By Sidharth Mishra

The poll results in this country, elections after elections, has always been driven by an X-factor. This X-factor largely goes unrecognized by the analysts covering the campaign, which post-result they find it convenient to define as under-current. 

As the poll campaign for Bihar Assembly elections 2020 steams ahead, the analysts in the war rooms of the political parties are busy crunching numbers, especially on which caste goes whose way. The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) garners its confidence from the fact that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) is back with them.

By Sidharth Mishra

The preface to the unfolding Bihar 2020 poll story has become very intricate with first the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) walking out of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and then its leader Ram Vilas Paswan walking out of the world. However, the loss of patronage from the first family of Dusadh community (not to be confused with another Dalit community identified as Pasi) of Bihar may not necessarily paint an abysmal picture for state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Those who follow the politics of the country’s politically most convoluted state, would recall that Nitish Kumar had initiated the social engineering process to create the voting vertical of Mahadalits to counter the influence of comparatively powerful communities of Chamars, aligned for a longtime with Congress (largely due to the presence of Babu Jagjiwan Ram and his daughter Meira Kumar) and now with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Dusadhs, where Ram Vilas Paswan’s influence was taller than anybody else.

By Sidharth Mishra

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2016, during his monthly radio programme, ‘Maan Ki Baat’ had advised print and television media to carry positive stories that inspires the nation. The advice has not been heeded to goes without saying, as media today, especially television, is about anything but positive news.

Sometime in 2011, then leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley while addressing a seminar on the civil society upsurge under Anna Hazare, which was being witnessed then, had a very telling comment to make. Jaitley had said that Anna was making to television because cameras like sad pictures. Prophetic comments indeed!

By Sidharth Mishra

The much awaited, debated and speculated report from the team of experts of the department of Forensic Medicine of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR) death case came on Saturday last. Given the airtime which has been consumed by this particular unfortunate incident in the past three months, it should have invited several sessions of intense debate on television.

It did not happen that way, as the AIIMS report came, as English poet TS Eliot had penned, “Not with a bang but a whimper.” The report was conclusive -- there was no evidence of poisoning. The AIIMS forensic team’s description has definitely taken the wind out of the sails to those having concluded that SSR was “drugged and murdered.” They would now have to invent new theories to keep themselves afloat

By Sidharth Mishra

The Monsoon winds are withdrawing and the period of the lockdown too is over. Having enjoyed an extended long-run of breathing clean air, the residents of the National Capital Region (NCR) should now get ready to lose some breath.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has planned a meeting with Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar. In the run-up to the meeting, Delhi CM has got flashed his sincerity to address the issue at hand by getting himself photographed with the scientists of Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Pusa. The scientists have invented a way to dispose of ‘parali’ (crop stubble) without burning.

By Sidharth Mishra

It’s a much clichéd saying that in democracy, ultimate accountability is to the parliament. However, this is also true that howsoever much a government may make use of the various tools of mass communication to overcome an impression of shortcomings of governance, the proceedings of the legislature, especially the Indian Parliament, is such that the executive benches cannot escape scrutiny.

Despite the brute majority the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enjoys in Lok Sabha and a now dominant position in Rajya Sabha, it fears the onslaught of the oppositions on the recent reverses the nation has faced on the account poor economic planning, aggression by China on the border and most importantly its inability to control spread of coronavirus infection across the country.

By Sidharth Mishra

The much delayed admissions to various colleges and courses of Delhi University have begun. Soon, there is going to be a big rush for admission seekers and for some days headlines would be talking about the high cut-off marks. Soon the admissions would get over and Delhi University would be conveniently forgotten especially as far as any good news is concerned.

Thereafter, it would be about candidates splurging during the students’ union elections and the teachers being perennially in agitation mode over one issue or other. Though the desire and will of the teachers’ association is also under doubt as they in past years are not known to have fought a do or die battle over any issue.

By Sidharth Mishra

The criticism of the present turmoil in the Indian media, particularly the television, comes with the rebuttal of the critic being a Libtard. The next volley is about media remaining sympathetic to the earlier regime and why then no questions were asked for such sympathies. There is no denying the fact that many a present day vociferous flag-bearers protesting the slant being brazenly projected in the media were themselves guilty of enjoying undue access and patronage, blighting the line between honest journalism and patronized pen-pushing.

Having said this, the aforementioned premise cannot be justified merely being a reflection on the mood of the people; it has more to do with the market and the revenue models. This writer worked in The Pioneer in time and era when it was seen as the only major right of the centre English daily. But to the credit of the editorial leadership of the newspaper, despite the slant it never discouraged contrary opinion and gave space to it.