigative. It is mostly reliant on information leaks,” says Seshu from… Read More Indian business journalism in crisis
the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Bureau Investigation and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office are silent. The overwhelming signal that the Adani imbroglio sends to international investors is that India lacks effective regulatory mechanisms. Bharat Bhushan The Indian government will not remain untouched by the slide of Gautam Adani. This is evident from the video appearance… Read More Will India remain untouched by the slide of Adani?
Opposition parties on Sunday stepped up their attack on the Modi government over the Adani issue, with the Congress alleging that its “silence smacks of collusion”. Ahead of the party’s planned nationwide protests on Monday, Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said they will pose three questions a day to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over… Read More Opposition raises pitch on Adani issue; Congress to launch nationwide protests on Monday
THE NEW INDIA WHINING This last fortnight has not been a good one for the BJP or its bhaktiveers, even if we discount the irony of an autocratic despot being invited as the Chief guest at our Republic Day function. One would have expected that the wiseacres of MEA would, in between rejecting assorted documentaries… Read More Avay Shukla: A week of conspiracies, nationalism, and delusions
The upheaval rocking the Adani business empire is one of the dramatic global developments of the last week. I was delighted that The Wire saw fit to pick up and republish Chartbook #190. I’ve long harbored a secret ambition to join the ranks of the Wire-wallahs. Cam and I also featured the Adani story on the Pod… Read More Adam Tooze: Indian nation-building, Modi and Adani / Mihir Sharma: What Worries Indians About Adani’s Empire
After the truth-shower 