Dheeraj Kalgutkar

India is a diverse nation, our strength lies in our unity or so are we told since school but what we are not taught is how this very diversity is time and again exploited by certain elements to sow seeds of hate in the society we live in. Just last week we saw this happening in Delhi where a parking feud spiralled into communal confrontation , a boy went missing (?), a temple was vandalized, quickly came the men with slogans and then there was more. There is a lot to learn from this but I’m quite sure we would not. There is a reason why riots keep happening in India and people who until that day lived shoulder-to-shoulder burn each other’s houses and seek more blood. Until we understand this pattern and intentions behind people who initiate these ghastly crimes, the kind of unknown non-local faces who visit the disturbed towns, we will continue to reel under these riots. India has seen many riots since 1980. Far too many. And one must try to retrace their origins, reasons why ...

Freedom of Press to me is paramount. There are no two ways about it. There is no if and but. Government should have no say in what press reports and what it doesn’t. It is job of editor to do so. Government if it finds, the reportage is false, mala fide or one-sided then it can always present its side. Governments always have enough power in their arsenal to do so. Most of the governments have state media which continuously airs views and opinions in favor of the state. Despite all the arsenal to communicate at its will, governments, left, right and center have used all the power at their hand to hammer at news organizations and reporters who report what is obviously not in favor of the government. Here’s what happened in West Bengal recently which requires our attention at this disturbing trend which is all so growing in recent times. Bengal Is Burning. “Clashes broke out after a Milad-ul-Nabi procession was stopped, allegedly by some people from the Hindu community, on De...