The Wire Talks

There is a widespread belief that the 1950s were a time of great Hindi films, in terms of stories, songs and film-making. Seventy-five years later, fans still remember those songs, those stars and, most of all, those directors. We look back and call it the Golden age. What does that mean? “I think it’s partly because the 1950s are also seen as a kind of Golden Age of India,” according to Rachel Dw...

The Election Commission’s announcement in Bihar that a citizen should prove his or her credentials to vote has sparked outrage among political parties. They say that a large number of marginalised communities will lose their right to vote. “It is indeed very problematic. To shift the onus of establishing identity or citizenship on the voter is fraught on principle in a democratic country,” says As...

The Devendra Fadnavis government has withdrawn its proposal to introduce Hindi in the early classes in schools in Maharashtra because of the opposition’s pressure. In Tamil Nadu too, there has been pushback on the introduction of Hindi by the Modi government.   “In Maharashtra the BJP cannot afford to take electoral risks,” says Professor Alok Rai, academic and author who has taught in universitie...

India’s stand on global events is becoming increasingly unclear. Whether on the Israel Iran war or the Ukraine-Russia war, India has not taken a clear position, though in recent years, India has been supportive of Israel, giving up the country’s long standing support of Palestine. Nor has prime minister Modi clearly repudiated President Trump’s repeated statements that it was he who brought an end...

India sends students to the US in record numbers, but this academic year, applicants are feeling anxious before they head out. The changing policies of the Trump administration is likely to cause delays and tougher immigration questioning, among other things. Moreover, it is likely that the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, which allows F-1 visa holding students to work for a year or mo...

Every year, parts of Mumbai’s streets and tracks get flooded after the rains, but this year, the floods happened in the southern parts of the city. South Mumbai is generally considered immune to this kind of monsoon flooding, but this year, things were different. Citizens of Mumbai have got used to such inconveniences during the rainy season, especially in the first few days and weeks, but things...

Veteran Indian diplomat Talmiz Ahmad, who is an authority on the Middle East, says Turkey has been bringing up Kashmir for a long time but relations were slowly warming up.   “But it helped Pakistan during its conflict with India” and that was too much for India, he said in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia.    “Turkey is on a high and wants to expand its footprint to South Asia,” he said....

With the election of a new prime minister in Canada, there are hopes that relations between India and Canada will improve. Under Justin Trudeau, the previous one, ties had plummeted after he made allegations that India had a role in the killing of a Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. “Trudeau had five Sikhs in his cabinet and was responding to diaspora politics,” says veteran journalist Daniel...

The killing of 26 tourists in Pahalgam on April 23 came as a ‘shock’, because never before had terrorists targeted tourists, says Anuradha Bhasin, an astute observer of events in the Union Territory.   It's not that terrorism had disappeared after the removal of Article 370 in 2019, as the Modi government constantly claimed, Bhasin said in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia.   The reaction...

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar went “much beyond his Constitutional Role as the Presiding Officer of the Rajya Sabha” when he spoke against the Supreme Court. “His language was intemperate,” says Supreme Court Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia.   “The conjecture is that he is auditioning for a higher role,” Hegde said.   Pointing to the unseemly comments of...

Journalist and author Kunal Purohit began monitoring Hindutva WhatsApp groups several years ago and saw how they disseminated propaganda. “The things people were then scared to speak openly are now all around us,” he says to Sidharth Bhatia in a podcast discussion.   Purohit, who wrote the book H-Pop about songs spreading hate, says he finds those songs being played all over the place. He followed...

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill that has now come into force will effectively take control of any Waqf (Charity) property from the Muslim community wherever there is a dispute. “For example, Sambal mosque will be affected and will now come under the control of the Archeological society of India,” explains Shadan Farasat, senior advocate in the Supreme Court in this podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhati...

Academic and commentator Dr Ashok Swain of Uppsala University in Sweden is in the unique position of having his Overseas Citizen of India status cancelled twice by the Indian government. The government did not give any public reason for doing so but said it had “sensitive information” which it submitted to the courts when Swain challenged the decision. On both occasions the courts overturned it. “...

Plans to develop the Great Nicobar island, initiated by the Niti Aayog, have alarmed scientists and activists alike. A massive project, involving a transhipment terminal, port, a township, an airport and more, has been made. It is estimated to cost over Rs 70,000 crore.   Pankaj Sekhsaria, who has been associated with the islands for over three decades says on every front – environmental, geologic...

Generations have come and music genres have changed, but The Beatles and their music go on and on.    In this podcast, Oliver Craske and Sidharth Bhatia, both fans of the world’s first pop group, try to crack the mystery of their enduring popularity 60 years after The Beatles broke up.   “Their music sounds deceptively simple but it was actually not simple,” says Craske, who has worked on several...

N. Ram, a journalist and media manager for over five decades, has seen Indian journalism through its ups and downs. He recalls the Emergency, when there was censorship and most of the media simply succumbed to government pressure.   What he sees today is different. “It was a dictatorship then but it was not ideological. Today’s media management is toxic,” he says. He also talks about the "weaponis...

Reports are emerging that after the Kumbh Mela, Yogi Adityanath’s profile has increased for holding a successful event, the stampede apart. But there are others too.   “If Modi is the Alpha Hindutva Male, Adityanath is the Alpha Hindutva Male in waiting,” says Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, longtime observer and analyst of the right-wing Hindutva ecosystem. “He has been getting a lot of support from Hindu...

Retired diplomat and now academic Sanjay Bhattacharya says President Donald Trump believes disruption is the only way to achieve the kind of world order he wants to. In a podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia, Bhattacharyya says Trump still wants a Pax Americana, but wants allies like Europe and Japan to meet their share of the expenses of being protected.   According to Bhattacharyya, Trump i...

The crass statements made by YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, who goes by the name of Beer Biceps, have caused outrage among the general public. The police too is after him and the Supreme Court, while giving him some relief, has made strong statements against him. But does the state have any business to get after him?   Amit Varma, a veteran podcaster who also runs a YouTube show, thinks not. Describ...

There are established procedures to identify and return undocumented migrants from one country to another. It has to be done keeping in mind their dignity, says Vivek Katju, a former Indian diplomat, in this podcast interview with Sidharth Bhatia.    He emphasised twice that he was “disappointed in Jaishankar’s statement” in Parliament explaining the manner in which the migrants were sent was acco...

The Aadhaar card, which was to be only for smooth transfer of welfare benefits, is now asked for all kinds of things, from opening bank accounts to getting a SIM card. And it has led to many problems since the first enrolment, 15 years ago.   Usha Ramanathan, a legal researcher who was among those who warned of some its dangers, says that it is creating a digital economy that is for the benefit of...

After his inauguration, many of US President Donald Trump’s announcements and executive orders have caused fear and anxiety among applicants and holders of the H1B visas. Of particular concern is the ending of citizenship by birthright, though this particular provision has been stayed by the courts. Indians have a particular interest because they hold the maximum number of H1B visas.   Duriya Dhin...

The Indian Constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950 and Republic Day is a commemoration of that. The framers of the Constitution gave the nation a document that had the vision to guide matters of the Indian state.   Many questions have been raised about the Constitution – some members of the BJP want to remove the words secular and socialist because they were not in the original document....

Can the world ever be the same after Israel’s brutal, non-stop bombing of Gaza? That is the question author Pankaj Mishra writes about in his latest book, The World After Gaza. Mishra’s well researched book explodes several myths, not least being that Israel was formed in 1948 to provide a safe place for survivors of the Holocaust. On the contrary, he writes, the survivors who did move there were...