@JaipurDialogues Any coward can do what Suvendu did protected by an army of gun-totting men. Salute to the bravery of the lone man standing against the blatant abuse of power.
My exit poll! As I leave #Bengal, it would be a disservice not to say this: I have come to deeply admire the way women inhabit space here. There is a quiet, almost subconscious elevation of women as independent beings . something that stands in stark contrast to the entrenched misogyny that still finds resonance across much of northern India. Perhaps it stems from a cultural understanding of shakti. A form of empowerment that manifests here in ways both subtle and profound, unlike anywhere else in the country, even in the south.
Any woman journalist who has covered political rallies across India will recognize the difference immediately. Other states, a crowd is not just a logistical challenge, it carries risk. the inevitability of wandering hands, the violation masked by chaos. Here, the crowds are no less dense, the air no less heavy with sweat and alcohol—but the hands, for the most part, do not grope. Men step aside to make way. When contact happens, as it inevitably does in chaos, there is visible embarrassment rather than entitlement. What you encounter is not chivalry, but something far rarer: equality. And equality feels far more meaningful. Was never a fan of chivalry in any case :)
There is more. Women politicians across party lines campaign with a striking freedom, aggressive, sharp, unapologetically irreverent, often using what would elsewhere be labelled as ‘masculine’ rhetoric. In most states, such behaviour would invite judgment, even censure. Here, it is met with acceptance, applause. What feels liberating to an outsider is, in Bengal, simply normal. What we frame as empowerment here is a cultural undercurrent.
I have covered four elections in this state, and each time I have returned with the same sense of awe. Bengal, meanwhile, ambles on with a certain bemusement, as if unaware of what sets it apart. But it is a big deal. And perhaps the most remarkable part is that Bengal does not think so.
Governments will come and go. One can only hope that this constant endures, not just how Bengal sees its women, but how, in many ways, it doesn’t. ♥️♥️♥️
@PreetiChoudhry Thanks. During you stay, did you hear about the two young women who married at a temple following full Hindu rituals in a wedding that was crowd-supported by the entire village in Sundarbon? The women blew conch shells villagers collected funds. Bengal!
Very sad to hear about the death of my old friend, the wonderful Kanai Das Baul. He had been Ill with TB for some time. I wrote about him, his beautiful voice and his life in the Tarapith cremation-ground in Nine Lives: ‘Sometimes the mad and sightless can understand things better, and more clearly, than the sane and the sighted,' he said. ‘The blind are never deceived by appearances. It is only those of us who have no eyes that can see through the lure of maya, and glimpse reality for what it is.’
"If a PhD holder & international speaker like Dr. Nandita Roy has to cry for her voting rights, what happens to those without a voice?"
Dr. Roy speaks to eNewsroom about the systemic erasure of Bengali voters—especially women. This isn't just her fight; it’s for millions.
👇 Watch her powerful testimony.
#VoterRights #WestBengal
Israel is bombing Iranian historical monuments dating as far back as the 14th century. Multiple UNESCO World Heritage Sites have been struck.
It's natural that a regime that won't last a century hates nations with ancient pasts. But where's UNESCO? Its silence is unacceptable.
On May 8, during the Indo-Pak conflict, when Chinese jets operated by Pak were shooting missiles & killing innocent Indians while China had declared support for Pak, Indian PM Modi's closest crony, Adani signed a strategic partnership with Guangzhou-based Chinese airport platform
Reporting from Jharkhand, wrote on this adivasi rights anthem--one connected to their fight for jaal, jangal, jaamen and recognition of their nature-worshipping religion, Sarna
A song that @shamikbag heard in Adivasi gatherings across the lands of some of India’s most disadvantaged communities is now an anthem that accompanies protests & marches & connected to a movement to return to an ancient religion in #Jharkhand
https://t.co/iHNi0uDXn1
Gaon chodab nahin,
jungle chodab nahin,
maain maati chodab nahin,
ladai chodab nahin
(We will not leave our villages, we will not leave our forests, we will not leave our mother earth, we will not give up our fight) #fieldnotes
Listen here: https://t.co/diXBfKV699
The demand to recognise the #tribal Sarna religion has pitted tribal identity politics against #Hindutva, which considers all Indian tribals to be #Hindus. Nearly 5 million enrolled as Sarna adherents in #Census2011. Upcoming #Census worries RSS in #Jharkhand, reports @ShamikBag
https://t.co/vHsVScIwKE
@ssingapuri You think you dhokla gutka folks can win West Bengal by posting fake news? Think about it. This video is from UP (of course) and your post makes a joke of you