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The Quint

Rohit Khanna, The Quint's Executive Editor, gives us his take on current affairs and events. From Kunal Kamra to anti-CAA protests, and more, tune in for the sharpest take you can get, on current affairs.

Yeh Jo India Hai Na

Yeh Jo India Hai Na, yahan ke kuch log lapata hain. Some people have been reported missing.

We have their names and some related details. If you have any information about them, let us know.

Vishwas has been missing. His name stands for trust. Vishwas was lost when policemen beat up those they were meant to protect. Not once, but again and again. Across India, Vishwas is now missing.

Ekta has been missing. Her name stands for unity. Ekta has been lost for some time. And it’s becoming harder to find her. Sometimes Ekta is in veil, sometimes in hijab; sometimes in jeans, sometimes in a salwar, sometimes on a scooter, glued to her phone, a Virat Kohli fan... Ekta, you could say is, every girl. Muslim or Hindu, it’s hard to tell. We can only hope that Ekta returns.

Brothers Tawfeeq and Salman are also missing. Tawfeeq stands for harmony. Salman, a name we know so well, stands for being safe and secure. Unfortunately, with Tawfeeq, or harmony, missing, it is easy to understand why Salman, or being safe, is missing too.

Vivek has been missing too. His name stands for wisdom – one who has the understanding of the good and evil. Yes, Vivek is missing. Vivek has gone missing just when we needed him most.

And Siddhant is missing. His name stands for principles. Rules by which we hope to be governed. Siddhant, or principles, now declared missing. People are randomly arrested as they protest peacefully, abused in police custody for weeks, and then freed in the absence of any charge, while MLAs and MPs openly making hate speeches roam free. It is clear that Siddhant, or principles, can simply not be found!

Interestingly, Adarsh, whose name also stands for principles, is also totally missing!

Host: Rohit Khanna
Editors: Vivek Gupta, Mohd Irshad Alam

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Missing! Not Just Vikas, Even Vishwas, Ekta, Adarsh, Gaurav & More

Yes, Arnab Goswami’s style of journalism has been described as divisive, sinister, taking jingoism to a new level of shrill.

Yes, Arnab Goswami abuses people on his TV shows he heaps of insults on politicians, activists, even countries that he doesn’t agree with.

Yes, I find a lot of Arnab Goswami’s brand of journalism distasteful. I believe it is doing this nation a lot of harm.

But do we need to deal with Arnab Goswami by borrowing from his own playbook? 

On an IndiGo Airlines flight on Tuesday, 28 January, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra heckled Arnab Goswami. You’ve seen the video and read the story after which IndiGo Airlines banned Kamra from flying in their airline for six months.

And after Aviation Minister tweeted an informal advisory for other airlines to also ban Kamra, most Indian carriers have done just that. Excessive for sure as expected, maybe we could call them ‘Godi’ Airlines? But let’s return to Kunal Kamra.

Listen to the podcast for the rest of the story!

Host: Rohit Khanna
Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Producer: Aparna Singh

Click here to watch the video story on The Quint.
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Did Kunal Kamra Have to Borrow From Arnab’s Playbook to Counter Him?

Nowadays, people can not only be identified by what they wear but also by what they eat! At least that's what BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya says.

Poha, a wonderful, simple dish poha which all of India loves, and perhaps Bangladesh does too, is at the centre of an unsavoury controversy.

The most interesting fact is this – in Indore, where Kailash Vijayvargiya was born, poha is loved by Indoris! It is a favourite snack there.

Another set of people hugely puzzled by Vijayvargiya’s claim are Maharashtrians! Maharashtrians have poha every morning. School kids, office going people, everyone.

There is also an excellently researched article by Kaushik Das Gupta in The Indian Express about how variations of poha are popular in so many other parts of India.

Poha in Odisha is made from a smaller grain of rice. Odiyas use more of carrot and ginger in their poha as against the onion, peanut, masala-driven poha of Indore and Mumbai.

Bengali poha is called chire’r pulao, and to this, they often add raisins. Goans cook poha with milk, sugar and cardamom to make doodanche fov – a sweet dish during Diwali.

I believe that Kailash Vijayvargiya’s poha anecdote is not an accidental or stray comment. It is part of a continuous attempt in creating a sense of 'us' and 'them' in this country: that guy there eating poha is a Bangladeshi, that makes him different from 'us' roti-eating ‘shudh bharatwaasis’.

Listen to the podcast for the full story!

Host: Rohit Khanna
Editors: Sandeep Suman & Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Producer: Rupsha Bhadra
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Beware! Some People are Using Poha & Biryani to Divide India

Briefly, when counting for Delhi elections started, some 'godi media' channels were saying that compared to the 2015 Assembly elections the BJP has improved. But, eight seats in an Assembly of 70 seats simply cannot be given a positive spin.

It is a wipe out and this must be contrasted not with the 2015 Assembly elections, but with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections where, just months ago, the BJP won all seven seats winning in 65 out of the 70 assembly segments. From that, is has tumbled back down to less than 10, and it is what the BJP must now do ‘chintan’ on.

The word that the BJP must be hating the most right now ironically, is the word hate and its religious twin bigotry religious hatred.

VO: Rohit Khanna
Music: Big Bang Buzz
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Delhi Rejects Hate Politics: Shaheen Bagh ‘Shocks’ The BJP

Here is a True or False question. 

Nehru did not want Sardar Patel in his Cabinet! True or False? 

The answer is False. And here is the clearest proof of that – an excerpt of this letter written by Nehru to Sardar Patel on the 1st of August 1947.

“Dear Vallabhbhai, as a formality I invite you to join the new Cabinet. Writing this is superfluous because you are the strongest pillar of the Cabinet.”

And for further confirmation here is Sardar Patel’s reply, dated 3rd August, 1947 – let’s read it in detail as it says a lot – after ‘Thanks’, Patel says.

“....our attachment, affection, comradeship of 30 years needs no formalities.”

That was the true nature of Nehru and Patel’s relationship – huge mutual respect and affection, not enmity.

But, wait. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar stirred controversy with a tweet, where he said, “Learnt from a book that Nehru did not want Patel in the Cabinet in 1947 and omitted him from the initial Cabinet list.”

But, where's the evidence and the proof to back this up? 

And yet here we are, swallowing conjecture and rumours, and allowing two national icons to be reduced to bickering daily soap-opera characters.

Listen to the podcast for the full story!

Host: Rohit Khanna
Editor: Vishal Kumar
Producer: Shohini Bose
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Can a Union Minister Use ‘Rumours’ to Defame Jawaharlal Nehru?

Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Todenge…Todenge Dum Magar…Tera Saath Na Chodenge!

Trump and Modi sounded a lot like Jai and Veeru from Sholay. But please be warned. While Trump praised Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, praised Bollywood… and praised Modi’s personal journey from selling tea to Prime Minister. The script for Trump’s speech at the Motera stadium was not written in Bollywood. It was written in the White House, which means yes, Indo-US ‘dosti’ is growing, but woh jo line hai na that we hear at the end of every juicy business offer. For Indo-US relations to prosper, Terms and Conditions do apply.

And what are those Terms and Conditions? Most of the clues and indicators are in the speech Trump made at Ahmedabad’s Motera stadium – so let's dive into it.

Host: Rohit Khanna
Editors: Vivek Gupta, Varun Sharma
Producer: Shohini Bose
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Modi Wants BFF Status From Trump, But Terms & Conditions Apply

Yeh Jo India Hai Na – Is our police really so incompetent? It is impossible to believe that Delhi Police is so bad at their job? It is impossible to believe that Delhi Police failed miserably at dealing with the violence in northeast Delhi because of sheer incompetence?

Look at the long list of mistakes that the Delhi Police made in the wake of the violence in northeast Delhi, pointed out in media reports and by former senior police officers.

Is it really possible that the Delhi Police is so incompetent, so partisan, so leaderless? Many of the Delhi Police’s acts of omission, a lot of this baffling incompetence, is the Delhi Police actually following orders. This is the sad fact. Political leaders practically asking the police to look away as communal violence and casteist violence unfolds. Be it Delhi in 1984, Mumbai in 1992-93, Gujarat in 2002 or Muzaffarnagar in 2013.

Host: Rohit Khanna
Editor: Varun Sharma
Producer: Rupsha Bhadra
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Yeh Jo India Hai Na, Its Police & Neta Must be Held Accountable

Yeh Jo India Hai Na… It is a messy democracy, but it is a democracy! 

Some countries are still stuck with Kings & Sheikhs… some are sham democracies.. with a single leader for 25-30 years.. some are out and out military dictatorships. 

But India is that jeeta-jaagta democratic miracle.. that decade upon decade… has stayed faithful to its core identity as a federal, secular, democracy.

Also… few would argue against Narendra Modi’s diplomatic successes… he has hugged his way into the good books of countries as opposed to each other as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran. He has entertained both Xi Jinping and Trump in Ahmedabad… looks like they sat at the exact same spot at Sabarmati Ashram. 

So… why would the Modi government want to lose all this political capital, all this goodwill that it has built so painstakingly?! 

And yet.. in recent months, unfortunately… that is what has been happening…

Yeh Jo India hai na… Duniya iss India se aajkal naaraz hai. And for the first time.. in a long time… India’s credibility as a secular democracy is being questioned…

For instance… the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, plans to appeal in India’s Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment Act. 

She says the CAA is “fundamentally discriminatory” and breaks away from our “long tradition of secularism”. 

Listen to the podcast for the full story!

Host: Rohit Khanna

Editor: Mohd. Ibrahim
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Modiji, Can You Afford to Lose the Perception Battle with the World?

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This is the Coronavirus, it is scary with over 5,000 dead and many more expected.

China, Korea, Italy, Iran and several other countries with massive outbreaks. Tom Hanks, Iranian and British ministers all testing positive! No cure available. The world in lockdown. Borders being sealed. Entire countries in quarantine! Airports, stadiums, malls, schools, colleges, cinema halls shut or empty, IPL postponed, Olympics may be scrapped. Panic at a never-before world scale.

But let's rewind to some other recent panic events – 2008 saw a market and financial crash, SARS, MERS, Ebola – these epidemics were health emergencies. What’s unique and new and extra scary about the Coronavirus crisis is this – that perhaps for the first time – your life and your livelihood, the world’s health and the world’s economy is under threat, it’s a DOUBLE WHAMMY and so, panic bhi dugna hai!

Listen to the podcast for the whole story!

Editor: Vishal Kumar & Purnendu Pritam
Producer: Rupsha Bhadra
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Coronavirus & Global Economic Panic: A Double Whammy From China

Yeh Jo India Hai Na… is it clear about its novel coronavirus testing strategy? 

The Quint's Rohit Khanna asks whether India should follow South Korea’s ‘mass-testing’ model? Could ‘symptomatic testing’ for COVID-19 result in India becoming another Italy?

Host: Rohit Khanna
Producer: Shohini Bose
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Yeh Jo India Hai Na, Its Police & Neta Must be Held Accountable

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