churumuri Profile picture
Jul 10 8 tweets 7 min read
“When nation is being divided, between Hindus and Muslims by forces of political opportunism, and our unity is being destroyed, a powerful voice is needed”

‘Anandabazar Patrika’ marks its 100th anniversary with a reality check from a real icon, Prof Amartya Sen. @MyAnandaBazar Image
2️⃣ Either because ABP did not want to, or because @PMOIndia did not bite, there is no @narendramodi at the centenary fete to bloviate on the role of free media in a democracy.

In craven media houses, Modi is default option despite his advertised contempt for it. @MyAnandaBazar ImageImage
3️⃣ ABP, as ‘Anandabazar Patrika’ is known, was first published as a 4-page eveninger on 12 March 1912 (cover price 2 paise).

It was named after Anandamoyee, the sister of Amritamoyee whose name adorned ‘Amrita Bazar Patrika’.

As it was Holi, the first issue of ABP had red ink. Image
4️⃣ Four generations of the Sarkar family have captained ‘Anandabazar Patrika’ since birth: Prafulla Sarkar, Asoke Sarkar, Aveek Sarkar, and Atideb Sarkar.

It was under the visionary Aveek Sarkar that #ABP broke out of its linguistic and geographical comfort zones. #AveekSarkar ImageImageImageImage
5️⃣ Under #AveekSarkar, ABP launched The Telegraph and Business Standard; Sunday and New Delhi; BusinessWorld and SportsWorld; Ravivar, Desh and Sananda; Penguin; @ABPNews—and the Sarkar Bengali font

#ABP spread its wings wider and better than any other Indian language group. Image
6️⃣ As the bastion of the Bengali ‘bhadralok’, ABP has contributed at least 3 vice-chancellors, and one High Court chief justice.

‘The Telegraph’ coverage of the centenary features the felicitation of Bulu Banduri, the security guard who saved lives during a major fire. Image
7️⃣ As the natural home of Bengali letters, ABP marked the death of Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray with stellar special issues without the clutter of advertisements.

For the 100th anniversary, it has brought out a book of 100 writers who made their name through its pages. ImageImage
8️⃣ “May your words be just to all, whether friend or foe. Raise high the throne that is the nation. But remember: truth is higher still. If you desire your Nation rise still higher, belittle not Humanity before Country”

—Rabindranath Tagore’s advice to ABP, in 1933. @SankarshanT Image

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More from @churumuri

Jul 12
“Uber sought ‘strategic investors’ in foreign media to win government favour’

@JeffBezos-owned ‘Washington Post’ goes where ‘Indian Express’ understandably cannot in its reporting of #UberFiles—7, Lok Kalyan Marg—and the Times Group’s role as navigator.
washingtonpost.com/media/2022/07/…
2️⃣ When Uber was trying to “get Delhi back live” after the Dec 2014 rape ban, an Uber general manager in Asia wrote that “he planned to set up meetings for co-founder Trevor Kalanick “with prime minister @narendramodi and cabinet officials”. @washingtonpost @PMOIndia #UberFiles Image
3️⃣ Sivakumar Sundaram, the chairman of the executive committee of Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd, denies Times Group facilitated Uber “with any form of political access”.

But the @EconomicTimes editor’s email to Kalanick suggests much.

@washingtonpost @timesofindia #UberFiles ImageImageImage
Read 5 tweets
Jul 12
Times Group actively courted Uber after it was banned; urged its founder Travis Kalanick to present his “insights [to] set the agenda for policy formulation” at ET summit, in Jan 2015. Two months later, Uber invested Rs 150 crore in @TimesInternet.

Read: tinyurl.com/yuvyxbup Image
“Let’s be sensitive to keeping a strong relationship with TOI… if there’s something we can do for them that makes sense, we should do it”

Travis Kalanick wrote to staff the same day he received Times Group overture. #UberFiles @IndianExpress @RTIExpress techcrunch.com/2015/03/22/ube…
5 Dec 2014: Delhi woman raped by driver in Uber car

18 Dec 2014: Uber chief Travis Kalanick is “guest editor” of TOI

31 Dec 2014: @EconomicTimes editor invites him to ET Summit

23 March 2015: @TimesInternet makes “strategic investment” in Uber

Read: tinyurl.com/mryuw4j8 Image
Read 6 tweets
Jul 4
To the question, “When will India’s economy touch the $5-trillion mark?”, there can be only one patriotic answer.

Who gives a fug?

In a society with staggering poverty and hunger, the day Bharat’s worth is 5 followed by 12 zeroes can be a big moment only for bots and bhakts.
2️⃣ Yet, barely a week goes by without some tweetiya looking into the kaleidoscope and spotting the $5 trillion GDP pot.

The original deadline was 2024, when general elections are due next. Like the 5-year plan of yore, it was spelt out in 2019. 👇🏿

Read: tinyurl.com/2sx7zzdv
3️⃣ With sky-high unemployment and inflation, and plunging exports, $5 trillion in 5 years was another ‘jumla’, as a BBC story showed.

Read: tinyurl.com/2af9h3t6

Thankfully, an “Act of God”, the Covid pandemic, provided the perfect cover to shift the goalpost from 2024.
Read 14 tweets
Jun 27
🪡 While upholding the findings of the Special Investigation Team that gave a clean chit to @narendramodi in the #ZakiaJafri case, SC added that SIT had “come out with flying colours”.

Q: When exactly did Modi learn of the massacre on 28 Feb 2002—and how well did SIT quiz him?
2️⃣ In his reply to SIT in 2010, Modi claimed he learnt of the #GulbergSociety massacre only at a meeting that evening, at 8.30 pm.

Really?

While a mob of thousands attacked a Muslim pocket in #Ahmedabad, the CM—who *also* held the home portfolio—was unaware for 5 full hours?
3️⃣ The implausibility of Modi’s defence is brought out by former @IndianExpress and @timesofindia legal affairs editor Manoj Mitta.

In his 2014 book, ‘The Fiction of Fact-Finding: Modi and Godhra’, Mitta reveals how #SIT bought into Modi’s claim with barely any challenge.
Read 18 tweets
Jun 19
🪡@narendramodi will take part in the International Yoga Day show in #Mysore on June 21.

In a nation that buys ‘The Daily Spectacle’, this is just another dot in @PMOIndia’s diary.

But what goes into an event like this—for hashtags to trend for a few hours on Tuesday? #YogaDay
2️⃣ Modi doing #Yoga in #Mysuru is a big deal.

All three great gurus of the 20th century—T.Krishnamacharya, B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois—grew under the patronage of the Maharajas of Mysore.

UN designated June 21 as #InternationalDayofYoga only after Modi became PM in 2014.
3️⃣ Still, a one-hour show led by the PM at Mysore Palace takes some doing.

Coverage in Mysore’s local dailies #StarOfMysore and #Andolana gives a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.

It is a sobering lesson of how a partipatory democracy can be a made-for-TV spectacle.
Read 20 tweets
May 11
🪡 Taunting and tormenting Muslims has become India’s national bloodsport, post-2014. Barely a day passes without #Muslims being hectored by bigots on how they should live, love, eat, dress, pray, work, marry and procreate.

How would the 24th Maharaja of Mysore have viewed this?
2️⃣ ‘Nalvadi’ Krishnaraja Wadiyar was the Maharaja of Mysore for 39 years. He presided over a golden period of progress in health, education, industry, infrastructure, arts, culture, literature—i.e. vikas.

Gandhi called him ‘Raja Rishi’ (sage king).

Read: tinyurl.com/2p8stzzp
3️⃣ In 1902, when he formally ascended the throne at the age of 18, he committed himself to “social care without discrimination”.

Like his parents before him, he said he would “continue to promote the welfare of all classes and creeds among my subjects.”
deccanherald.com/opinion/the-co…
Read 9 tweets

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