Samidh Sadhu

Liberal, Centrist, Atheist. Studied Literature. Interested in History and Politics.

Also, a Globalization apologist.🌍

[ParanjoyGuhaThakurta @paranjoygt]

The Telegraph editor’s passport not being renewed in Kolkata

Note from R. Rajagopal
Former Editor, The Telegraph
——-
In March this year, my name was deleted from the Ballygunge constituency electoral roll in Kolkata, apparently because the Special Intensive Revision process could not trace either my name or that of my late father in the 2002 voters' list. My father, a Gandhian, retired professor and former State Secretary of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in Kerala, passed away in 2016. I remain unable to understand how a conscientious voter like him could have been absent from the rolls.

Like nearly 27 lakh other residents of West Bengal, I was excluded on account of what were described as “logical discrepancies”. No reason was furnished even after I submitted my matriculation certificate, and my appeal is now pending before one of the tribunals constituted pursuant to the Supreme Court's directions. As a consequence, I was unable to vote in the recent election.

More distressing has been the fate of my passport renewal application. Although I completed the biometric formalities on March 19, 2026, police verification has not been cleared because my name no longer appears on the electoral roll. Despite submitting several alternative documents, I have been informed that they are insufficient. In fact, today (June 27, 2026) is the 100th day since my biometrics for passport renewal were taken. I was formally informed last week by the passport-issuing authority that Kolkata Police sent an adverse report, citing the deletion of my name from the voters' list. I have been asked to appear before the Regional Passport Office in Calcutta "immediately" but when I sought an appointment, without which it is difficult to gain entry, the date granted is July 17, 2026.

In between, our daughter, a journalist in California, got married in San Francisco on April 17. Needless to say, it would have been impossible for me to attend the wedding in the absence of an active passport, notwithstanding my possession of a valid ten-year US visa.

For all practical purposes, I find myself in a state of civic uncertainty although recently the government iterated that a passport is no proof of citizenship. Much of my time is now consumed by efforts to reconstruct family records and secure documents dating back several decades….

My days begin with checking my voting right appeal status and then the passport tracker. Then I write to the college where my mother taught in 1965 and to her school from where she passed out in 1959, asking for any document that proves she existed. The school has been very helpful but not the college. Similarly, I speak to prohibition campaign activists in Kerala, running down a list I collected after coming across an activist's name in a group by chance, asking for any news clipping or photographs that show my father campaigning against illegal liquor vends and communalism.

Some close friends and public figures have helped me in all these efforts. However, I am unaware if any media outlet or journalists' association or guild (of which I am not a member) has shown any interest in my situation. A senior journalist reminded me that this situation is by no means unique as "rejection" has been the daily certainty confronting millions of Indians for centuries. I accept that point.

My intention has never been to project myself as a victim. Rather, I have wanted to underline a larger point: if someone who spent his professional life in journalism and edited a relatively known newspaper can encounter such difficulties, one can only imagine what the truly marginalised must endure. Did I approach any newspaper? No, because I do not want it to become an issue concerning me. Do editors and journalists know about my issue? Of course, several do. If they don't, they should not be in the profession, don't you think?

Yet, the complete silence of newspapers on this issue has confirmed my suspicion, now reinforced with personal experience, that so-called mainstream journalism has little to do with my life. I do not "read" any newspaper now. I glance at some but hardly find anything that piques my interest.

[Manisha Pande @MnshaP]

A journalist friend recently made this point. Back in the UPA years, if you broke a big story, you had the reasonable expectation that it would matter because TV news would pick it up and make sure everyone heard about it. 2G, Commonwealth, Vadra land deals — broken by newspapers, amplified by TV. Today, reporters can spend months uncovering something important and still wonder if it will have any impact at all. Because the amplification layer is gone.

[Swati Moitra @swatiatrest]

Last Monday, a girl fainted in college. Had to be hospitalized. Mother said she hadn't eaten in the morning.

This is actually quite common.

We should be looking at subsidized food for high schools and colleges, not reducing protein for small kids.

[Swati Moitra @swatiatrest]

The vegetarian fanatics in this country are quite something.

You're free to eat what you want. Do not impose your standards on the mid-day meals, which is enshrined as a right.

[Dr Arvind Mayaram اروند مایارام अरविंद मायाराम @MayaramArvind]

Churchill writes to Nehru…

[Mumbai Lakes @MumbaiLakes]

Can Mumbai’s Lakes Catch Up? Here’s What the Last 5 Years Tell Us.

A 5-year comparison of how Mumbai’s seven lakes fill from June to October, and what it could mean for 2026. 💧🌧️📈

[Jayesh Waghmare @jayy_bandukkk]

AQI so low today due to early showers - could see Mumbai Skyline from Shivling point, Lonavala
#mumbairains

[Ramachandra Guha @Ram_Guha]

Umar Khalid’s brilliant PhD thesis has just been published as a book. It is a rigorously researched and richly readable history of Adivasis in Chotanagpur. May his cruel incarceration end soon, and Dr Khalid write more fine works of historical scholarship.
@juggernautbooks

[Samidh Sadhu @SadhuSamidh]

I don't think Red Road would remain closed for 7 days when Republic Day parade or Puja Carnival used to take place there.
Just a month ago, Bakrid namaz offering was rightly shifted from Red Road to the Brigade Parade ground. Why can Yoga Day programme not be held there as well?

[Sreyashi Dey @SreyashiDey]

From 14th June to 21st June, #RedRoad will be closed in #Kolkata for PM #NarendraNodi’s visit for yoga day programme.

[Swati Moitra @swatiatrest]

What a horrid bunch.

[Samidh Sadhu @SadhuSamidh]

If the crook and the fool have really flocked together as it seems, RG should bow further and offer Mamata Banerjee a safe LS seat from Kerala to ensure her worthy voice is heard at the lower house.😂

[Shemin @shemin_joy]

Abhishek Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi after a meeting at 10 Janpath @DeccanHerald

[Samidh Sadhu @SadhuSamidh]

TMC had their Diamond Harbour Model. It is likely that the BJP got their Rajarhat-New Town Model tested for future use.

[Shinjinee Majumder @shinjineemjmdr]

The numbers in full: CPI(M)-ISF candidate Saptarshi Deb got 1 vote from Booth 164. TMC's Tapash Chatterjee got 5. BJP's Piyush Kanodia, who won the seat, got 637 out of 656 votes polled.

[Samidh Sadhu @SadhuSamidh]

@pranesh https://t.co/nxC89XBVfA
This is the scheme which has superseded the previous one.

[Samidh Sadhu @SadhuSamidh]

@pranesh https://t.co/G2FWqg4rD5
The scheme has now been discontinued and merged with another centrally sponsored scheme meant to implement Protection of Civil Rights Act and Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act, according to the official website.

[Bhaumik Gowande @bhaumikgowande]

The hostility and opposition towards BRT has always been about power politics.
BRT reallocates scarce road space from a minority travelling in private cars to a majority travelling by public transport. For some, the idea that a bus full of workers should move faster than a luxury SUV is simply unacceptable.

[Swati Moitra @swatiatrest]

Not tomfoolery. This breakaway group involves mafia like Javed Khan.

The BJP cannot induct TMC MLAs without rebellion from its own workers + Muslim MLAs (31) comfortable outside BJP even if they're working with them.

It's a group of duds controlled by the ruling party.

[Swati Moitra @swatiatrest]

This is absolutely sickening. It delegitimizes the outpouring of public anger after RG Kar and invisibilizes the people fighting media blackout on this recent incident. I don't like Ratna Debnath's political choices, but you're not winning friends in WB with this.

[Swati Moitra @swatiatrest]

This Barman guy has to have some super contacts. The previous govt's police was afraid to touch him. This govt's police arrested him by accident and promptly let him go. What gives?

[Pranesh Prakash @pranesh]

I've often had issues with Truschke, but the ignorance of the vast majority of her critics is much worse. Example:

[Swati Moitra @swatiatrest]

This is not journalism, sorry. No 19 yo is obligated to speak to you.