The Wire Talks
The Wire Talks is back, but with a new look. Now, host Sidharth Bhatia will chat with guests on video as well as audio, on issues such as culture, politics, books and much more. Our guests will be well-informed domain experts. The idea is not to get crisp sound bites but to have a real discussion, resulting in an explanation that is insightful and offers the audience much to think about.
Episodes
Crucial elections will take place in West Bengal in two phases on April 23 and 29. Mamata Bannerjee’s Trinamool Congress has to fight anti-incumbency, because it has been in power since 2011, and the main challenger the Bharatiya Janata Party sees its best opportunity to win the state. This time, the Special Intensive Revision ordered by the Election Commission has also complicated matters since over 90 lakh voters have been struck...
The recent proposed amendments to IT rules inviting public comments has been explained by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as just procedural but this is not the case. Activists say that if passed, the new rules will further tighten censorship of online content. Rules were already there and takedown orders were being issued in large numbers, but now it will further expand to censor not just publications but al...
With the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) picking up immigrants especially brown looking people, and even deporting them, a climate of fear has built up among the Indian community, says Sravya Tadepalli. “Indians are the third most undocumented community in America,” says Tadepalli, deputy executive director of Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR). “Among Indians there is a perception that we are all here legally, as tech worker...
Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have been in prison for the last five years. Their bail has been denied repeatedly. Last week their five colleague...
There is a Sense of Complacency Among Indian Americans That We Are Doing Quite Well | Salil Tripathi
The strong statements by President Trump against India are echoed by the growing anti-Indian sentiment in parts of the country. No longer are Indians viewed as the model minority — well educated, successful, tax-paying members of the US. Instead, they are rousing the anger of local communities. Some of the traits which are not very well liked, says journalist and author Salil Tripathi who lives in the US, “such as noisy celebration...
In Seema Says, this week, The Wire’s Editor, Seema Chishti discusses the reasons behind the United States’ attack on Venezuela and India’s muted response to the flagrant violation of international law. She also discusses how the strained ties between Bangladesh and India following India not allowing Bangladesh cricketer, Mustafizur Rehman for KKR in the IPL have got more strained. In a discussion with Elisha Vermani, Seema discusse...
Mumbai’s cuisine has been shaped by its migrants, not just from other parts of India but also from different countries.
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Thirty years ago, Saeed Akhtar Mirza made his final feature film, Naseem, about an aging Urdu poet, played by Kaifi Azmi, and set in the days preceding the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The film opened with a title card which said, “That one act of demolition wrote the epitaph of an age that has passed, perhaps never to return!”
“The Babri Masjid epitomised the final collapse, you know, of an idea of India, of a sovereign, secula...
India’s left parties are no longer as influential as they used to be. In her new book, Comrades and Comebacks: The Battle of the Left to Win the Indian Mind, Saira Shah Halim, CPI(M) candidate in the 2024 elections, analyses the reasons for this and suggests the way forward.
“There have been strategic decisions that went wrong, but morally the Left has never made a mistake,” she said in a podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia.
...Comedians and satirists have borne the brunt of the state and of people who are offended by something or the other, but even so, the stand up co...
Why have digital scams become so commonplace? And why are senior citizens falling prey to scamsters?
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It is no longer unusual to hear of someone, especially from a younger generation, who is undergoing therapy from a mental health professional, w...
In President Trump’s second term, he has imposed several sanctions against India, starting from 50% tariffs on Indian exports for importing oil ...
There has been growing anti-immigration and anti-Indian sentiment in many countries, including in Australia. A Member of Parliament rece...
The Violence in Nepal Was Very Well Planned, by Forces Other Than GenZ Protesters | Mahendra P. Lama
The agitation in Nepal last week had three dimensions—the total collapse of the state machinery, multiple forces joining the GenZ agitators and ...
What is the cause of the severe flooding seen in northern states and cities?
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The reason why the Marathas have begun agitating for reservations in recent years is because there is a “rural as well as urban crisis” in the s...
A rupture has taken place within our community relationships and this will take a long time to heal even if the government changes. This is the ...
Historian Richard M Eaton says he is “very concerned” at the erasure of the Mughals — “one of the most spectacular empires in the world” — from school history books.
Eaton, one of the most eminent historians of pre-modern Indian history, debunks some myths about the Mughals in this podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia.
He pointedly says that though the Mughals were Muslims, “they saw religion as a very personal affair and ra...
There is a widespread belief that the 1950s were a time of great Hindi films, in terms of stories, songs and film-making. Seventy-five years lat...
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