Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just for You

We sifted through the papers to find the best opinion reads, so you wouldn’t have to.

Bulldozing to Instill Terror

Tavleen Singh, in her weekly column for The Indian Express, laments the demolition drive that took place in Delhi's Jahangirpuri on 20 April, and writes about how India "could be in serious danger of having blindfolded Lady Justice."

"There are clear rules that must be followed before demolition squads arrive, and these were not followed in Delhi, just as they were not followed in Khargone the week before. The message that the bulldozers hammer home is that the Indian State is prepared to disrespect the rule of law to instill fear and obedience. If the rules of the jungle are needed to silence those who oppose the might of the State, then so be it."

Tavleen Singh in The Indian Express

Why Every Uptick in Covid Cases Shouldn’t be a Reason for Closing Schools

Making a case for keeping schools open, Public Health Expert Chandrakant Lahariya in his piece for The Times of India argues that the recent rise in Covid infections should be handled like other endemic infections such as dengue or the common cold. He goes on to describe how closed schools have been adversely impacting children.

"The thing to remember is that risk of severe Covid-19 disease in children is low or near zero and the benefit of attending schools far greater. The harmful effects of the long school closure have already started emerging. Many parents are complaining that their child is unable to focus in school or sit for a few hours. Some have even lost the ability to play on the ground and get tired easily. A recent global report has noted that mental health issues in school kids have doubled in two years of the pandemic."

Chandrakant Lahariya in The Times of India

Enduring Echoes

In his column for The Telegraph, Historian Ramachandra Guha writes about what he calls the perils of one-party dominance. Making references to an essay written by independence activist Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (also the last Governor-General of India), Guha notes that there are several takeaways from the Congress Party's political dominance during the 1950s, which are relevant to the BJP-ruled India of the 2020s.

"The arrogance of the ruling party and the obsession with building a personality cult around the prime minister are important reasons why, despite two successive majorities, the record of the BJP in office is so dismal on all fronts, leading to a decline in the economy, stresses on the social fabric, and our precipitous fall in the eyes of the neighbourhood and the world. Two terms of BJP (mis)rule at the Centre have cost the country and its citizens dearly. A third term for the BJP might be catastrophic for India."

Ramachandra Guha in The Telegraph

Don’t Lose Sight of the Neighourhood

Writing for The Hindustan Times, former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran argues that India's security concerns cannot be limited to its national borders. Foreign policy, he adds, must seek to incentivize India's neighbours to remain sensitive to the country's security concerns.

"It is a given that anxious about being dominated by a more powerful India, our smaller neighbours will seek to balance India’s influence through closer relations with external powers. In the past, this may have been the United States. Today it is China."

Shyam Saran in The Hindustan Times

What it Feels Like to be a Muslim in India

Karan Thapar, writing for The Hindustan Times, tries to empathize with the Indian Muslim population, specifically with those who he refers to as the "poor and, often, illiterate Muslims."

"In the last few months, they’ve heard calls for their genocide and ethnic cleansing. Accused of rioting, their homes have been demolished, often before their presence leave aside, guilt was established and, at times, without prior notice. Even widows, who are beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, have thus suffered. Their minor children have been detained for hearing Pakistani songs, while men who claim to be Hindu priests have publicly threatened to rape their women."

Karan Thapar in The Hindustan Times

He also uses data to counter the widely-cited theory that Indian Muslims are "appeased."

"This is what that amounts to. I’m relying on Aakar Patel’s book Our Hindu Rashtra. Muslims are nearly 15% of the population but only 4.9% of state and central government employees, 4.6% of the paramilitary services, 3.2% of the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service, and, perhaps, as low as 1% of the Army."

Karan Thapar in The Hindustan Times

Art Museums and the Craft of Democracy

In his article for The Hindu, Nachiket Chanchani writes about the new museum that is being built on the South and North blocks which flank Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill. He argues that the new museum must not be "haunted by the spectres of a colonial past" and should strive to promote democratic principles.

"The current regime’s plan to showcase a bold new India by developing a sprawling museum on Raisina Hill, perhaps largely bereft of historical artifacts, is a paradoxical return to an older era where the primary purpose of a museum was to nurture patriotism and showcase triumph. In the tumultuous times that we live in, is it possible to imagine that the new museum will acknowledge India’s continuing diversity including its many conflicts, view cultural heritage as a process requiring museum goers to actively engage with a past that is both inspiring and despairing, and serve as a space to promote democracy?"

Nachiket Chanchani in The Hindu

Counting Death, Poverty and Taxes

In his weekly column for The Indian Express, P Chidambaram uses data to criticise the government on three fronts: COVID, poverty, and taxes. Most of his focus is on the government's undercounting of deaths caused by the pandemic.

"If the number of pandemic-related deaths was between 30,00,000 and 40,00,000, the government of India can be accused of failure on a number of grounds. Despite six years at the Centre, and for many more years in the states, the BJP governments failed to invest adequately in healthcare. Despite early warnings, the government was totally unprepared to face the health disaster. Its decisions on banning travel, lockdown, creating temporary healthcare facilities, placing orders for the vaccines, etc. were hopelessly delayed."

P Chidambaram in The Indian Express

Reforming the Higher Education System

Mark Tully, writing for The Hindustan Times, points out that India is suffering from widespread losses in the field of education, and these must be recovered with the help of a new curriculum.

"India’s brightest and best children aiming for a centrally funded university are worried about recovering lost knowledge, facing a new exam, and thinking about whether they should study two syllabi. But they must also worry about a related issue: There may be no teachers to teach their subject of choice. Recently, it was discovered that in the centrally funded universities, there is a shortage of 6,481 teachers, with Delhi University topping the list at 859."

Mark Tully in The Hindustan Times

Inside Track: Useful Fall Guy

In her piece for The Indian Express, Coomi Kapoor talks about the Congress Party's decision to recruit Prashant Kishor as a strategist for the 2024 general elections. She also makes brief comments on Vinay Mohan Kwatra (the new Indian Ambassador to Nepal), Gujarat Patidar leader Naresh Patel, and the new Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann.

"For the Gandhis, Kishor would serve as a convenient fall guy should the party fail yet again at the hustings. The blame will shift from Rahul to Kishor. Of course, any victory will still be ascribed to the Gandhis’ magnetism. A sticky point of difference between Kishor and the Congress remains as to how the partnership should be worked out. Kishor wants to focus only on the 2024 general election, liaising also with other Opposition parties, many of which have been his clients. The Congress feels he should first test his mettle by handling the difficult Gujarat Assembly elections due later this year."

Coomi Kapoor in The Indian Express