| India: The Modi Question, a BBC documentary and Pathaan were the two most talked about video content in India this week. One was purely political and was banned. The other was pure entertainment but was made political.
Pathaan, Vir Sanghvi wrote, isn’t just another Hindi movie. It is important in the battle for a tolerant India, free from hatred and communally charged bullying.
The BBC documentary, on the other hand, is a product of the British establishment, and is uniquely authoritative, wrote Shruti Kapila. It is not the outcome of a bleeding-heart liberal. But Sheshadri Chari asked if the British Foreign Office and the BBC still believe that they are above the Supreme Court of India and that they can reopen the Gujarat riots case as if ‘India that is Bharat’ is still under Her Majesty’s Government.
Writing on RSS’ Mohan Bhagwat’s recent caution against Muslim supremacy, Amana Begam Ansari said that there are some upper-caste Muslims today who still live in the glory of the past — they don’t shy away from taking pride in an ‘invader’ ruling India even as they complain about ‘majoritarianism’.
And PM Narendra Modi has been speaking about reaching out to Pasmanda and Bohra Muslims, DK Singh revealed that the BJP’s media minders went into a tizzy, making desperate calls to journalists across TV channels, newspapers, and agencies not to report that news. Why? The fear is of upsetting its core Hindu voters.
The BJP’s politics in Kerala is floundering. It is a divided lot, and its state chief K. Surendran is just not cutting it, wrote Anand Kochukudi. The state calls for a different approach and not the aggressive politics he represents.
Finally, do read our deep-dive feature on the shadowy world of spurious drugs. Sagrika Kissu travelled to low-scale units that manufacture drugs of low quality with poor oversight to unravel the world that produced the cough syrups that allegedly killed children in Uzbekistan.
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