'All The World’s a Stage...'
In his weekly-column for The Indian Express, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram highlights how post the 4 June Lok Sabha results, there has been a restoration of democratic norms in India.
The piece outlines key changes expected in parliamentary proceedings, including a more balanced representation in House Committees and the acknowledgment of a Leader of the Opposition.
"The people have spoken. They value freedom, right to speech and expression, right to privacy, and right to protest. The government must give up its penchant for filing spurious cases for ‘sedition’ and ‘defamation’. ‘Encounter’ and ‘bulldozer justice’ must be abandoned (a lesson especially to Mr Adityanath, chief minister of U.P.). The Ram Temple is beyond politics and should never again be invoked for political purposes..."P Chidambaram, for The Indian Express
The Old Order Changeth, Yielding Place to New?
Writing for Hindustan Times, senior journalist Karan Thapar talks about the implications of the election results on the national political narrative and the challenges they pose to the existing power dynamics.
Though PM Narendra Modi-led BJP will form the government for the third-consecutive time, Thapar believes, this will be done in "circumstances that are dramatically different to what he (Modi) envisaged."
"The key question is can Modi, temperamentally and psychologically, adjust to the very different circumstances he now faces as PM? Or is he ill-equipped to handle a coalition government, where he needs to reach out to his allies, often give in to them and always keep them content and satisfied?"Karan Thapar, Hindustan Times
We Deserve Better Leaders
In her weekly 'Fifth Column' in The Indian Express, Tavleen Singh writes on how the real winner of the elections is democracy.
The piece discusses how both the BJP-led NDA and INDIA bloc engaged in campaigns that sought to undermine democratic principles, with the ruling party projecting its victory as inevitable and the Opposition raising concerns about fairness and electoral integrity.
"The shock of what happened was so great that the BJP’s vicious social media trolls were momentarily speechless. And party spokesmen who appeared on TV seemed chastened and humbled. This is good. The BJP has flying too high and there was too much talk of one nation, one leader, one people from Modi who should know that this kind of talk is alright in an autocracy but not in a democracy. Hopefully, when he gets sworn in for the third time this evening, he will remember that he did not really win,"Tavleen Singh, The Indian Express
A Mandate for Constitution and Consensus
Writing for The New Indian Express, senior journalist Prabhu Chawla opines that the 4 June Lok Sabha results throw up many questions for both PM Narendra Modi and the BJP and has also set the direction for the future model of governance.
The verdict has "delivered an ominous blow to the concept of a single-party majority government, which is seen as essential for political and economic stability."
"Modi still remains the most powerful leader. His invincibility may have taken a hit, but he enjoys the title of the Maximum Leader. For his long-term success and for possibly creating history by completing a full third term, the nation is looking forward to a renewed politics of consensus, and not confrontation. That alone will ensure his greatness. NDA 3.0 needs to follow kindness, and not brute numbers, the commoner’s touch, not billionaire handshakes, and delegation, not dictation,"Prabhu Chawla, The New Indian Express
The World’s First ‘Exit Poll Stock Market Scam’
Congress leader Praveen Chakravarthy, in his piece for Deccan Herald, writes on the sudden frenetic activity in India’s stock markets prior to the Exit Poll results on 1 June.
The piece draws parallels between a historic financial scandal in the early 20th century and contemporary issues surrounding alleged market manipulation.
When the stock market reopened on 3 June, it rose to an all-time high, driven by the exit polls’ prediction of a third term for PM Modi with a majority. However, on 4 June, when the results were declared, the market panicked and crashed.
"In sum, it is crystal clear through data that there was suspicious and mysterious stock market activity around exit polls and election results by which a group of foreign investors gained, and millions of Indian small investors lost wealth. The corollary presumption to these intriguing stock market activities is that a certain group of investors had access to the exit poll predictions prior to them being made public, and profited from this ‘inside (mis)information’. This is a punishable crime under securities laws, and in most countries, this would be seriously investigated with alacrity,"Praveen Chakravarthy
How Did BJP Muff Up ‘Singhasan’ State? More To It Than Social Engineering
In his piece for the Times of India, political analyst Badri Narayan gives three reasons on how Uttar Pradesh went from being the BJP's biggest strength to its weakness.
First, he believes the INDIA bloc fought the election in an "organised fashion," and mobilised people by "weaving imagined dangers" about the Constitution and reservation to "conjure up disquiet" among a section of OBC, MBC and Dalits.
Second, he says was that the slow and steady accumulation of "small dissatisfactions" woven in a narrative by "linking them with issues such as unemployment, inflation, Agniveer etc. "
Third, is how the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) "diversified its social alliance by taking a leaf out of the BJP model of social engineering, which is based on non-Yadav, non-Jatav political participation."
"But why did BJP’s social engineering fail while INDIA’s worked? One big reason for this is that BJP candidates of these communities were being repeated for the third time, and most of them may have faced anti-incumbency at local level. Moreover, party cadre were not enthused enough to counter these. On the other hand, candidates of INDIA alliance were fresh faces who appealed to voters of OBCs-MBCs and mostly non Jatav Dalit communities..."Badri Narayanan, Times of India
In a Tale of Two Nations, a Case of Shared Values
Writing for Hindustan Times, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former West Bengal Governor and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, explores the parallels between India and South Africa, particularly in terms of their shared democratic ethos and commitment to pluralism.
"Legacy and contemporary pragmatism can and must combine in South Africa. And perhaps Ramaphosa, who stayed off power for decades after liberation, may startle the world by saying his people, not he, wield power. If he were to form a composite ministry of national unity with the self-denying legacy of trust Mandela showed in 1994, he will coin a new slogan valid for both South Africa and India post their elections: India-South Africa: Two republics, one ethics,"Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Hindustan Times
Bigger Spends Not the Answer. New Govt Should Focus on Effective Governance Instead
Karthik Muralidharan, Tata Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at University of California, in his piece for the Times of India, emphasises the need for the incoming BJP-led NDA government to prioritise governance reforms and streamline bureaucracy.
Muralidharan argues that while fiscal stimulus measures can provide short-term relief, sustainable development and long-term growth require structural reforms and good governance practices.
"Improving govt effectiveness is both an economic and a moral imperative. India’s Constitution enshrines equality among citizens through universal voting rights. Yet, weak public service delivery limits the ability of the poor and marginalised to translate the political equality of ‘one person, one vote’, into greater equality of opportunities through better education, health, and essential services. This is why building a more effective state is the great unfinished task of Indian democracy itself,"Karthik Muralidharan, Times of India
AI is Sexist. Here’s How
In her piece for The Indian Express, Prachi Bansal, Assistant Professor at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, writes on how Artificial Intelligence was "sexist."
With the help of an example, Bansal wrote on how it's AI might generate a bias and take away the personal relationships we have with our words, vocabulary and language.
"While universities are deploying plagiarism tools to check the use of AI in writing and docking students’ grades, it is important to understand that the bias generated by AI goes unchecked despite this exercise. We need to embrace the imperfection in written drafts and applications so that a student is not forced to make their work look more “formal” with the help of these AI tools. Looks like it’s time to shift gears and make sure we don’t lose the craft of writing, as we have lost the habit of reading with time,"Prachi Bansal, The Indian Express
More from The Quint:
In UP, BJP Suffered Heavy Losses in Regions Where Modi’s Prestige Was at Stake
Critics Wrote Him Off and Now Nitish is Kingmaker. But What of JD(U)'s Future?
BJP's Win Represents a Kind of Defeat. INDIA's Defeat Looks a Lot Like Victory
With Modi Falling Short of Majority, We Won't See a New India but a New BJP
As BJP Scores 0 in Tamil Nadu, Where Does Annamalai Go From Here?
Chandrababu Naidu is Architect of Andhra Sweep, Pawan Kalyan the Man of Match
Congress Has Reasons To Celebrate in Karnataka, DK Shivakumar Doesn't
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)