My pleasure!

We have tried our best to keep questions short and sweet.

Even more pleasure!

Your main point is that India is witnessing demographic change at a rapid pace and that Hindus should become more aware about future challenges. What do we need to do in real life to address this issue (apart from outraging on Twitter)?

That’s not exactly my main point. My commentary covers, and on occasions deliberately not covers, various issues. However, demography is one of the truths and challenges I want people to be aware of. Truth, because I see people repeating the phrase that ‘India is 80% Hindu’, which is factually incorrect even if we take 2011 census data, where Hindus comprised less than 80% of Indian population. In a couple of years, we’ll have another census and this percentage will further dip. By the way, this is official data, and there is a belief that many who have converted, especially to Christianity, enumerate themselves as Hindus in government records so that they can continue to take benefits like reservations for SCs, for only Indic religions qualify for it. Therefore, the actual percentage is lower.

Furthermore, for all practical purposes, this percentage only reflects numerical strength of people who have Hindu names, and they don’t necessarily have a sense of belonging to the religion or culture. Not many actively opt to list themselves as ‘no religion’ or ‘others’. Thirdly, very aggressively in name of ‘alternative history’ and such, various narratives are being peddled, under effect of which you don’t only cease to feel a part of the Hindu society, but you actually start hating it and work to destroy it. This ranges from woke liberalism to acerbic Periyarism with many shades in between.

So the actual percentage of people who would assertively identify themselves as Hindu in cultural or religious sense will be far less. I will put it around 70% and I’m being optimistic.

However, the real challenge is not weakening numerical strength, but mainstreaming and acceptance of narratives where your mere existence is hated. And I’m not even talking about narratives or ideologies like Islamism, which is easier to identify, and post 9/11, their PR has sunk. But other insidious and hateful ideologies, which are no better than Islamism except that they have not yet raised armed groups – actually they have in form of Naxals – and which masquerade as voice of the voiceless. They have amazing PR and their bigotry has become institutionalized and intellectualized.

The subterfuge adopted by most of these ideologies is to try to brainwash you that everything Hindu is basically ‘Brahmin’. The attempt is to seed the idea, subconsciously, that Hinduism is basically an imperialist ‘impot’ of Brahmins and all non-Brahmins should get rid of it. The ‘Brahmanvaad se aazaadi’ is that war cry. This is why they latch on to any caste-based stuff, however illogical and stupid it might be, say, Hardik Patel. They have invented ‘Brahminism’ and camouflage their Hinduphobia that way. This is a huge challenge that not many realize. We are essentially looking at cultural genocide and far from battling it, we are enabling it.

While there is no doubt that caste-based inequalities and injustice are something Hindus can hardly be proud of, but don’t get guilt-tripped by this and buy every shit being dished out in name of criticism of ‘Brahminism’.

I’ll give just one thumb rule. Take any statement by so-called liberals and ‘intellectuals’ that has Brahmins or Brahminism in it. Replace ‘Brahmins’ with ‘Muslims’ and ‘Brahminism’ with ‘Islam’ – will the resultant statement be acceptable to that ‘liberal’ or will it be declared a bigotry or hate speech? Do what the ‘liberal’ would do in such cases 😉

So far as your question about what should we be doing about it apart from outraging – which actually I just might have suggested in the above paragraph as liberals at pro at outraging – the first thing to do is to be aware and read. Don’t necessarily read just tweets of likes of me, but read books. Books of Sita Ram Goel for example, which have been carefully hidden from you and maligned by the ‘ecosystem’. Honestly, even I have not read much, but when you read, you realize that you could have saved so much time reinventing the wheel. We are facing the same challenges since decades and we have done zilch about it. The first step is awareness.

When we try to create awareness among Hindus about the rising threat of Islam, narratives may peek in saying that we are alienating good Muslims in this process. What is your take on this?

Well, you may find it shocking coming from me because of my Twitter persona, but I don’t consider ‘Islam’ as the primary threat. I have just used your term, though I would qualify it as ‘political Islam’ which is the problem rather than the religion itself, to which someone like APJ Abdul Kalam or Bismillah Khan also belonged. I am hardly politically correct and I have even said that Islam in itself has some inherent problems. but still, the real challenges come from the more insidious narratives trying to destroy you from within, and not from Islam.

Consider an Islamist like a mad man throwing stones at your concrete house, while you have someone living inside your house who regularly paints that mad man as poor person who needs love and care, and who regularly sweet poisons your food in moderate amount to accelerate your death. For me, that person inside my house is the bigger threat. We are not yet so weak that the mad man is going to overrun us. Yet.

And yes, this issue of alienating ‘good Muslims’ is a tricky one. India indeed had a different version of Islam but a very radical version of Islam has been replacing it for some decades now. Even the educated ones among them find this version more attractive, say that Wire journalist who went all out saying Bharat Mata Ki Jai is communal. The educated among them actually appear even more radicalized. Obviously the ‘liberals’ pin it as if it’s all due to Babri, but truth is something else. This radical version of Islam has raised its head globally and we can not defeat it by talking sweet in politically correct language or worse, by sweeping the issue under the carpet of Babri.

The great ‘liberal’s themselves kept averring that down south, unlike in “cow-belt”, everything is hunky dory. Some of them are also now waking up to the fact how Kerala has far more burqa clad women now and the situation is changing. Radical Islamist outfits like PFI has grown and killed people for blasphemy. Guys have gone joined ISIS. Only recently a Tamil Nadu activist was killed by Islamic radicals. Many ‘liberals’ are so shameless that they will still blame it all on Babri and RSS, but the truth is that yes, there are some inherent problems with Islam, which forms the basis of Islamism. We need to be aware of it and talk about it without caring much about how it might hurt someone’s sentiments.

But I still have some old romance alive that Kalam’s or Bismillah Khan’s Islam can still exist and co-exist.

SwarajyaMag columnists are always restless that Modi’s term is ending, but he hasn’t done anything meaningful for Hindutva. Whereas Opindia columnists are more like ‘Keep calm & trust Modi’

This is all mahaul about Swarajya vs OpIndia. Give me data and then I will respond!

So far as my personal belief is concerned, yes, Modi government hasn’t done quite a lot for Hindutva policy wise, and that criticism is fair. So, you see, I actually might sound more like Swarajya here as per you! In fact, to shock you more, but temporarily, I would say that I don’t even believe in ‘Keep calm & trust Modi’.

I believe in “Run for your life & support Modi!”. He is the last hope. If 2019 is gone, a civilizational war will be lost. Not just a battle that comes every 5th year, the war will be lost.

a) Are you satisfied with what Modi has done in this regard?

You mean in term of strengthening Hindutva? Well, Hindutva itself has various aspects and there are various issues begging attention. A common criticism is that poison (the sweet poison that I talked about earlier) in education sector has not been removed and no major ‘detoxification’ (ironically Congress uses this term when they undo any steps taken by any previous BJP government) has happened, and yes, that’s unfortunately true.

However, I am not too worried about that because thanks to Congress rules since independence, our education is so fucked up that no education policy will work wonders so soon. Lol. They might write ‘secular’ shit in textbooks but not many are actually reading them! Students are just mugging it up to get good grades, not to get some ‘education’. Look at ourselves, we also grew up in the same education system but we could salvage ourselves, and this is where awareness becomes important. Nonetheless, this is no excuse for not being aggressive on the cultural issues in the education sector.

However, for any ideology to succeed, you first need to have the confidence that you are here for a long run. Murli Manohar Joshi took some steps in education sector under Vajpayee government and all was undone in 5 years. So winning elections matter. If you want a Hardik Pandya to hit sixes like crazy, he needs to have confidence and assurance that he won’t be dropped from the team if he fails once or worse, he will be kicked out of team because he said some shit on some chat show.

Hindutva supporters on social media need to realize that getting electoral muscle is very important. Look at ‘Gau Raksha sammelan’ and such things being organized by new Congress governments in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. There is now a growing sense that Hindutva projects can’t be treated as anathema as armchair ‘liberal’s want to do, and this is the biggest service BJP under Modi has done – being unapologetic about their beliefs. Policy wise not much might have been done, but politics wise, a lot has been done. One more term to Modi, and things will change even more.

b) Do you think Swarajyamag & Opindia are complementing well in this regard?

I don’t think I understand the question. We are two independent organizations but share many common beliefs and ideals. There are no pre-planned roles for either of the organizations and we don’t strategize jointly. How we are fitting – in course of our operations, not as part of some grand plan designed by someone – into overall scheme of things is for the readers to decide and give feedback. I’ll be blunt and say that not all of them could be implemented as at the end of the day there is a real business to run and that becomes the primary concern. As individuals of course, different people have different priorities. Say for me, as an individual, I try my best to make sure I contribute to the ideological battle. Many others do too.

As per our information, unlike Left/Congress, BJP doesn’t fund any pro-RW/nationalist news portals. What’s your comment on this?

Apart from National Herald, Congress has not ‘officially’ funded any portals. Their leaders in individual capacities have invested in likes of Tehelka, NDTV, that Marathi media org where that guy Nikhil Wagle worked, and so on and so forth. Latest example obviously is of Kapil Sibal backed TV channel where Barkha Dutt has a show. Nothing stops BJP leaders from similarly supporting any organization they like and I’m sure some are doing it too. Yes, the scale would be hugely imbalanced for sure with quantum of support available to the ‘other side’ vs ‘our side’.

What RW however needs to realize is that it’s not a party’s sole responsibility to create such an ‘ecosystem’. When we talk about Congress ecosystem, it is important to realize that it is not that they created it after independence, they inherited it. The ecosystem was already structured and nurtured by the British. It’s a very rich – figuratively and literally – ecosystem, and one needs to learn the ‘best practices’ it adopts.

So, yes, the party needs to observe and learn from how the Congress supports the ecosystem. And the ‘RW’ also needs to observe and learn. It will be foolish to think that all of those on the other side are surviving on Congress money. Just like very stupid journalist thinks every pro-BJP or pro-Hindutva twitter account is part of BJP IT cell, we shouldn’t similarly think that everyone is getting money from Congress. That’s not an ecosystem actually, that’s a syndicate.

You need an ecosystem. You need to support each other and be accommodative. And I think people have started realizing it, especially the former one. I was never bullish when people used to tell me to accept payments from common public on OpIndia. But people have been supporting us since we launched voluntary payments a few weeks back. The quantum is decent, even though it doesn’t meet our expenses big way, but at least there is a beginning.

We are curious to know your hobbies, favourite past time.

Favorite pastime is doing nothing with some good music on. Hobby is stamp collection. No, obviously not. Hobbies include many things like randomly reading on some issues and trends, travel (this one I picked up after marriage), and watching absolutely useless movies like Tarzan The Wonder Car.

Which is more closer to your heart – Opindia or Faking News?

Right now, my t-shirt.

The post In Conversation with Rahul Roushan appeared first on HMP.News.

To be start with we may like to know what’s latest update on your health

My gastrointestinal system is having severe problems due to biliary colic. I have had my gall bladder removed as stones were formed there. So being admitted to hospital often. I hadn’t eaten for 40 out of 45 days, so it’s not going to be sorted out too quickly. Will have to endure a bit

How do you reflect on things happened against you in past 2-3 months

I’ve always held India is a Banana republic, and the real weakness is not the law, but human capacity. This is natural in a 3rd world country & I believe I have been vindicated repeatedly on this score. In the UK for example, there was still a law in operation that mandated princess Diana’s execution for high treason for adultery. Issue is, no cop would arrest her or prosecutor prosecute her, or judge even consider arrest leave alone allowing it to come to trial. Why? Does it mean the UK is a Banana republic that doesn’t follow laws? No. It is high human capacity which induces self restraint in people that reduces societal violence and gradually leads to prioritization of rights over duties that differentiates the 1st world from the 3rd world

It was evident that you were victim of political vendetta. May be for defending Rafale or for friendship with Jay Panda. Any comment on this

Several people in BJP helped throughout to get me out. The Rafale defence is conspiracy theory, and in the end the BJD accepted that I was merely an acquaintance of Jay Panda. At any rate I don’t bear Ill will, or rancour against any of them. My malice is reserved for shoddy research & garbage argumentation of the Barkha, Swati Ilk, but even there, I’m more amused given they’re basically sad pathetic jokes well past their prime who don’t seem to get people they consider their friends are laughing at them behind their backs.

What’s your opinion on Supreme Court’s different standards of justice for different people

Let’s just say I’m not interested in going back to jail for some serious contempt of court. But again remember the notion that some institutions are purer or better than others is statistical & anthropological rubbish. The human capacity deficit & severe educational crisis India faces affects ALL institutions equally.

Some ‘Liberal’ Journalists/publications like Barkha Dutt, The Print used opportunity to take dig at you citing your support for civil defamation cases in past. Any comment

When you’re at the end of your career you have to inject yourself into every situation & make everything about yourself. The Print OTOH is a neutral platform & have readily agreed to a rebuttal & asked me to write for them on other aspects of this episode as well

Many liberal journalist like Rohini Singh, Shivam Vij tried to show you are bad ‘martyr’ by showing your past tweets of supporting civilian defamation suits (& convenientally hiding that you were arrested under 295A which no way can be compared with civil defamations)

Yes they did, because they’re superficial shock jocks and don’t understand the deep sociological & anthropological implications. They think society conversations are substitutes for anthropological or sociological rigour. Take Shivam for example, everyone knows he’s gay, but for all his militant activism, he’s petrified to come out for “family reasons”. Simple example, a magazine I love called Areo that published an expose on peer reviewed journals & the quackery they engage in the name of gender and race studies, their Bombay correspondent Ilona is one such. When confronted she called Steve Pinker a rightist bigot & then deleted her tweet & claimed she never said that, because she was essentially attacking solid historical statistics as rightist quackery. Sadly the employment of socially clueless activists & past their prime washouts masquerading as journalists is a very real phenomenon, and in fact symptomatic of global journalism. In India it us particularly bad, as it is compounded by a severe human capacity & education problem

No one was able to defend Rafale more logically than you, still no one from BJP come for your support. Any comment

As for the BJP, Dr Swamy was stellar, and several other leaders, they helped immensely behind the scenes. As did several foreign governments. I didn’t realise how much goodwill I had. It’s unfair to criticise any of them, just because they asked for their help to be kept discrete. Similarly 4 left liberals + 1 institution supported me unconditionally and without caveats & I’m deeply grateful to them. Siddharth Varadarajan, Ram Guha, Rajdeep Sardesai, & Markandey Katju and 1 institution: Amnesty International. This doesn’t mean we don’t have serious differences of opinion & I won’t challenge them in the future, because unlike Barkha i believe support for a position must be based on principle, not on reciprocity. Barkha believes that support is transactional, I don’t. I’ve called Modi Feku several times for what I believe to be wrong economic policies, and I’ve defended the Rafale. I go by research & principles established by the research of others whom I respect.

Your Bio reads: ‘better to die defending ones beliefs than capitulation) Gita 3.35’
How Geeta has played role in your life

It’s just a quote that spoke to me, powerfully. It was alluding to the fact that I still am right wing, & even more trenchantly & militantly so after my incarceration. But just because im an atheist doesnt mean i dont get inspired by powerful quotes from religious books. My atheism comes organically from hinduism, which is why i identify as a hindu & my sources of inspiration are from hindu theology & mythology. Hinduism anyway accepts atheism as a valid path. I’m economic right & socially progressive right, which is to say I have no time for socialism & believe social change must be pushed by people not by governments, but people should fight the good fight & push boundaries, but never get violent or be ambiguous about violence because it reduces the space for social change. Similarly I believe intersectionality to be very very dangerous. Just because I support gay rights doesn’t mean i have to support Palestinian terrorism or Kashmiri stone pelting. I remain an international security moderate & internal security hawk. I have ZERO repeat ZERO tolerance for violence that’s passed of as heroic & fully support the states monopoly on violence.

Umm, in whole interview I avoided asking you anything l related to your experience in jail. Because, if I were in your place, I would not had been courageous to answer this Question at this stage
But may be your well wishers might feel worried to know what’s exactly was happening that you didn’t even ate food for 40 days

No no it’s fine.
The police & authorities treated me well. The issue was sheer boredom. I don’t own or watch TV and the only entertainment was TV which I hate. Also i dont read fiction fir about 20 years now. Tge environment wasnt conduicive to reading serious books & fiction just made me feel like time wastage. I thrive on external stimulus.. smart people & interesting new socio-anthropological & technology books. So it was probably boredom or severe depression

Whether you faced any issue with Jail inmates there?

No … No issues with jail mates. I made friends with lots of serial killers & rapists. I use the term friends loosely ….. don’t want them looking me up after they get out.
Fyi, I was in a single cell . About 10 ft × 10 ft & a 5×3 toilet.Bit the larger cells held about 30-40 persons each. Jail food was too spicy, disguising.

Any special message for all people who stood firmly behind behind you, led by your friend Aarti Tikoo Singh Ma’am?

Yup… I love you guys and I have no words to express my gratitude. There are so many to acknowledge… My former boss Samir Saran, Rupa Subramanya, Anand Ranganathan, Chitra Subramanian, Swarajyamag, Opindia, Nupur Jhunjhunwala, Mohit Gulati and so many others. Thankful to my lawyer Nikhil, my close confidante who kept me sane and went way above and beyond the call of duty (and I think my mother prefers him to me), and to Ruben Banerjee & outlook who persisted several stories: on my condition in jail, why the arrest was wrong , how I was scapegoated and demanding my release.

Thankful to all of those who supported me publicly and those across party and ideological lines who helped me immensely but simply don’t want to be acknowledged. Times like these are when you know who your friends truly are. I measure my happiness and wealth by my friends (Yes, I know it sounds corny, but when you have money, you value things other than money) and I’ve never felt richer, because I never felt this much love, support and concern before.

The post In Conversation with Abhijit Iyer-Mitra appeared first on HMP.News.

What inspired him to write the book and what he thinks about the current scenario of Naxalism? Read this interview to know:

HMP: Vivek, first of congratulations for your book ‘Urban Naxals’.Your Book calls Naxalite movement in India as the world’s largest extreme-left terror movement. Why do you think So?

Vivek: Which other violent revolution has survived for 50 years other than the Naxal movement in India? Which other violent movement has been responsible for as many deaths, rapes and destruction of public property? Kashmir and Jehadi terror is always in the national and international discourse, but Naxal barbaric acts are reported only when more than dozen CRPF jawans are killed and mutilated by the Naxals. In 2016 alone Naxals have been responsible for more than half of the 340 killings in terror attacks. More killings than the Jehadi terror. More jawans have lost lives in the Red Corridor than in the Kargil war. They don’t let the roads build. They destroy schools and hospitals. They extort 11,000 Cr rupees each year, which is used for funding Urban Naxals for anti-state activities. Their written strategic document mentions toppling the Indian state by fighting an armed war in Indian cities. What else do we need to know?

HMP: How do your fight with Urban Naxals started? Have you witnessed any such incident?
Vivek: I was never in politics. When I wanted to release my film ‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’, I started experiencing resistance. In a very organised manner certain sections started to attack the film to discredit it’s theme. Then JNU refused to show it. In Jadavpur they attacked me physically. My shoulder is not fully recovered as yet.
But what was more dangerous was the sinister politics behind all this. First they question an idea without even knowing it. Then they discredit it or ridicule it and in third stage they start attacking you. They can go to any extent to stop the alternate narrative.

HMP: After talking about Urban Naxals, you have been largely identified as Right Winger, or Pro-govt person, How much do you agree with this?
Vivek: I am neither left wing or right wing. I am ‘India wing’. I gave up my green card and came back to India with lot of hopes. I want India to be recognised for its strengths. I want India to be world’s top 3 countries. Anyone who I believe can help us reach there gets my support. At the moment I support Narendra Modi because he has a vision which is rational and achievable. I am against those who are negative and question everything not because they are interested in knowing better, but their sole objective is to create chaos and confusion. Because I raise my voice against such activists, journalists, Fake feminists and of course, against the Urban Naxals etc. who all are always seen with anti-India narrative. Why is it that when I talk about urban Naxals, all Liberal intellectuals get rattled? Are they the Urban Naxals?

HMP:  As per your judgement, whether this extreme-left terror movement has shrunk or increased under PM Modi’s Government & Why?
Vivek: The red Terror in the red corridor is declining sharply. Recently over 50 Naxals were killed. The rate of surrenders has increased. Development is at an unprecedented pace. These are pretty good indicators.
But as a result, Urban Naxalism has increased manifold. With UPA government there wasn’t much of a problem as these Urban Naxals flourished in a nexus with UPA, bureaucracy, media, NGOs etc. Today, they stand exposed. But they are planning a big intellectual ambush before 2019.

HMP: What Government needs to do to break the backbone of this left-terror movement, especially Urban Naxalites?
Vivek: The biggest problem with the devil is that you can’t see it. Similarly, these are invisible people. They are in media, education, law, social service, politics, art, films… in all those spheres which control the narrative. In a democracy, how do you catch them. Asst. professor Saibaba was caught with proofs… with the strategic document… but such Saibabas are everywhere… how does one identify them… they are in the entire system. They should be fought by the citizens like you and me. I am not just preaching, I am doing it very successfully. That’s why they leave no stone unturned to suppress and discredit me.

HMP: How according to you the ‘rebels’ of JNU, Jadavpur , AMU need to be tackled?
Vivek: We have a stale education system. Most of the research scholars get involved in leftist politics as the hold of Naxalism in our academia is extremely strong for the most of the faculty is leftist. There are records of professors of top universities being on the payrolls of KGB and Maoist network.

HMP:  As per your view, What path Government need to chose to address the poverty issues between Economic Right , left or balance between them?
Vivek: In this globalized world, poverty can’t be fought with welfare schemes only. The modern system rewards modern skills and ideas. I think a lot of schemes of the current government are aimed at empowering the poor so that he can be self reliant and nit at the mercy of the government. No country can be economically successful with welfare schemes.

HMP: You have talked different standard sets about Freedom of Expression by Liberals -one for themselves and other for ‘Sanghis’, ‘Internet Hindus’, which you had described as ‘Boutique Liberal Activism’: .
Vivek: ‘Boutique Liberal Activism’ is when an activist supports an issue not to solve the issue, but to further his/her brand value. You can see them everywhere. Holding placards for feminism on odd day and Anti-Hindu placards on an even day. No wonder most of them supported Arvind Kejriwal. They are fake. Most illiberal. Most intolerant. A liberal person would listen to the locals of Jammu before passing an unilateral judgement against all Hindus. Such people are not just fake, they are most dangerous. Because they work for Urban Naxalism.

HMP: Do Right Wingers need to be paranoid of Congress coming back to power & starting of their ‘witch-hunting’
Vivek : Congress coming back to power in the leadership of Rahul Gandhi is like expecting Tejasawi Yadav getting a PHD degree.

HMP: Prakash Raj has said that he’s not getting movies since he has started criticizing PM Modi and his policies. How much do you agree with this?
Vivek : LOL.

HMP: By looking at BJP’s manifesto in Karnataka & recent PM Modi’s speeches, BJP has given a subtle hint that the grievances of the cultural right like ‘Temple Control’ will be taken after 2019. Do you think that ruling BJP has been on right path & right pace to address those issues?
Vivek: I don’t think BJP government has done anything to help Hindus. But it hasn’t done anything that hurts Hindus like in UPA’s regime. Which itself is the right thing to do. No appeasement of anyone. In India, temple issues are considered as Hindu issues. Whereas Temple is a community issue. I believe Ayodhya is a cultural issue whereas everyone tries to portray it as a religious issue. I’d be keen to see how Modi handles these issues in coming years.

HMP: You have written some brilliant columns, especially in 2015 in DNA narrating religion in the context of India and endorsed scientific temper. How you practice religion in personal life?
Vivek: I don’t care about jargon and self-label myself as a rationalist or amethyst but I am not ritual inclined. But I love Hinduism. I love India. I am very proud of both. That doesn’t mean I disrespect any other culture. But given the choice, I’d go with the science and rationality. This is where I find Indian liberals funny. They are dogmatic, prejudiced and biased, yet believe that are rationalists.

HMP: You have talked about opposition relying on ‘Dalit-Muslim oppression narrative’ on the road to 2019. How this need to be tackled?
Vivek: I have been saying for years that a lot of funding is pumped to create an Islamic-Dalit block to challenge Modi in 2019. With each election, it becomes more visible. We are going to see some dangerous times. I personally believe that the Dalit conversation must change. My fear is that most of the political parties have started Dalit appeasing and this is not good for the country. Dalits, in 2018, need equality and empowerment not appeasement.

HMP: You have talked about how few students in JNU, Jadavpur doesn’t represent student movement in India .Do you have similar views that few Placard activists don’t represent Bollywood?
Vivek: Most of these placard activists don’t even know what’s written on them. Need I say more.

HMP: What are your views on HMP ?
Vivek: I have learnt from liberals that one must keep questioning. So, according to liberals, you are doing a fantastic job and I have no doubt that soon you will be invited to Jaipur Literature festival.

Note: Thank you Vivek, we wish you a great success and would like to congratulate you for the success of your book Urban Naxals.

The post In Conversation With Vivek Agnihotri As An Author. appeared first on HMP.News.

To understand the psychology behind the idea of voting “None” of the Above, HMP has decided to interview NOTA voters with certain frequency. This is the first interview of the same series.

Bhupendra, 28, who is working in a Group B post in Central Government, an UPSC aspirant with Philosophy, Political Science as his areas of interest has decided to Vote NOTA in 2019 LS polls. Bhupendra likes to read Ram Guha, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Shekhar Gupta and claims to be a Liberal. He has also attended RSS shakhas in childhood & commends some of the humanitarian works of RSS.

Here’s an excerpt of the interview.

HMP Journalist: Welcome Bhupendra! And all the best for your UPSC exam. So Bhupendra, whom did you vote in past elections?

Bhupendra: Except 2014 where I voted for BJP for a change, I have always voted NOTA. Because,.
Firstly, there is very little integrity left to the politicians across the party lines.
Secondly, I crave for pre-1966 days when leaders still had a sense of morality and Gandhian influence over the political class was more or less intact.

HMP Journalist: So are you satisfied with BJP/Modi’s performance?

Bhupendra: I would say Modi Gov performed way better than UPA 2. As far as UPA1 is concerned, the more serious comparison would require to ascertain which government did a better job.
But overall, I would say this government managed well on some fronts like Solar Energy, Ujjwala Scheme, Infrastructure development, economic reforms, NPA etc.. But expectations were surely higher than what have been achieved till now.

I would go by Raghuram Rajan’s advice that India needs to grow at 10% to tide over demographic time bomb and deliver better health, education infrastructure to the masses.

HMP Journalist: Don’t you think UPA1 Government was benefited from growth left by NDA1, and also Capital expenditure (eg. On Infrastructure etc.) by Modi government has been much more than Revenue Expenditure (eg. subsidies, etc.) which would benefit the country more in the long term than short term, whereas UPA had done opposite

Bhupendra: I just said more analysis is required. Anyway, my objections against BJP are absolute, not relative. So, bjp performing better than any other Gov doesn’t wash them up.

HMP Journalist: Whom you are going to vote in 2019 LS ?
Bhupendra: NOTA

HMP Journalist: But if you yourself are admitting that Modi govt has performed better than UPA Government, doesn’t it deserve one more term like voters had given to UPA in 2009?
Bhupendra: I was not the one who “gave” 2 terms to UPA, as simple as that. Even if I had voted for them in the past, as a voter, I have a complete freedom to demand something more or something different from current dispensation.
Anyway, as I said, my objections against current government are not relative. So, BJP doing better than Congress, that too only on economic count, is not sufficient to veer me away from NOTA path.

HMP Journalist: But don’t you think it is going to benefit Corrupt Politicians like Lalu Yadav, Mulayam Singh etc and possibly unstable Government in Centre once again?

Bhupendra: The onus lies on the political parties to provide clean, efficient and inclusive candidates. The onus is not on the voter to worry about whom his choice on the ballot button will benefit. Albeit, I would say BJP or any party for that matter should aspire to come to power for the positive work they did or doing and not ride over the fear of worse option coming to power.
This is not to say that voters do not do the comparative analysis of the candidates or do not do strategic voting for or against some party or candidate, but that a voter has a right, intrinsically connected to the right to vote itself, to decide the standard with which he or she does not wish to compromise in any which way.

HMP Journalist: What defects you see in BJP that you are stubborn to vote NOTA?
Bhupendra: For me, BJP (or all other mainstream political parties for that matter ) has following defects that prevents me from voting for them
A. Fielding candidates with criminal background or cases pending against them.
B. Insufficient emphasis on the inclusivity of political discourse.
C. Some seriously incompetent ministers at the center (do not wish to name them).
D. Some outrageously divisive figures at the helm of the affairs.
E. Lack of transparency in the electoral funding.
F. Ideological disagreement (does not wish to elaborate)
E. Hubris
G. Open interference of an extra-constitutional organisation in the workings of the government.
I. Over-dependence on central leadership to win elections. I want my MP or MLA to qualify in all the tests I have mentioned here. I am not going to vote by looking at who is going to be the Prime Minister anymore.

I may be prepared to overlook some of the above defects if the current government delivers around 10% growth or at least appears to be moving in that direction since, I believe, one, economic growth lifts everyone with it, two, political exclusion can be compensated to some extent by increased prosperity of the masses.

HMP Journalist: But 10% Growth is not realistic in the current global scenario, even China is far away from achieving it.
Bhupendra: China is past its prime. So, the comparison is not valid.
10% growth doesn’t compensate for all the defects. And defects are so grave in my opinion that only 10% growth may make me think about voting for BJP.
If that seems a bit over the top target, remember, the defects are graver than that.
The best way is to rectify all the defects I mentioned and I would vote for BJP.
Until that happens, I would like to stick to NOTA.

HMP Analysis:
As described by Garibon ka Economist Ashutosh Muglikar , Bhupendra fits into the definition of ATUL (All time Udaas Liberal). BJP is going to have a very difficult task convincing such voters, who have very unrealistic expectations from the party. One thing that clearly comes out of the interview is that BJP has not adequately informed the public about the work done on the economic front, and UPSC aspirants unaware of these economic steps or reforms are a matter of concern.

The post In Conversation With A NOTA Voter: Psychological analysis. appeared first on HMP.News.

This time we spoke to a cab driver, who drives in and around Mumbai. After taking his consent, we recorded a small audio clip of the talk so that our readers appreciate the genuineness of the conversation.

Our journalist, who is based in Mumbai, booked a cab from Chembur to Colaba. The driver, Mohammad (name changed for safety reasons), is from UP and has been driving cab in Mumbai from the past 2 years.

Heres the conversation between the driver and the journalist:

Driver: Sir, OTP?
HMP Journalist: 4786

Driver: Sir, Freeway se le lun?
HMP Journalist: Thoda ulta padega na?

Driver: But sir, fir zyada time lagega…sab jagah khuda hai
HMP Journalist: Haan khuda to har jagah hai…bas mann se dhoondo to milenge

Driver: Sir, mera matlab khudai chal rahi hai…
HMP Journalist: Arey haan…ok, Freeway se lelo

Driver: Ok, sir
HMP Journalist: Magar ye khudai kyon chalti rehti hai?

Driver: Haha sir, accha hai na…metro, flyover aa rahe hain
HMP Journalist: Haan dekho…kuch kaam to ho raha hai. Waise aap Mumbai se hi ho?

Driver: Nahi sir, UP se hun…2 saal pehle aaya
HMP Journalist: UP se? Kaisa chal raha wahan? Yogi ji to khabron me rehte hain bohot.

Driver: Arey, ab jo bhi hai…kar to rahe hain kuch
HMP Journalist: Kya kar rahe hain?

Driver: Sir, kisano ka karja maaf kar diye hain sab.

Here is the audio:

HMP Journalist: To sabhi kisano ka karja maaf kar diye?
Driver: Haan, Yogi ji zyada pooch-taach nahi kiye seedha khatam kar diye karja

HMP Journalist: Magar maine to news me dekha ki karja maaf ke naam par ek do rupaye ka cheque de rahe hain. Ye to gareeb ka mazak bana rahe

Driver: Haha…aisa nahi hai, sir. Ab kuch log khud apna karja bhar diye to unke account me ek do rupaye bache to computer me jaisa dikha utne ka cheque ban gaya.

HMP Journalist: Aisa bhi hota hai kya?

Driver: Arey, sir agar aap kabhi apne phone number band kardo…aur bill bhar diya ho to, bacha hua bill kitna aata hai? 50 paise tak aa sakta hai. Aur khabar dikhane walon ka kya…sab paisa le kar dikhate hain.

HMP Journalist: Chalo, ye bhi accha hai…

Note: Journalists who often quote drivers must know that even drivers dont trust them.

The post In conversation with a cab driver. appeared first on HMP.News.

Shehzad, unlike other news media, we will be asking you direct questions and expect you to answer them in the most precise way possible.

1. Shehzad, although you do not associate yourself with Congress anymore, would you like to tell us one thing that you have learned there and will always want to keep it with you?

Shehzad: I am still a Congressman. One thing I learnt from there is that even if everyone is against you and even if you are judged not on talent but on surname, you can create and leave a mark provided you persistently keep fighting. Because…the more people pull you down, the more determined you are to rise above the pettiness and insecurity of incompetent dynasts.

2. One thing that you think is negatively impacting Congress.

Shehzad: Rahul Gandhi’s leadership or rather lack of it. His feudal approach of promoting only dynasts.

3. Congress has always been about one dynasty, so why this sudden realisation?

Shehzad: It was not sudden. I tried pursuing it with the leadership for 6 years! On every occasion, Rahul Gandhi assured us that he will change the party system. He said so in 2007, 2013 and 2014, but nothing happened. He is saying the same even now in 2018 but I do not think he will ever live up to his words.

4. If not Rahul Gandhi, then who as Congress president?

Shehzad: Anyone who has talent and public support. For example, Dr. Shashi Tharoor! There is no lack of talent in Congress, but here, if you don’t have a family, you can never get a platform or an opportunity. There is no space for first-generation leaders under Rahul’s leadership.

5. If not Congress, then which other political party you would want to join to serve the nation?

Shehzad: Will think of that if and when I leave Congress or I am removed by Rahul Gandhi. Right now, I am focused on creating a “Dynasty Mukt Congress”.

6. How do you see democracy in Congress?

Shehzad: Non-existent! Rahul Gandhi is very intolerant. He has the DNA of emergency. He needs to be more accessible and open to criticism. He believes he is destined to become PM because he is Rajiv Gandhi’s son! If he was democratic, he would debate with me on the issue of dynasty politics; however, he runs away from a debate and has directed Congress media cell to block me on news channels and blackmail them to drop me from panels.

7. Which party according to you play relatively cleaner politics?

Shehzad: I cannot say. I have only experienced Congress till now. I am not like Sidhu or Lovely, jo sab jagah ghum aaye hai…

8. Karl Marx, Swami Vivekananda or any other?

Shehzad: Swami Vivekananda , Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad and Vallabh Bhai Patel!

9. What according to you is the idea of India?

Shehzad: The Preamble of our constitution is the best articulation of the idea of India…everyone should read it and follow it.

10. How do you see role of news media houses in current politics?

Shehzad: Some journalists would be better off wearing their political affiliations openly! They are spokespersons of parties masquerading as journalists. Media houses must not become puppets of political parties. Some media houses are so loyal that they have stopped inviting me because it may offend Rahul Gandhi! The least said, the better about them!

Before we conclude, a few words for HMP News?

Shehzad:

H – Honesty
M- Modesty
P- Persistence

Adopt these three HMP in your life and keep logging on to HMP news

The post Shehzad Poonawalla talks to HMP News. appeared first on HMP.News.