Above the Fold: Top stories of the day
1. Heavy rains and a swelling river have prompted alerts in Kashmir less than a year after devastating floods.
2. Australia beat New Zealand to win the Cricket World Cup for the fifth time on Sunday.
3. It's not only World No. 1 Saina Nehwal doing well. On Sunday, fellow Indian badminton player Kidambi Srikanth won his first Indian Open Super Series Crown.
The Big Story: The Great Schism
It began with the announcement of Good Governance Day. The government said it had nothing to do with India's minorities, except for the fact that it fell on December 25, which Christians celebrate as Christmas. This was followed by a series of incidents across Delhi in the run-up to elections in the capital and then across the country in February and March. Churches were vandalised as part of dares, thefts went up, and a Vishwa Hindu Parishad joint general secretary said that taking on Christians was like the Indian uprising of 1857.
The specifics of some of those cases have turned out to be more innocuous than projected, with motivations being more local than national. Others, like a church being vandalised in Haryana, have empowered those who have long harboured grouses against Christians, seen as missionaries out to convert Hindus. This, coupled with voices speaking out against Christian icons like Mother Teresa, have made some in the Christian community concerned about its safety in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conciliatory, especially after the Delhi verdict that crushed his Bharatiya Janata Party. Appearing at a Christian celebration, Modi strongly condemned the church incidents and promised strictest action, making some unhappy that he had given credence to allegations they claimed were unproven. But those who believe the narrative is overblown have now begun to speak up, insisting that the anti-Christian atmosphere is alarmist fiction. Eminent economist Jagdish Bhagwati has written an op-ed explaining how he has minority friends and relatives, and went on to call the narrative a "false alarm."
The main danger for Modi is that he will gain a reputation, deserved or not, of being anti-minority at a time when he needs development to be his main plank both domestically and to court international acceptance and investment.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Supriya Sharma investigates counter-claims that the media is ignoring a spate of attacks on Hindu sadhvis, even as the case of a Catholic nun having been raped made headlines in the national press.
Politicking & Policy-ing
1. The Aam Aadmi Party restructured its disciplinary committee, kicking out Prashant Bhushan and internal lokpal Admiral Ramdas.
2. The Bharatiya Janata Party claims to have become the world's largest political party.
3. Efforts are once again afoot to revive the Janata Parivar grouping.
4. The suicide of a rubber farmer in Kerala should send a strong message.
5. The government doesn't want to endorse the idea of Dalit Muslims or Dalit Christians.
Giggle
Punditry
1. Mukul Kesavan in the Telegraph points out how all the remaining AAP leaders around Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are 40-something men from Ghaziabad.
2. All this talk of incrementalism being better than big bangs is confusing, says Mihir Sharma in the Business Standard.
3. To really improve agriculture, we need to attack fertiliser and food subsidies, writes Ashok Gulati in the Indian Express.
4. We need to find a land acquisition model that empowers, instead of patronising, the farmer, say Maitreesh Ghatak and Parikshit Ghosh in the Indian Express.
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1. Heavy rains and a swelling river have prompted alerts in Kashmir less than a year after devastating floods.
2. Australia beat New Zealand to win the Cricket World Cup for the fifth time on Sunday.
3. It's not only World No. 1 Saina Nehwal doing well. On Sunday, fellow Indian badminton player Kidambi Srikanth won his first Indian Open Super Series Crown.
The Big Story: The Great Schism
It began with the announcement of Good Governance Day. The government said it had nothing to do with India's minorities, except for the fact that it fell on December 25, which Christians celebrate as Christmas. This was followed by a series of incidents across Delhi in the run-up to elections in the capital and then across the country in February and March. Churches were vandalised as part of dares, thefts went up, and a Vishwa Hindu Parishad joint general secretary said that taking on Christians was like the Indian uprising of 1857.
The specifics of some of those cases have turned out to be more innocuous than projected, with motivations being more local than national. Others, like a church being vandalised in Haryana, have empowered those who have long harboured grouses against Christians, seen as missionaries out to convert Hindus. This, coupled with voices speaking out against Christian icons like Mother Teresa, have made some in the Christian community concerned about its safety in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conciliatory, especially after the Delhi verdict that crushed his Bharatiya Janata Party. Appearing at a Christian celebration, Modi strongly condemned the church incidents and promised strictest action, making some unhappy that he had given credence to allegations they claimed were unproven. But those who believe the narrative is overblown have now begun to speak up, insisting that the anti-Christian atmosphere is alarmist fiction. Eminent economist Jagdish Bhagwati has written an op-ed explaining how he has minority friends and relatives, and went on to call the narrative a "false alarm."
The main danger for Modi is that he will gain a reputation, deserved or not, of being anti-minority at a time when he needs development to be his main plank both domestically and to court international acceptance and investment.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Supriya Sharma investigates counter-claims that the media is ignoring a spate of attacks on Hindu sadhvis, even as the case of a Catholic nun having been raped made headlines in the national press.
Politicking & Policy-ing
1. The Aam Aadmi Party restructured its disciplinary committee, kicking out Prashant Bhushan and internal lokpal Admiral Ramdas.
2. The Bharatiya Janata Party claims to have become the world's largest political party.
3. Efforts are once again afoot to revive the Janata Parivar grouping.
4. The suicide of a rubber farmer in Kerala should send a strong message.
5. The government doesn't want to endorse the idea of Dalit Muslims or Dalit Christians.
Giggle
#AAPBreakUp @ETPolitics @EconomicTimes pic.twitter.com/N7MQam0NM1
— R Prasad (@rprasad66) March 30, 2015Punditry
1. Mukul Kesavan in the Telegraph points out how all the remaining AAP leaders around Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are 40-something men from Ghaziabad.
2. All this talk of incrementalism being better than big bangs is confusing, says Mihir Sharma in the Business Standard.
3. To really improve agriculture, we need to attack fertiliser and food subsidies, writes Ashok Gulati in the Indian Express.
4. We need to find a land acquisition model that empowers, instead of patronising, the farmer, say Maitreesh Ghatak and Parikshit Ghosh in the Indian Express.