Sidharth Bhatia

Jan 27, 2011

The writer is a senior journalist and commentator on current affairs based in Mumbai

The shrinking space for liberal thought

Watching Vinay Rai on television, as he discussed why he had filed a criminal case against Google and Facebook, which seeks to hold them liable for not censoring content, I was struck by how reasonable he sounded. How could anyone post objectionable material against religious figures and offend the sentiments of people, he asked? Why did he not go to the companies concerned directly? Why should he? He went to the government but found little response till recently.

The return of dirty old politics

The BJP’s spectacular self-goal of admitting tainted Uttar Pradesh minister Babu Singh Kushwaha a couple of days after he was sacked by chief minister Mayawati will surely count as one of those weird

In memoriam: A wiser, nicer India

Obituary writers were kept on their toes this year. Well-known personalities seemed to die at what appeared to be regular intervals. For some reason, there was a high count of creative people — artists, singers, musicians, filmstars — among them. M.F. Husain, Bhimsen Joshi, Jehangir Sabavala, Bhupen Hazarika, Shammi Kapoor, Jagjit Singh, Dev Anand, all gone in the same year! They were all of ripe age, true, but even so, it was a loss felt most acutely.

Everyone’s invited to Anna theatre

Anyone watching the live television coverage of the one day fast of Anna Hazare on Sunday would have been struck by the image of him sitting on the dais with prominent politicians around, as if he was holding a darbar. Flanking him, on either side, were two senior politicians from polar opposite ends of the ideological spectrum: Arun Jaitley of the BJP on his left and Brinda Karat of the CPI(M) on his right. The other politicians, such as Sharad Yadav, A.B. Bardhan, Yerran Naidu all became just supporting cast in this theatre.

Main zindagi ka saath...

When I first broached the subject of writing a book on Navketan three or so years ago, Dev Anand immediately agreed. I found that a pleasant surprise, because it is not as if I was his friend. He was implicitly trusting an unknown writer. He had one condition though: “Let my own book come out.” He said he was working on his memoirs and would like me to wait till it was released. I felt discouraged because this sounded like a gentle way of fobbing me off.

No kolaveri in India

There is nothing the mainstream media loves more than the social media. Journalists from newspapers and television channels are delighted when they hear the phrases “trending”, “viral video” and “Facebook page”. For the younger lot, such things signify popularity and approval by the online community, another favoured term, and, besides, stories around them are easy to do.

No lessons learnt

Any assessment on the anniversary of the terror attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 must consider three points — the lessons learnt, the diplomatic management and justice.

Prime Minister & the thundering tycoons

The Indian industrialist is angry and disturbed.

Media won’t bite the Katju bullet

Anyone who is concerned about the Indian media scene today, whether he is connected to it as a practitioner or as a consumer, would probably agree with many of the comments made by Ju

What’s your reason to protest?

Scenes of youth unrest all over the world, from the Arab countries to Britain to New York and beyond may have triggered off memories of another time. Nostalgists who long for the heady days of the 1960s, when youngsters rebelled against the establishment in the US and France and it looked as if a new world order was about to be born.

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