Dheeraj Kalgutkar

The plant that we so diligently watered and cared for has grown into a big banyan; full of flowers and fruits. Own it now. 53 people have lost their lives in the Delhi riots. You have heard this already. But do you see the problem here? Riot? Was it really a riot? Is it a riot if the state machinery and police take sides; forget keeping silent while mobs went on a rampage but Delhi police took stones in their own hands and threw them at the other side, they directed and aided one side of the mob (as if there was another side anyway), they climbed and destroyed CCTV cameras . Yes, police did all this. It’s all on record. There are videos after videos that prove all this. How then can we call it a riot? It was a pogrom. As Rana Ayyub called, state-sponsored anti-Muslim pogrom. Let’s call it what it was. Now that we have settled on the calling business, let’s get on to our language. The 53 dead bodies, actually in some cases, there were no bodies, only a limb which police...

The long-awaited, more than twenty years, Ayodhya Judgement is here. Before we dwell on the same, ever wondered why people go to the courts? Why they spend on lawyers, on their travels to court? After all, all they do is present arguments from each side which they could do before a sarpanch in a village or that old man in Khaap panchayat or a mutual friend — just anyone but the judge in a court. Why walk to a court? What is it that you expect from a court that you do not expect from other avenues. Why do we say we have to respect the decisions of the court? After all, the people giving verdicts are people like us too. They go through similar lives as we do. They breathe the same air, drink the same water, eat the same food. Why then do we expect them to deliver judgements on our problems and also respect their pronouncements? Is it because we believe that they are impartial, that they rely on facts and facts alone and not on emotions and beliefs and pressures of the society? ...

I don’t use Whatsapp much for my own personal reasons. Most of the times it’s uninstalled and when it’s installed I check it few times of the day when I have absolutely nothing else to do; that is, after a round of Twitter, Instagram, Reddit etc. Today as it was Eid, early morning when I got up, I sent Eid wishes to all of my contacts who celebrate it via of course Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, FB messenger and few SMSes (two of my friends are still not technologically connected). Late afternoon, as I was browsing through few replies and other messages, I stumbled upon a text in a family Whatsapp group. Now, I usually stay away from Whatsapp groups but this particular text just plain annoyed me. Message which was written in local language roughly translated to, “Nobody celebrates it here… Don’t post such wishes…” I opened the group to check who had posted what. I personally feel these groups are a den of bigotry and hate. That’s one of the reasons I have stopped readin...

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...