Dheeraj Kalgutkar

I’m a slow reader and a human, there are times when I miss reading something and there are times when I choose to not react if I feel I know not enough, West Bengal’s Panchayat elections were one of them. This one is on West Bengal and the elections that were concluded some time back, but do not fret, what happened in Bengal wasn’t a stray incident that loses its relevance after a day or week, the Bengal election will come to haunt us in future if we do not pay attention to it. In West Bengal, Of the 58,792 seats in total, one-third is where opposition (left front and BJP) didn’t field their candidates. Mamata Banerjee’s TMC won them uncontested. Across the country we see these uncontested seats where candidates win without a fight and people (or supporters of that candidate) celebrate this as some macho victory but they forget that this is anathema to the practice of democracy. What do you think? All the people in a constituency love their one leader, so much so that not one ...

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...

So yesterday I posted this cartoon from Kureel on Reddit India page. Not that I believe in what cartoon portrays but the cartoon was talking something a part of social media was whining about   —   Malda is not covered by media in ways how it covered Dadri! On Facebook there were friends who were tagging me in posts (photoshopped images from different parts of nation served as from Malda, photos of leaders who visited Dadri included among other images) and asking, why am I not writing blogs on Malda when I was ‘quick’ to write on Dadri! Guess many have faced this in their own respective circles. I had to remind my friend that I wrote a piece on Dadri only after my Prime Minister spoke on Dadri, that he should hold his horses! Coming to the post on Reddit   —   contrary to what was running on other social media sites, Reddit had some sensible arguments, in fact most of them were not agreeing with the cartoon, they were talking about how Dadri was different from Malda. And one co...

“72 year old nun gang raped in WB & Mamata Banerjee cries foul over Gharvaapasi! Are you a woman? And what kind of a nation are we? ‪ #‎ Shameless” was my post on Facebook, to which a friend replies that I’m blind to atrocities happening to Hindus…” He could have been right if I had said, a Christian nun is gang raped and no Hindu is outraging enough, which I didn’t. And why should I? It surprises me, in fact makes me feel pathetic to even think of saying something as such. If only one goes through a week’s news, he or she will know at what disastrous stage India has reached. Rape is the fourth most crime in India. If 2013 figures of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB )   are any indicator then 92 women were raped daily in India. And yes, it comprises of all religion, class, creed and other ethnicities. Rapist as such doesn’t ask the girl if she belongs to this or that particular religion. He is a beast who commits crime without giving damn to the land of the law or an...

Time and again, strikes have ignited the debate whether they are rightful to be called as 'constitutional'. Out constitution allows them to register their voice and concern but Supreme Court in its land-mark judgement maintains that, nobody must be forced to participate and shut their premises just because some wish so. Further your ways of protest in no way shall affect other people's business from sailing smooth. In contrast to every judgement and law of land, strikes across the nation have proved to be fatal and dangerous. Recent being the one called by 11 trade unions mostly CITU, an active arm of CPM. 'Bharath Bandh' as they call it, turned violent in many cities namely Noida's industrial area where hoodlums numbering around hundred throwed stones at factories and even opened fire into numerous vehicles later on. 48 hour strike which went into cold storage first day except that unexpected incident in Noida turned more harsher and viol...