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[Gajanan Khergamker @IndiaRighter]

#KolkataDiaries | I did not travel to Kolkata expecting to write a series of essays. I travelled there to listen.

To walk through College Street’s fading intellectualism, to sit quietly at tea stalls where politics is discussed with the seriousness of scripture, to observe a state standing at the edge of what may become one of the most consequential political transitions in contemporary India.

What I encountered in West Bengal after the BJP’s phenomenal victory was not merely celebration or resistance. It was something far more layered. Fatigue. Curiosity. Anxiety. Assertion. Silence. Reinvention.

That journey eventually became this collection of essays.

Bengal as Blueprint is not a campaign chronicle, nor is it an exercise in partisan applause or ideological lamentation. It is an attempt to examine what happens when a state that long resisted the BJP’s political vocabulary suddenly begins speaking in a different electoral language. It asks uncomfortable questions about power, identity, federalism, bureaucracy, political violence, cultural negotiation, minority anxieties, the eclipse of the Left, and the future of opposition politics in India.

Over several essays, I explore whether Bengal is witnessing the end of an era, or merely the mutation of one.

Can a party built on command governance adapt to Bengal’s deeply localised political culture? Has Hindu consolidation genuinely reshaped the state’s political imagination, or is this only a temporary realignment? What becomes of Mamata Banerjee in opposition? Can the BJP govern Bengal without unsettling its cultural grammar? And perhaps most importantly, does this victory become a blueprint for eastern India, or a cautionary tale about the limits of political replication?

Bengal has never been politically ordinary. It absorbs ideology differently. It negotiates power differently. It remembers differently.

This was written in hotel rooms, cafés, taxis, railway compartments, and long walks through Kolkata’s restless streets immediately after the verdict. It attempts to capture not just the politics of a result, but the atmosphere of a state in transition.

For readers who follow Indian politics beyond headlines and television binaries, I hope these essays offer a more layered conversation.

Because West Bengal is rarely just about West Bengal.

Read my collection of essays 'The Bengal Mandate' here: https://t.co/fKKlXFKC07

#WestBengal #Kolkata #BengalPolitics #Politics #Essay #NewsEssay #Election #Elections2026 #DraftCraft

[Gajanan Khergamker @IndiaRighter]

A month ago, on 10 March 2026, I released my e-book '10/3: Exile, Empire And War In The Andamans' in a limited offline digital format, symbolically at Flag Point overseeing Ross Island, in Port Blair. It was never meant to be a finished product. It was, instead, the beginning of a conversation, one burgeoning with patriotic nostalgia.

Today, after a month of sustained engagement across lecture halls, seminar rooms, and discussion forums with academia, students, professionals, and policy observers, I have made the work publicly accessible online.

This journey began in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, where I spent time alongside a remarkable cohort of journalists, environmentalists, researchers, and legal minds. What emerged from that experience was not a travelogue, nor a static documentary narrative, but a layered exploration of a geography that resists simplification.

The Andamans compel you to confront uncomfortable questions.

...Development here is not an abstract policy ambition; it is a lived disruption. Every road, every structure, every intervention redraws equations that have existed for centuries...

The deeper I went, the clearer it became that documentation itself is not a neutral act.

...To document the Andamans is to confront a paradox. The more one observes, the clearer it becomes that visibility itself alters the subject...

And beyond the visible lies memory, often unarticulated, frequently ignored.

...Memory in these islands does not rest in monuments alone. It lingers in landscapes, in silences, and in narratives that remain deliberately unrecorded...

Over the past month, the responses, critiques, and conversations around 10/3 have reshaped my own understanding of the work. What I had initially conceived as a publication has now evolved into something far more dynamic.

Project 10/3 is no longer just a book. It is a live, evolving framework. And, with this, I am opening that framework to you.

I invite researchers, institutions, practitioners, and engaged citizens to read, question, critique, and contribute. The intent is not passive readership, it's participation.

This is only the beginning. The road ahead will involve deeper field studies, interdisciplinary collaboration, and continued documentation of vulnerable geographies that demand nuanced attention.

If 10/3 does anything, I hope it unsettles certainty and provokes inquiry. The work is now out there. What it becomes next will depend on how we choose to engage with it.

Do have a read...

Click to View/Download PDF: https://t.co/rSqC7ak4GW

#EBook #Publication #Research #History #Andaman #FreedomStruggle #Chatham #ChathamIsland #FreedomFighters #Opportunity #Internship #IndiaRighter

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

Launched by think-tank DraftCraft International, Fake-Check is an ambitious, dual-front offensive against both the pervasive menace of Fake News & the malicious practice of Fake Litigations.

READ: https://t.co/CRgEgVfVzQ

#FakeCheck #SocialMedia #GajananKhergamker #IndiaRighter

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

#EthiCALL, a pioneering initiative by global think tank DraftCraft International emerges as a clarion call to professionals across sectors to reclaim integrity at the heart of their practice.

READ: https://t.co/HARHdK0aYP

#ProfessionalEthics #GajananKhergamker #IndiaRighter

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

London’s 150,000-strong anti-immigration rally led by Tommy Robinson exposes #Britain’s political crisis, identity fears & rising far-right unrest, says Manu Shrivastava.

READ: https://t.co/w80M7EjALX

#UniteTheKingdom #UTK #FreeSpeechLondon #TommyRobinson #ImmigrationDebate

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

If the proposed jetty near Colaba's Radio Club comes to pass, the Gateway of India risks becoming another functional space. But at what cost? Cities evolve, skylines shift & progress is inevitable, says Gajanan Khergamker.
@indiarighter
READ: https://t.co/9ZUXMF1YgG
#RightToWalk

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

As controversial plans emerge for a #jetty to be constructed in #Colaba, the indelible image of the Gateway of India risks being irrevocably altered, perhaps even lost forever, writes Gajanan Khergamker.
READ: https://t.co/9ZUXMF1YgG
#ColabaJetty #RightToWalk #PublicSpace

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

No more fighting for space—this one’s for the walkers! So get out, take a stroll, and reclaim your right to the city!
Location: Elevated Nature Trail at Malabar Hill, Mumbai
#RightToWalk #PublicSpace #BMC #ThePublicSpaceProject #UrbanSpaces #NatureLovers

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

Mumbai’s newest Elevated Nature Trail isn’t just about the views—it’s about freedom to walk! For over three decades, DraftCraft International has fought for pedestrian rights, and now, Mumbai is taking a bold step forward.
#RightToWalk #PublicSpaceMatters #NatureTrail #Walkway

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

Mumbai’s first-ever Elevated Nature Trail is more than just a scenic path—it’s a victory for pedestrians! After decades of advocacy by DraftCraft International, the Right To Walk is being restored, one step at a time.
@DraftCraftSpeak @IndiaRighter
#MalabarHill #NatureTrail #BMC

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

Mumbai's First Elevated Nature Trail is a step in the right direction. For a city whose denizens are starved of public space, their Right To Walk - as campaigned by DraftCraft International - is being restored step by step. Go, Walk, Reclaim!
#RightToWalk #ThePublicSpaceProject

[DraftCraft International @DraftCraftSpeak]

#ThePublicSpaceProject #RightToWalk #PublicSpace

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

DraftCraft International's Right To Walk campaign - kicked off with #barricades, cordoning off the Gateway of India following the 26/11 Terror Attacks, finally being removed - is now being replicated across Mumbai successfully.
@DraftCraftSpeak #KalaGhoda #PublicSpace #Colaba
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[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

WATCH | Five years ago, on 25 March 2020, #Mumbai went into a slumber during the world's largest #lockdown launched by India to control the spread of #COVID_19. DraftCraft Films captured the city under lockdown in 'Lights, Sound ... Lockdown'.
Full video: https://t.co/PYcI2aMP2N

[The Draft News @TheDraftWorld]

With over 35 % Indians living in cities, the clash b/w private vehicle ownership and public space equity nears crisis. Now, cities like Chennai, Ahmedabad & Ghaziabad are tying car ownership to proof of private parking.
READ: https://t.co/qEngafjQlk
#PublicSpace #Traffic #Parking

[DraftCraft International @DraftCraftSpeak]

Applications are now open for volunteering opportunities at DraftCraft International for The Public Space Project that examines and advocates for inclusive laws and policies for access, movement and transport in #public spaces. #Mumbai #RightToWalk
Read: https://t.co/4IMKDtuMpF

[DraftCraft International @DraftCraftSpeak]

Applications are now open for volunteering opportunities at DraftCraft International for The Art Of Cause Project that documents #Art Projects and #StreetArt that reflect, rectify and resolve strife, across the world. #Mumbai #ArtOfCause
Read more: https://t.co/4qRoLK0IVh

[DraftCraft International @DraftCraftSpeak]

#VolunteerWork | Applications are now open for volunteering opportunities for The Public Health Project - a DraftCraft International initiative that examines laws and policies regarding food, inherent risks and #publichealth.
#PCOS #Food #Mumbai
Read more: https://t.co/qNokOhEAYD

[DraftCraft International @DraftCraftSpeak]

#Volunteering | Heritage lies in conversations, customs, art, architecture, food and folklore that has existed over generations. Today, it lies ignored and there's a need to protect #heritage before it is lost in the din. Come, join us! #Mumbai
Read more: https://t.co/8jBBUompM0

[DraftCraft International @DraftCraftSpeak]

If you feel there's a need for a more inclusive society, this is the right #volunteering opportunity for you. Work will include assisting in organising events and outreach activities, research, fundraising, advocacy.
Read more: https://t.co/5g92ZR52hp
#TheInclusionProject #Mumbai

[DraftCraft International @DraftCraftSpeak]

#WorldPopulationDay | We, The People is a DraftCraft International report analysing what it means for India to become the world's most populous nation, the State's attempts to tackle issues and the challenge ahead. Read the full report here:
https://t.co/hOklOBknW8
#WeThePeople