Above the fold: Top stories of the day
1. In the closing remarks of the bitter Bihar campaign, with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar exhorts voters to choose a "Bihari" over a "bahari".
2. Underworld don Chhota Rajan's deportation from Bali to Mumbai is delayed as Indian authorities are confused over which police agency should take custody of him.
3. No new judges will be appointed until the Supreme Court decides on reforms to the collegium system.
The Big Story: The long and shorts of it
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has finally realised it needs an image makeover. No, it hasn't suddenly decided to stop singing paeans to cow urine or denouncing beef. It's the khaki shorts, the leadership has decided. That's what's keeping the youth from signing up for early morning PT and minority bashing. To appeal to the hip and cool, the organisation is now considering switching to full-length trousers. Different colour combinations have been discussed. But even if the shorts go, the black cap will stay.
For decades, the pleated khaki shorts that flare out at the bottom have been as synonymous with RSS ideology as MS Golwalkar. Many have argued that the uniform traces its ancestry to Mussolini's fascists, who were marching across the Italian countryside in similar gear in the 1920s. The RSS was certainly open about its admiration for the Italian fascists and Nazis. A few years ago, when the RSS accused the Congress of wearing the "burqa of secularism", Congress leader Shashi Tharoor retorted it was better than sporting "fascist shorts".
Fascism went out of style with the Second World War, and the image of the Hitler Youth gave way to PG Wodehouse's Roderick Spode, a snorting, red-faced fictional British fascist who leads the Black Shorts and can be felled with the mysterious word, "Eulalie". Maybe the RSS has finally read its Wodehouse, or maybe it has finally stumbled upon the rich vein of internet humour on the khaki shorts. It certainly seems to be bowing to public opinion about its fashion sense. Too bad public opinion doesn't count as much when it comes to its actual politics.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the big story of the day
Jairus Banaji identifies three worrying strands in the growing culture of intolerance and recalls that Nehru in 1948 had compared the RSS to fascist organisations in Europe.
Politicking and policying
1. Hate speech must be punished in order to preserve harmony, the government tells the Supreme Court.
2. After months of strained ties and a bitterly fought civic election, the Shiv Sena makes overtures to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra.
3. Congress president Sonia Gandhi met President Pranab Mukherjee to express concern over "intolerance".
4. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says he is prepared to meet Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, to convince them of the need to pass the goods and services tax bill.
Punditry
1. In the Hindu, Zoya Hasan argues that the "gathering interrogation" of the government speaks of a wider discomfort with the politics of the Right.
2. In the Indian Express, Bhaskar Chakravorti defends Mark Zuckerberg and explains why concerns over net neutrality sound elitist in India.
3. In the Business Standard, MJ Antony observes that the Supreme Court is bogged down by trivialities as the power of judicial review is stretched to the limits.
Don't miss...
Ajaz Ashraf's interview of Gautam Navlakha, a senior member of the People's Union for Democratic Rights, who says that the RSS was passive and even complicit during the anti-Sikh riots of 1984:
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1. In the closing remarks of the bitter Bihar campaign, with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar exhorts voters to choose a "Bihari" over a "bahari".
2. Underworld don Chhota Rajan's deportation from Bali to Mumbai is delayed as Indian authorities are confused over which police agency should take custody of him.
3. No new judges will be appointed until the Supreme Court decides on reforms to the collegium system.
The Big Story: The long and shorts of it
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has finally realised it needs an image makeover. No, it hasn't suddenly decided to stop singing paeans to cow urine or denouncing beef. It's the khaki shorts, the leadership has decided. That's what's keeping the youth from signing up for early morning PT and minority bashing. To appeal to the hip and cool, the organisation is now considering switching to full-length trousers. Different colour combinations have been discussed. But even if the shorts go, the black cap will stay.
For decades, the pleated khaki shorts that flare out at the bottom have been as synonymous with RSS ideology as MS Golwalkar. Many have argued that the uniform traces its ancestry to Mussolini's fascists, who were marching across the Italian countryside in similar gear in the 1920s. The RSS was certainly open about its admiration for the Italian fascists and Nazis. A few years ago, when the RSS accused the Congress of wearing the "burqa of secularism", Congress leader Shashi Tharoor retorted it was better than sporting "fascist shorts".
Fascism went out of style with the Second World War, and the image of the Hitler Youth gave way to PG Wodehouse's Roderick Spode, a snorting, red-faced fictional British fascist who leads the Black Shorts and can be felled with the mysterious word, "Eulalie". Maybe the RSS has finally read its Wodehouse, or maybe it has finally stumbled upon the rich vein of internet humour on the khaki shorts. It certainly seems to be bowing to public opinion about its fashion sense. Too bad public opinion doesn't count as much when it comes to its actual politics.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the big story of the day
Jairus Banaji identifies three worrying strands in the growing culture of intolerance and recalls that Nehru in 1948 had compared the RSS to fascist organisations in Europe.
Politicking and policying
1. Hate speech must be punished in order to preserve harmony, the government tells the Supreme Court.
2. After months of strained ties and a bitterly fought civic election, the Shiv Sena makes overtures to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra.
3. Congress president Sonia Gandhi met President Pranab Mukherjee to express concern over "intolerance".
4. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says he is prepared to meet Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, to convince them of the need to pass the goods and services tax bill.
Punditry
1. In the Hindu, Zoya Hasan argues that the "gathering interrogation" of the government speaks of a wider discomfort with the politics of the Right.
2. In the Indian Express, Bhaskar Chakravorti defends Mark Zuckerberg and explains why concerns over net neutrality sound elitist in India.
3. In the Business Standard, MJ Antony observes that the Supreme Court is bogged down by trivialities as the power of judicial review is stretched to the limits.
Don't miss...
Ajaz Ashraf's interview of Gautam Navlakha, a senior member of the People's Union for Democratic Rights, who says that the RSS was passive and even complicit during the anti-Sikh riots of 1984:
"It was after the dust settled, so to speak, the Sangh became much more vocal about it. That is alright, I guess. In a large democracy such as ours, people have their right to choose their own way to express themselves. The RSS-BJP, I suppose, felt that the assassination of Indira Gandhi was far more important than the massacre of Sikhs.
Did they feel that way?
Please, let us step back and recall the whole ambience which led up to the massacre of Sikhs. Our report also captures this ambience very well. Very strong anti-Sikh feelings had been built up….
But it was the Congress which built this anti-Sikh feeling.
Absolutely. The Congress was playing upon the Hindu sentiment. It synced with the feelings of the RSS at that particular juncture. There was no difference of opinion between the Congress and the BJP on this count. It was later, for political reasons, the Sangh joined in [to accuse the Congress of fomenting the riots]."