This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Anand Vardhan are joined by in-house reporter Tanishka Sodhi and The News Minute’s Anisha Sheth.

On the alleged sexual abuse tapes involving JDS’s Prajwal Revanna, Anisha says the scale of violence is unheard of in Karnataka, “even though the state has had its share of sexual scandals”. Anand notes that several victims were party workers, and there is a need to examine political parties as workplaces.

The conversation then shifts to the politics in Bihar and Baramati, both set to poll on May 7. Tanishka says the two Pawar factions are in fray in Baramati but, “sympathy for Sharad Pawar cannot be denied”.

Abhinandan then brings up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent speeches. He says Modi’s “Congress will take your buffalo” and “steal your mangalsutra” are the BJP’s “Hail Mary”.

This and a whole lot more. Tune in!

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Timecodes

00:00:31 - Press Freedom Week offer

00: 03:20 - Headlines

00: 10:10 - Prajwal Revanna controversy

00:30:04 - Anisha’s recommendation

00: 43:12 - The contest for Baramati

00:54:20 - Tanishka’s recommendation

00:54:47 - Bihar elections

01:04:30 - Gems of PM Modi

01: 20:30 - Letters

02:00:27 - Recommendations

Check out our previous Hafta recommendations.

Hafta letters, recommendations, songs and references

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra & Aryan Mahtta, edited by Hassan Bilal and Umra

v Singh.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Jayashree Arunachalam and Shardool Katyayan are joined by The News Minute’s Pooja Prasanna and lawyer Vakasha Sachdev.

On the Karnataka polls, Pooja says the JDS and BJP are “better allies” than the Congress and JDS since “their target base does not overlap. Both parties bring something new and fresh to the table”. She adds that the “myth of the Vokkaligas being secular is nonsense”.

The panel discusses the inheritance tax debate, with Vakasha saying the tax has a solid rationale behind it “from a social justice perspective”. Jayashree says the matter escalated into a controversy because people are “conflating a lot of things, like what Modi said about the Congress taking away people’s money”. Shardool adds, “Most of the people arguing about this tax won’t have to pay it because it applies to the creamy layer of society.”

Vakasha then explains why the PMLA is problematic. On the state of the Indian judiciary, he says over the years, “we’ve had our justice system constantly become a voice for the establishment”, adding that there is a lack of critique of the courts. Abhinandan says people are possibly “afraid of critiquing the court because of contempt of court...so courts have completely gone out of scrutiny”.

This and a whole lot more. Tune in!

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Timecodes

00: 04:31 - Headlines

00: 12:49 - Lok Sabha elections: Karnataka

00: 26:30 - Inheritance tax

01: 00:00 - Prevention of Money Laundering Act

01: 28:55 - Letters

01: 57:30 - Recommendations

Hafta letters, recommendations, songs and references

Check out our previous Hafta recommendations.

Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Hassan Bilal and Umrav Singh.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Anand Vardhan are joined by political analyst Suhas Palshikar, tech expert Madhav Deshpande, and professor Shruti Kapila.

On the robustness of the election voting machines, Suhas Palshikar says EVMs have “definitely lost the credibility that they initially had”. He cites Lokniti-CSDS data. Madhav says “major technological change” in 2013, with the introduction of VVPAT has made EVMs a “different beast”.

The panel then discusses the manifestos and poll promises. Shruti says the BJP manifesto is “very weird” and that “it wants to lower the temperature on Hindutva”. Anand calls it the manifesto of a party that is “very sure of a renewed mandate”, unlike the Congress manifesto, which is trying to “tick too many boxes”.

This and a whole lot more. Tune in!

We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here.

Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media.

Download the Newslaundry app.

General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - 00:05:02 - Headlines

00:05:03 - 00:13:16 - Trust deficit in EVMs

00:13:17 - 00:53:24 - BJP’s manifesto

00:53:25 - 01:28:36 - Letters

01:28:37 - 01:34:00 - Recommendations

Hafta letters, recommendations, songs and references

Check out our previous Hafta recommendations.

Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Hassan Bilal.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.