This is a common person's guide to understand the impeachment motion, I had originally shared these as multiple tweets. First time in independent India #Impeachment of sitting Chief Justice is being moved by opposition because they have lost faith in him, and suspect him of being biased towards certain people. Supporters of BJP, the ruling … Continue reading Impeachment of Chief Justice of India – Why The Political Clash?
Can we not accept that she must have had the agency to decide for herself what kind of lifestyle she wanted in her 50s? Can we not accept that if she did go for various surgeries to look less than her age, that must have been what she really wanted out of her free choice?
Blurb: Nazia Erum’s book focuses on the grave issue of growing Islamophobia in India post 2014 affecting Muslim children at a very early formative years of their lives, and how young Muslim mothers are struggling to deal with it. Staring with stories of communal bullying in schools, the author proceeds to talk about ‘Conservative Islamization’ … Continue reading Review: Mothering A Muslim By Nazia Erum – Muslim Mothers Must Choose between Good Islam vs Bad Islam for their Children
First published on Firstpost. All my previous Firstpost articles here. In the United States, January is the month of Cervical Cancer Awareness. Countrywide efforts are made to raise awareness about the disease which affects 13,000 American women each year. In comparison, approximately 365.71 million Indian women above 15 years of age, are at risk of … Continue reading Should RSS Decide Whether or Not To Spend Resources On Cervical Cancer Vaccine?
Today's Indian Express Newspaper's biggest headline was "Economics with Politics" meaning that BJP's Budget 2018 is more a political strategy with eye on the forth coming general election. BJP has learned a lesson from Gujarat elections, a considerable blow to it's solid structure due to which it lost quite a few seats to Congress, that … Continue reading Budget 2018 and Women: Liberalism And Secularism For Women’s Rights
Award winning actor Swara Bhaskar's extremely well crafted hard hitting feminist critique of Padmavati (in an open letter to Bhansali) has gone viral. It is heartening that an industry insider said what needed to be said, and if anybody really have a 56" chest that is not filled with hollow pride but bravery and integrity, … Continue reading Arnab Ray aka Great Bong Objects to Swara Bhaskar’s Feminist Review of Padmavati, Proves What Periyar Said About Feminism And Men
In 2008 I wrote for then popular collaborative blog, Desicritics.org, that the only way for LGBT community to assert their identity and gain recognition is by coming out in large number, show their strength. In July 2009 in an historic judgment Delhi High Court struck down Section 377 of Indian Penal Code, known as the … Continue reading It is Time To Stand Up and Stand Tall for the Indian LGBT Community
An immensely inspiring speech by Rahul Gandhi yesterday as he took over as Congress President. There was a massive crowd at 24, Akbar Road, with immense joy and enthusiasm among party workers, volunteers. Drum beats, crackers, folk dance and music graced the occasion, outside the gates of All India Congress Committee office. Over the last … Continue reading Rahul Gandhi Sets Record Straight – Socialism, Secularism Still India’s Core Ideologies
In the forthcoming Gujarat state assembly election campaign Rahul Gandhi came across as the proverbial "New and Improved" opposition leader. His new avatar has given a sigh of relief, and a breath of two lungs full of fresh hopeful air to millions of Indians who were desperately looking for alternatives to save the democracy. On … Continue reading Gujarat Election Campaign And The Rise of A Phoenix Named Rahul Gandhi – India Found It’s Mojo Back
25 year old Hadiya's story is on everybody's coffee table these days in India. An entire nation is threatened by an adult woman’s right to choose her religion and husband. Last Monday, after eleven months of house arrest under her father’s control, Hadiya (formerly Akhila) for the first time appeared before the testified before a … Continue reading Wife Not Husband’s Chattel: SC in Hadiya case – Whose Chattel Hadiya Really Is Then?
The Session Court has found all three Dalit men accused in Kopardi rape case guilty. The quantum of punishment will be given on 21st Nov. In July 2016, a 15 year old girl in Kopardi village, distt Ahmadnagar, Maharashtra, was brutally gang raped and murdered. The rape and murder gave rise to statewide protests by … Continue reading Kopardi Rape Case, Maratha Kranti Morcha, When Caste Subsumes Gender Identity Of A Rape Victim
Vishwa Hindu Parishad organized a Conference for Gau Rakshaks. That's right, that's how pathetic India is that we now have conferences to encourage and empower jobless hooligans. And guess who graced the occasion? None other than UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Let me tell you cow vigilantes are a bunch of mindless criminals, plain and … Continue reading Cow Vigilantes Are Criminals: Why CM Yogi Giving Them Encouragement?
Shyam Rangeela broke into comedy scene by a hilarious video mimicking PM Modi which infused the famous Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai meme with Modi's signature histrionics. The video has got 1 million views on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cd5VQ0d8gI Hailing from a village in Rajasthan, a farmer's son, Rangeela soon received call that he was directly selected in … Continue reading Of Modi and Mimicry: The Real Reason Why Shyam Rangeela Is Funny
This weekend, with Sambhav Dehlavi, I started something new, Human Rights Walk. At the time when we conceived it we were not sure, but now I can tell you that this Human Rights Walk is the first of its kind in India, though the concept existed in West. In India we have had food walks, … Continue reading Human Rights Walk – 1984 Anti Sikh Riots And Hindutva Attacks On Minorities
First some Data: Mere 6% of the unaccounted black money is in cash, rest is in gold, shares, real estate, overseas banks. Mere 50% of Indians have bank accounts. It was mere 35% till 2011, increased to 53% by 2014 (http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/175-million-new-bank-ac-in-india-in-three-years-world-bank/article7109166.ece) Per official government records a mere 25 crore Jan Dhan yojna accounts opened so … Continue reading Demonetisation: Cost Benefit Analysis, Life Death Analysis
In 2011, I started the project Single Woman Budget Travel, a travel and photography research to find out how safe or unsafe it is for a solo woman to travel in India on a budget. As part of this, I traveled to many places (it is still ongoing project) gathering first hand information, and documenting … Continue reading Gender And Public Space in India: A Photographic Research in 5 Indian Metro Cities
Hi all In the month of Aug 2017, I appeared on BBC World Service Radio Program talking about the issue of fake news and trolling in India. I was in conversation with Gareth Mitchell and Bill Thompson of BBC World Service program BBC Click, earlier known as Digital Planet. I spoke about the right wing troll army on Twitter who … Continue reading Sanjukta Basu on BBC Click On Fake News and Trolling on Social Media
The attack on Hadiya's individual freedom by a deeply patriarchal system a litmus test for feminists in India.
This is my 3rd Video Blog. Original Video is uploaded on Samyukta Media's YouTube Channel. Those uninitiated, Samyukta Media is my media brand. The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi's Twitter presence is something to talk about. He is probably the most followed politician in the world (given our population we are always big in … Continue reading Amit Malviya’s Lame Defense to PM Modi Following Abusive Twitter Users
When the constitutionality of certain legislations or provisions are challenged in the Court, the Union of India’s opinion is sought on the matter. It does not mean that the Court would decide according to government’s position (which is why BJP Media cell chief Amit Malviya’s attempt to etch Modi’s name in history books as ‘women … Continue reading Triple Talaq And Marital Rape Modi Government’s Brazen Hypocrisy And Attack On Women’s Rights
In an open letter on her Facebook page Sona Mohapatra accused Kangana Ranaut of doing a 'disservice' to feminism by washing 'dirty linen in public'. Here is my open letter to her open letter. Dear Sona Mohapatra, Who made you the spokesperson of feminism? If you are not the spokesperson then what business do you … Continue reading Sona Mohapatra Accuses Kangana Ranaut Of Doing Disservice To Feminism. Is Feminism Sona Mohapatra’s Personal Project?
A Five Judge mixed faith Bench of Supreme Court today declared, by a 3:2 majority, the practice of Triple Talaq, one-sided instant divorce by Muslim men bad in law and unconstitutional. This is a welcome judgment. The self appointed male custodian of religion, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board have been given a strong … Continue reading #TripleTalaq Unconstitutional – Welcome Decision By SC, Muslim Women’s Struggle Vindicated, BJP Tries To Misappropriate
How do different judges give completely different contradictory judgments on exactly same matter is a mystery better unsolved. Because if we do solve it, a can of worms will be opened. In a new judgment the Kerala High Court ruled that an adult woman has complete right to choice, she may chose anybody whether a … Continue reading Kerala Love Jihad Woman’s Right To Choice: She May Even Chose A Criminal Says Court
An edited version of this piece first appeared on The Wire The Kerala High Court in a recent judgement has stripped women of every last bit of agency, self-will, self-determination and reduced us to mere gendered bodies, incapable of taking our own decisions and therefore having absolutely no right to be independent. The judgement is … Continue reading Kerala High Court Confirms Love Jihad Bogey But Where Are Women Bodies Located In The Nationalism Narrative
This is my fourth blog post about how for the last 4 months the right wing trolls have been harassing me. It is an open secret that the right wing trolls are supported by BJP IT Cell, ok allegedly, and over past 4 months I have observed such patterns in the trolling, I can now … Continue reading Right Wing Trolls Spreading Lies About Me Using Fake Photos
Culture Machine, a young start up with a network of YouTubers connecting 22 million subscribers and an average of 0.5 billion views per month, creates video content for large corporate brands and helps them gain publicity through social media. The organization thus aptly wears the tag line, “Entertainment for Internet Generation.” What is entertainment for … Continue reading FOP Leave Policy Introduced By Media Company Aiming Internet Entertainment But What About Standpoint Research?
Abdul Gafoor Tufani is a Muslim man. He has come to Delhi with a mission. Abdul comes from district Araria, a very backward region in Bihar. It is a largely rural Muslim dominated district with around 93 percent of its population living in villages and 50 percent of its population Muslim, in sharp contrast to … Continue reading Abdul Gafoor Tufani Is A Muslim Man
The amount of efforts right wing troll are putting in to 1) Intimidate me 2) Question the credibility of my entire identity and opinion, I wonder is it even worth it? Have I really done something so significant that BJP is so rattled? I woke up today to see they have spread another blatant lie … Continue reading BJP Trolls Pull Out 8 yr Old Tweet To Shed Fake Tears For Mayawati
Much sanskari outrage over a tweet I made a year ago, in which I question a vengeance seeking masculine mob blaming Anushka Sharma, for the bad performance of Virat Kohli. As if, he was playing cricket with his dick, instead of sporting skills. The right wing trolls dug out the tweet from past and used … Continue reading When Sanjukta Basu Defended Anushka Sharma from Virat Kohli’s Sexist Fans Blaming Her
This article makes some important points about secular feminist movement at one hand and marginalized women in Muslim community. The Sharia Law has no place in any civilized community, be it UK or India. But in India for ages, behind personal laws a lot of discriminatory practices have carried on. Status quo was maintained so … Continue reading Sharia courts have no place in UK family law. Listen to women who know | Pragna Patel | Opinion | The Guardian
Samast virat sanskari people of akhand bharat outraging over a marriage joke I shared in 2009. Eight years. Why? Coming up. In a thread of 22 tweets I explained what kind of low regressive narrow minded people these are, Rahul Eshwar, Shefali Vaidya and their ilks. How they have mastered art of inciting a mob … Continue reading Why Rahul Easwar Is Outraging Over Sanjukta Basu’s Feminist Joke?
Raveena Tandon the 90s Bollywood actress is the new Hindutva icon in town. She is following the foot steps of her fellow Bollywood celebrities who have recently been blessed by BJP party tickets, national awards and Lok Sabha seats for toeing in line with the establishment. After a recent incident where she was trying to, … Continue reading No Raveena Tandon, You Have Not Been Trolled, And Ramayana is Not History
3rd April 2017 Cancer. Not a disease but a culture. A major story twist. The deadly misfortune has been part of the most tragic films and literature. Mostly it would be the male protagonist, he falls sick and doctors tell him, “You have last stage Cancer, only few days of your life are left” and … Continue reading Cancer The Misfortune That Fell On Us
This was first written by my later mother Mita Basu on Facebook, in Bengali. It is a reaction to a recent TV commercial of Everest Garam Masala, featuring Amitabh Bacchan. I have translated the piece and also added my own perspectives, publishing here with her permission. Amitabh Bacchan appears in an Everest garam masala TV advertisement. … Continue reading Maa Ke Haat Ka Khana When Maa Is a Service Provider
In December 2006, I went to Hyderabad to be part of a rather strange venture. My memory of this silly adventure is fading away, what I vaguely remember is that a man behind an Orkut group called, Bharat Udaya Mission floored me with amazingly big talk about his big mission for human kind and … Continue reading How I Picked Up The Habit of Binge Watching And Why I Love It
I know I got it tattooed on my arms "Going wherever the wind takes me" but IRCTC plays pretty havoc with 'going wherever' doesn't it. How can we go anywhere unless we plan months in advance for a reserved train ticket and can't afford to fly. We say the world is so connected today, but … Continue reading Waiting For A Call From TISS, Mumbai
My Facebook post on 14th January Now regarding this Jallikattu ban, I don't care if it's your tradition religion sport or whatever, you just need to tone down your aggressive demands for this hypermasculine violent culture in which women have absolutely no participation. Each and every image of Jallikattu I have ever seen is about … Continue reading Important Readings on The Jallikattu Ban
First published on Firstpost where I have argued that the Khadi Calendar debate have to go beyond the phallocentrism, and we have to look at feminist interpretation. From Gandhi to Modi, its one man replacing another. The DAVP calendar shows a world in which Modi the cult is showering divinity on lesser mortals but where are … Continue reading Government of India And Khadi Calendar Where Modi Replaced Gandhi: Feminist Understanding
Ouch. These incorrigible people who make art. They say things as it needs to be said with such subtlety, heart and humour. The 2017 Golden Globes were full of anti-Donald Trump jokes comments by stars including host Jimmy Fallon, Meryl Streep and Hugh Laurie. (Jimmy Fallon, Meryl Streep Slam Trump at 2017 Golden Globes - … Continue reading Jimmy Fallon, Hugh Laurie and Meryl Streep Slam Trump at 2017 Golden Globes
This is a love story. Growing up in Delhi at the start of every winter, I have experienced this wild intoxicating smell subsuming my body mind heart soul never knowing what it was. The smell would arrive soon after Durga Puja is over and Diwali is approaching and stay till the bitter December cold takes … Continue reading Intoxicating Smell of The Devil Saptaparni
First published on Firstpost with different headline and slightly edited: A woman facing violence may take various roads to justice – legal-illegal, justified-unjustified, civil, criminal, constitutional. Shayara Bano decided to eliminate the root cause. Her writ petition before Supreme Court seeking a ban on triple talaq, nikah halal and polygamy poses a challenge to the … Continue reading Flavia Agnes’s Position On Triple Talaq Sad For Indian Feminism
In response to Code of control | The Indian Express by Sania Farooqui Author herself says there's no draft of UCC in absence of which it is hard to tell how UCC would affect individual rights. Yet there is an underlying assumption that whatever it will be, will be a means of Hindutva bullying minority. This fear is … Continue reading Sania Farooqui’s fear of UCC unfounded
it is puzzling to see the Indian Left oppose the push for a common civil code for all citizens, which the Constitution had promised but which successive governments have failed to enact. Back in the 1940s and 50s, Ambedkar and Nehru thought it prudent to first change personal laws in favour of Hindu women, since … Continue reading Liberals must support a common civil code, writes Ramachandra Guha | columns | Hindustan Times
Writing this on the morning after 23rd Jan 2016 The run up to my 39th birthday was very eventful. This was my 39th birthday and I really wanted to celebrate it in a grand way. The middle age express have seen the green flag, and it should be reaching the 40th platform in just a year, … Continue reading In Retrospection The 39th Birthday
UCC would never be a reality in India because none of the religious bigots would accept a truly uniform code that applies to all. They all want the other group to fall in line and accept whatever they think is uniform but ask them to look at their own personal laws, they won't accept. For … Continue reading Uniform Civil Code Will Remain a Polarizing Topic Never Be A Reality
Is there a flow chart that explains how notes tumbling out of corrupt homes enter poor households?
A list of mean, shallow reasons to judge men and swipe them left (reject) on Tinder
A father training his daughters to win sports medals may not be a revolutionary idea everywhere, but it is one in a state like Haryana.
Writing this in lightening speed. Gotta keep my followers updated on what's happening in life even though my hands are too full for blogging. For the last 3 days all I am doing is lying under my favourite Portico sheets and telling myself "So much work to do" but not getting up and doing them. … Continue reading Hugh Laurie is Getting A Star I Am Not Invited and Other Stories
I am very proud to share that two of my photos got published in The Diplomat magazine as part of a photo documentary, Finding Delhi’s Lost Monuments, on the conservation work done / in progress in Humayun Tomb and Nizamuddin Basti area, by Ratish Nanda of Aga Khan Trust For Culture (a part of the Aga Khan Development Network). The … Continue reading Photo story on Nizamuddin Basti Published in The Diplomat Magazine
