By Sidharth Mishra

Your reporter's acquaintances teaching on the various campuses tell him that he doesn't have the requisite credentials to be part of the intelligentsia. His observations on matters of interest are dismissed by intellectuals to be that of a journalist's superficial views. Well, they are a journalist's views. Having essentially been trained as a grassroots reporter the observations may be lacking in nuance but certainly not in honesty. The training to question an incident and seek an answer for the same is the ultimate test of a reporter's skill; lack of fieldwork is the ultimate testimony of an academician's intelligence in this country. Like there is this question – why is there such a hue and cry in the valley; and its cantankerous resonance in the corridors of the intelligentsia. Well, your reporter hasn't found an answer to it all these years, and theorems held forward by the likes of Partha Chatterjee are all bogus.

By Sidharth Mishra

Historian and political theorist Partha Chatterjee cannot be expected to applaud the efforts of Government of India, which is led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party. The portal, which published his article, is known for following an editorial policy promoting the dismemberment of the Indian state. The article, "In Kashmir, India Is Witnessing Its General Dyer Moment" was a product for a perfect stage for a protagonist wedded to a particular ideology.

By Sidharth Mishra

It's been a week since the results of the municipal polls were declared. It has given Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a reason to continue to feel upbeat about its political fortune. It has expectedly created a turmoil with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the disparate Congress rank and file.

In the case of the former, party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is facing ire of the rivals which now has a new face in his close friend Kumar Vishwas. Within the Congress party, the going was never easy for its Delhi unit president Ajay Maken, given the history of his long-standing political feud with former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her former parliamentarian son Sandeep Dikshit.

During the course of the campaign, the fissures came to the fore with former Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Mahila Congress chief Barkha Singh quitting the party to join the BJP just ahead of the polling day. Understandably, Maken and the party general secretary in-charge for Delhi PC Thomas resigned from their position, which party leadership refused to entertain.

On the other hand, the state BJP president Manoj Tiwari is being celebrated as a political leader of immense talent, taking the party to a resounding victory. But beneath the surface lies a very different story.