Month: October 2023

Apple Is Not the First Tech Company To Allege Government Role in Misuse of Spyware

The potential nature of the attack, as described by Apple, has an uncanny resemblance to the Pegasus military-grade spyware, developed by the Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group.

Mumbai: Several Indian opposition leaders and journalists received notifications from Apple late on Monday or early on Tuesday warning them that their phones could have been targeted by “state-sponsored attackers”. The message read: “Apple believes you are being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID.”

Following the alert, at least 20 people – including Congress leaders Shahi Tharoor and Supriya Shrinate, Trinamool Congress’s Mahua Moitra, Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena (UBT), and Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM – said that they had received this alert. 

While Apple’s alert doesn’t mention the nature of the attack, it warns iPhone users of possible theft of their data, and communication and also the possible compromise of their camera and microphone. The nature of this attack has an uncanny resemblance to the Pegasus military-grade spyware, developed by the Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group. This spyware, which NSO claims is only used to target terrorist and organised crime groups, was allegedly misused against human rights defenders, politicians and journalists from as early as 2017.

In 2021, The Wire – in collaboration with 16 other media organisations – revealed the names of people, including many Indians, who were either persons of interest or were forensically identified as targets of clients of the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. 

This investigation had prompted a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by then Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana, to appoint an Expert Committee headed by Justice (Retired) R.V. Raveendran to look into the allegations in the Pegasus spyware case, “taking into account the public importance and the alleged scope and nature of the large-scale violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens of the country”. Interestingly, the government neither admitted nor denied the use of the malware. Finally, the committee, noting that the Union government did not cooperate with the panel, concluded that while there was a definite presence of malware on five handsets that it examined, there was “no conclusive evidence for the use of the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware”. 

Apple’s latest alert has once again kickstarted the conversation that had died down following the expert committee’s report and the subsequent Supreme Court’s order on August 25, 2022. But this is not the first alert where the government’s involvement has been explicitly alleged by a tech company. The language is identical to what the phone manufacturer has used on several occasions in the past to alert the victims of spyware around the world.

Additionally, both Yahoo and Google have sent similar alerts in past years. In November 2019, just a few days after the story about the use of the insidious spyware Pegasus in India broke, The Wire had first reported about a message sent out by Yahoo to a user about the attack by “government-backed actors”. In the message, Yahoo stated: “We believe your Yahoo account may have been the target of government-backed actors, which means that they could gain access to the information in your account.” Yahoo, however, had not clarified who this “government-backed actor” is or indeed what government they work for.

Similarly, Google too, that same year, had warned up to 500 India-based targets that they may have been the victims of a snooping attempt by “government-backed actors”. 

A statement issued by Apple provided some clues about why tech companies do not provide additional information about the alleged attacks. “We are unable to provide information about what causes us to issue threat notifications, as that may help state-sponsored attackers adapt their behaviour to evade detection in the future,” the US tech company said.

When a tech company puts out an alert, it is also taking a huge risk of alienating its service users. Every time such an alert is sent out, leading to a public furore, the government has opted to stay silent, respond in vague terms or accuse those seeking an independent probe into allegations of misuse of malware as attempts to “malign Indian democracy”. As the government continues to refuse to come out with a clear denial that it does not allow the misuse of spyware, probable victims of data theft and snooping have no scope for resolution.  

In light of the latest Apple alert, Union minister for electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw was compelled to order a probe. “The government is concerned about this issue and it will get to the bottom of it. We have already ordered [an] investigation into it,” Vaishnaw noted.

Kashmir: Head Constable Shot Dead in Third Targeted Attack in As Many Days

The victim was identified as Ghulam Mohammad Dar. Family sources said he was posted with a middle-rung police officer as a reader in Srinagar and was off-duty when the attack took place.

Srinagar: In the third incident of targeted killing in Kashmir in as many days, a J&K police head constable was shot dead outside his residence in Baramulla district on Tuesday, October 31.

The victim was identified as Ghulam Mohammad Dar. Family sources said he was posted with a middle-rung police officer as a reader in Srinagar and was off-duty when the attack took place.

Witnesses, who spoke with The Wire, said that two bike-borne men waylaid the father of seven unmarried girls outside his residence in Wailoo Kralpora of Baramulla district of north Kashmir on Tuesday evening.

Bashir Ahmad Parry, Dar’s brother-in-law, said that the slain police official was returning home after dropping two labourers at their accommodation on his bike. The labourers were working at his home during the day, he said.

“I heard gunshots at around 7 pm and rushed there immediately. When I reached, the body had been taken to the hospital. There was blood on the road. He had collapsed near the gate, which had bullet holes,” Parry told The Wire outside the residence of Dar.

“He was an honest and god-fearing person. Unlike some police officials, he would never try to flaunt his credentials. He used to play with children in the village as if they were his own,” Parry added.

A senior official in the administration said that the victim was taken to a district hospital in Tangmarg, where he was declared dead by doctors. According to hospital officials, the victim had suffered multiple bullet wounds in his chest.

Bilal Ahmad Parry, a revenue official (lambardar) in Kralpora, said that Dar had returned home from Srinagar on Monday, October 30. “The whole village knows him as an honest officer and a humble man. He was a very kind person who would help others in need,” he said.

Soon after the incident, anguished villagers milled around the residence of Dar to console his family in their hour of grief. According to witnesses, the family members of Dar had a heated argument over some unknown reason with security forces who arrived at the spot for clues about the identity of the perpetrators.

A pall of gloom descended on the village soon after the news of Dar’s killing broke, while security forces were seen carrying out searches in the area to hunt down the suspects. When this report was filed, some relatives of the deceased were waiting outside the hospital for his body, which was sent for a post-mortem examination.

Security personnel at the scene of the shooting in Baramulla in which a police official was shot dead. Photo: Sajad Hameed

At Dar’s residence, his wife, whose name could not be ascertained immediately, was seen beating her chest and pulling her hair while some women were comforting her. The victim’s daughters were crying inconsolably while calling out for their father to “return home”.

No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which is the third such incident in three days in Kashmir. Security has been beefed up across the Valley in the aftermath of Sunday’s attack in Srinagar in which a J&K police inspector was injured critically.

A day later, on Monday, Mukesh Kumar, 45, a migrant worker from Uttar Pradesh was shot dead by suspected militants in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district when he was visiting a bank. The victim was working as a fireman at a brick kiln.

The latest attack in Baramulla took place on the day the Jammu and Kashmir Police went through a change of guard, with the intelligence chief of the Union Territory and 1991 batch IPS officer R.R. Swain taking over as the new director general of the J&K Police.

The outgoing police chief, Dilbag Singh, said on Monday that the police force needs to remain cautious “as threats remain” in Jammu and Kashmir. “We can’t take things lightly,” DGP Singh, who retired on October 31, told reporters in Srinagar.

The three attacks in three days are reminiscent of the tensions that had flared up in Kashmir in 2021, when a spate of targeted attacks were carried out against the members of the minority Hindu community and migrant workers, prompting many of them to leave the Valley.

Since Article 370 was read down in 2019, security forces claim to have achieved major successes in the battle against militancy in Jammu and Kashmir with a sweeping crackdown launched against militant outfits and those accused of having connections with militants.

However, the battle seems far from over as militants have sporadically carried out sensational attacks targeting civilians and security forces alike. Nearly three dozen security personnel and civilians have been gunned down by militants this year so far, which has been the most peaceful in terms of insurgency-related violence.

Dozens Killed As Israeli Strike Hits Refugee Camp in Gaza

The Gaza health ministry said that at least 8,525 people have been killed in Israeli strikes and two-thirds of those killed are women and children.

New Delhi: Dozens of Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded in an Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in northern Gaza and the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of a looming public health catastrophe.

The director of Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital told Al Jazeera that more than 50 Palestinians were killed and 150 wounded in Israeli air strikes on the populated Jabalia refugee camp area.

According to Al Jazeera, the refugee camp covers an area of only 1.4 square kilometres but houses some 116,000 registered refugees. The Israeli military has repeatedly struck the camp since the start of the war, the report said.

The Gaza health ministry said that at least 8,525 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since October 8 and two-thirds of those killed are women and children. At least 3,542 children and 2,187 women were among the dead.

The health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said 130 healthcare staff were killed and 15 hospitals are now out of service.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said the escalation of conflict between Israel and armed Palestinian groups will only increase the immense suffering of civilians.

A WHO official told a press briefing in Geneva that people in Gaza are facing a looming “public health catastrophe.”

Israel tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people, following the Hamas terror attacks on October 7.

Although more than 150 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies have been allowed to enter the territory from Egypt over the past few days, aid workers say it’s not enough.

Damage to water and sanitation infrastructure, overcrowding and mass displacement are compounding an already dire humanitarian situation in the territory, they say.

The WHO spokesperson said fuel was urgently needed to run generators at clinics, to treat water and for emergency vehicles.

India’s Behaviour on the World Stage Is Not Helping Its Interests

What the Modi government’s foreign policy actually is and what it is intended to achieve?

The Indian government has abstained from calling for an end to the violence in the Gaza Strip in a UN General Assembly resolution in order to avoid upsetting the United States. India was told by the new Maldives leader to remove our soldiers from that country. Qatar sentenced eight Navy veterans to death. Sri Lanka allowed a Chinese spy ship to dock in Colombo despite India’s objections. Bhutan has said it was about to conclude boundary negotiations with China, including on Doklam. Nepal cannot use its new Gautam Buddha airport because India doesn’t allow overflight of large planes. Canada has said it would not be able to normalise visas for Indians till 2024. These things have happened in the space of a few days.

All South Asian nations except India voted to end the violence in Gaza, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, which traditionally votes with India. The 70 Indian military personnel in the Maldives who will now return maintain radar stations and surveillance aircraft, and Indian warships help patrol the Maldives’ exclusive economic zone. The reason we have been told to go is that the Maldives wants to favour China.

Whether we are running a successful foreign policy, as fans of the external affairs minister believe, or we are ruining India’s global reputation, as some of us think we are doing, is not important to debate. This is because views are set in stone since we are in the tenth year of the Narendra Modi years and there is sufficient evidence to convince someone one way or another.

What is more interesting is to examine what the Modi government’s foreign policy actually is and what it is intended to achieve. In 2014, the BJP manifesto said it would “strengthen SAARC” and that India’s states “will be encouraged to play a greater role in diplomacy”. For instance, Punjab, which overwhelmingly suffers when Canadian visas are affected, would caution New Delhi on foreign policy.

In 2019, both these references were eliminated. No fresh text replaced it but those who study foreign policy praised a new approach that they saw coming together.

This approach comes from a series of speeches made by Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on things as diverse as China’s rise to power, India’s lost decades, the Mahabharata, maritime power and the COVID-19 pandemic.

These assorted speeches were compiled into a book, called The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World. What are these strategies?

First, Jaishankar assumes that the US and Europe will continue to look inward (his book was published just before Donald Trump lost the 2020 election), while China would continue to rise. This would open the space for countries like India to be opportunistic in their engagements with the world and they did not need consistency.

What India wanted was a “multi-polar Asia” – meaning one in which India could claim parity with China. Many balls would need to be kept in the air (Jaishankar has a fondness for stock phrases) and India would handle them with dexterity. This was opportunism, but that was all right because opportunism was India’s culture. The Mahabharata’s lessons, Jaishankar says, are that deceit and immorality are merely to “not play by the rules”. Drona’s demanding of Eklavya’s thumb, Indra’s appropriation of Karna’s armour, Arjuna using Shikhandi as a human shield, these were but “practices and traditions”. Inconsistency in policy was not only fine but required because “obsessing about consistency” made little sense in changing circumstances.

But what was such a doctrine to be called?

In a speech he made where he first laid out this doctrine of opportunism and inconsistency, Jaishankar said it is hard to give it a name. He takes up and discards the phrases – “multi-alignment” (“sounds too opportunistic”) and “India first” (“sounds self-centred”). He settles at “advancing prosperity and influence”, which he says is accurate but admits is not catchy. He believes that some name will eventually come if it is pursued long enough, because part of the challenge is that we are still in the early phase of a major transition.

Perhaps that is so.

Another reason that he was unable to come up with a name for it as clean and understandable as, say, “non-alignment”, could be that this was no real foreign policy at all. The problems that have been listed at the top of this article reflect this lack of coherence and effectiveness. Buying cheap Russian oil when nobody is stopping you from doing so is not a foreign policy, but it was praised as being that. A rotating presidency of the G-20 was not an achievement, but that is how it was sold to Indians.

What interested the prime minister, and what made for pageant and ceremony, was being passed off as something meaningful. It is not easy to escape the conclusion that Jaishankar provided the sophistry to cover what was essentially random and directionless behaviour by Prime Minister Narendra Modi passing off as foreign policy strategy.

Jaishankar says that this nameless policy of his is intended to achieve four outcomes. Greater prosperity at home; peace on the borders; protection of Indians and enhanced influence abroad.

Once again, there is no point in going through what is happening on the borders or on prosperity. The issue is whether having examined what we have tried to achieve and looking at what results around us, we should reassess what India’s role in the world is and whether we are doing the right thing for ourselves.

India Says It Is ‘Leader’ of Global South But UN’s Gaza Vote Shows It Has No Followers

‘The view that the US practices double standards when it comes to conflict and human rights is by now well-known across the non-Western world and understood, but the Gaza crisis will only further entrench this perception,’ says Sarang Shidore of the Quincy Institute.

New Delhi: The landslide numbers with which the UN General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution to call for a ‘humanitarian pause’ in the violence in West Asia has certainly been an effective demonstration of international public opinion, especially from the Global South.

On October 27, 121 nations voted in favour of the resolution sponsored by Jordan and the Arab Group, while 14 voted against it and 44 abstained from voting. Iraq changed its vote from abstention to ‘Yes’ later, citing technical difficulties. Most of the Global South voted in favour of the resolution, while the West largely voted negatively or abstained.

The vote took place around three weeks after Hamas launched a terror attack inside Israel which killed around 1,400 people. In retaliation, Israel unleashed a massive campaign of airstrikes followed by ground operations in the past few days. Over an estimated 8,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip so far.

The UNGA vote marked a notable change in comparison to the situation after February 2022, when the Global South largely aligned with West-backed resolutions criticising Russia for its invasion of  Ukraine.

However, the growing resentment over the rising costs of fuel and fertiliser – as a result of the Ukraine war – did lead to Western countries publicly acknowledging the price being paid by the rest of the world. India, which has abstained from all UN resolutions that criticised Russia for the Ukraine war, had also sought to take the mantle of the Global South’s leadership by highlighting the disproportionate economic hardship being borne by Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The October 27 vote has brought into focus even more forcefully the stark difference between the Global South and the Global North. 

Writing in the Indian Express, Pratap Bhanu Mehta observed that despite the heightened concerns about a wider conflict, “there is not one significant world leader who is acting in a way that is not morally myopic or politically ill-judged”.

In his scathing critique of leaders ranging from the US president and European leaders to Arab regimes and China, he also highlighted how India’s self-professed leadership of the Global South has not gathered any support on such a key issue:

“As for India, one anecdote will suffice. I was at an international meeting recently, where someone, not unsympathetic to India, asked this question: ‘India claims to be the leader of the Global South. But let us ask the question, ‘who is following it?’”

To better understand this gulf between India and the rest of the Global South, The Wire spoke to Sarang Shidore, director of the Global South Program at the Washington-based Quincy Institute.

Shidore noted that there was a greater consensus among the developing world about the response to the situation in Gaza, with the notable exceptions of India and Philippines. The other anomaly was the cluster of Pacific Island states, although they tend to vote with the US on many international issues.

While the Philippines, aligned with the West, abstained because it said it recognised Israel’s “right to self-defence”, what raised eyebrows across the Global South was India’s refusal to back the UNGA call for a humanitarian pause.

India claimed that it didn’t vote in favour of the UNGA resolution because the text didn’t explicitly criticise the October 7 terror attack by Hamas. Incidentally, India has not mentioned Hamas in any of its public statements, including its Explanation of Vote. As an aside, the last time that Hamas was mentioned by India was in April 2004, when the Ministry of External Affairs said that the targeted assassination of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi was “unjustified and unacceptable and cannot be condoned under any circumstances”. Then, as now, the party in power in India was the Bharatiya Janata Party. Rantisi was killed by the Israeli Air Force.

Last week at the UN, India was the only South Asian country to not vote in favour of the resolution. Similarly, the Philippines was the only Southeast Asian country to not vote positively, with Cambodia not recording its vote.

According to Shidore, the global south strongly wants the war to end and has been critical of Israel’s actions. He estimates that in the Global South, outside West Asia, more than 70% of countries voted in favour of Jordan’s resolution, while around 23% abstained and only around 7% voted against.

Breaking it down geographically, he noted that 30 African countries, 26 Latin American countries, nine Southeast Asian countries and five South Asian countries had voted in favour of the resolution.

The following is an edited version of the interview conducted via e-mail.

Is it correct to say, especially in the aftermath of this UNGA resolution, that there is even greater divergence from the West and a more unified consensus in the Global South in the latest eruption of the Israel-Palestine dispute compared to the Ukraine war?

Yes, especially in the Middle East (West Asia) among its citizenry. Middle Eastern governments however remain more ambivalent, but they are being forced into a more critical stance toward Israel and the US due to public pressure. 

What is your analysis of the voting record of the Global South to the October 27 UNGA resolution?

The analysis is in my Twitter thread. The noteworthy additional element is that several Global South states – largely in Latin America, though also key African ones such as Kenya and Nigeria – preferred to add language proposed by the US and Canada condemning Hamas and mentioning Israeli hostages, but this preference was not a barrier in their clear support for the adopted resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce”.

What factors have driven such a robust response from Global South members? Is it rooted in a perception of Western hypocrisy, considerations of domestic public opinion, or national interests and external influences?

Public opinion is a strong factor in the Middle East. The view that the US practices double standards when it comes to conflict and human rights is by now well-known across the non-Western world and understood, but the Gaza crisis will only further entrench this perception.

Is it reasonable to anticipate that the growing prominence of the ‘Global South’ in discussions will bring about a shift in policies?

If this war lasts much longer or escalates, the Middle Eastern governments may take further steps and there could be a major realignment away from the US – but we are not there yet. In the rest of the Global South, this is one of many factors that is increasing alienation from the West, though it is still incremental. The other important point here is that not all Global South states are following this trend. India and the Philippines are two major exceptions – both have been relatively sympathetic to Israeli and US positions on the matter.

Sarang Shidore Photo: X/@globalsarang

Has the current world order evolved enough to empower the Global South to play a more substantive role compared to the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War?

Middle Eastern states, if they took a much tougher stance toward the US and Israel, could have some impact on the war. The rest of the Global South will have less impact. However, these developments will not heal but only deepen the divergence between the West and most of the rest of the Global South. It is one factor of several.

Is a unified stance from the Global South a prerequisite for Western nations to take heed? Alternatively, is it more plausible that the rapid rise of specific nations within the Global South, bolstered by their economic clout, will prompt them to adapt their policies?

In my Foreign Affairs article, I noted that the biggest way that the Global South is asserting itself is through the actions of individual states. As I wrote, “These diverse and mostly uncoordinated actions, grounded strongly in the national interest of each country, are likely to have an impact greater than the sum of their parts.”

Many Global South states are wealthier and savvier than they were in the 20th century and have learned how to play off both sides to gain benefits for themselves. Compared to the Cold War period, their guiding principle is not “idealism, but realism, with an unhesitating embrace of national interests and increased recourse to power politics”.

 

 

‘Confident of Victory Due to My Experience’: Nepal’s Candidate for WHO Southeast Asia Office

In an interview to The Wire, Shambhu Acharya answers several questions ranging from Ayushman Bharat, health financing models, and WHO’s engagement with governments in the Southeast Asia region.

New Delhi: The election for the head of the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is scheduled to be held on November 1, 2023.

It is a hotly contested election in which two candidates are in the fray. One of them is Saima Wazed, the daughter of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Wazed holds a specialist degree in school psychology and has worked in the field of mental health since 2014 with various institutions.

The other candidate from Nepal is 65-year-old Shambhu Acharya. He has a PhD in public health. He has served in various organisations, including the WHO and World Bank, in wide-ranging areas of public health. He has also been an adjunct faculty member at a couple of universities.

The SEAR consists of 11 countries, including India, and each of them gets a vote. Myanmar is not eligible to vote because of its political environment. If there is a tie after the first round of polling, then there would be subsequent rounds, till there is a final result.

The Wire’s Banjot Kaur caught up with Acharya in Delhi to understand his views on various health issues about the region, in general, and India in particular. Excerpts from the conversation follow. In square brackets are the author’s clarifications.

How confident are you about your victory? 

I’m very confident. First, I have a very solid public health and technical background and I am an academic with a PhD degree. I started my career with community-based medical systems and then moved up the ladder and occupied different leadership positions, even managing some institutions. I have also worked with the WHO at high levels. I have not focused on just one area of public health but a number of them. I have worked as a scientist, technical officer, manager, and director. This gives me a whole range of experience that this post [of the SEAR head] would require.

Do you think your opponent is at a disadvantage because she doesn’t have a vast experience like you do?

I can’t say that. The CVs are in the public domain. That is for the people and the member states to decide.

There are charges of nepotism against your opponent. What is your opinion on that? Also, it’s said that this is the first time that the kin of a government’s head has applied for an elected post at the WHO or even any other UN agency.

To answer your first part, I do have a personal opinion but I will give it a pass because it is against the model code of conduct [of the WHO elections] to make such personal comments. On the second part, as a matter of fact, it is correct.

Sheikh Hasina and Saima Wazed with Joe Biden and Jill Biden. Photo: X/@drSaimaWazed

The SEAR has the highest burden of many diseases. Also, it is home to the largest number of people suffering from undernourishment and these challenges make the region different from others. How do you plan to address them?

These circumstances exist because we [SEAR region] have a quarter of the world’s entire population. That’s exactly why we have to look at it from the opportunity point of view. This is also the reason why [the region] is economically growing faster.

Do you believe fast economic growth has trickled down to all the masses?

It is trickling down. If you look at India, for instance. India had 1% of GDP investments in health in 2014. Nowadays, it’s over 3%. [More on this later.]

According to you, what are the major challenges for the SEAR as far as public health systems are concerned?

I would just not talk about the treatment but also the prevention. So, we need to make sure that education for health becomes the priority for everyone so that people know what are the consequences of ill health.

But people do know them to a great extent. Their major concern is about ‘access’ to health or the lack of it.

No, but that’s only when you get sick. You can also do something before you get sick by improving your lifestyle. A social movement is needed for that education.

Such campaigns already exist. How do you plan to add value?

I want to go to the individuals – the youth and women – to give that message. And [also want to ensure] we get each and every citizen must have access to health.

Where do you see the role of WHO’s SEAR Office in enhancing access to health when, essentially, it is the government’s responsibility to provide that?

The WHO can provide the necessary guidelines and policy advice to the governments. We need to build on this through advocacy with political leaders.

So, how do you remodel your dialogue for this? 

What I will say is that the budgets, or health expenditures, should not be just viewed as a ‘cost’ to the government. It should be viewed as an investment in human capital.

In this region, and especially in India, access to health is not the only issue. Even the quality of healthcare being provided is also an issue. How do you plan to address that?

India, and largely the SEAR, provides good quality tertiary-level healthcare, and has, therefore, become a hub for medical tourism.

But then we also need to focus on [the quality of] primary and secondary level healthcare, [in peripheral areas and small towns]. We should have a quality workforce there along with medicines and diagnostics. The majority of services can be given at the two lower levels of healthcare itself.

As a WHO representative, I would try to engage with the highest level of political leadership in this direction. Different member states of the SEAR can learn from each other, too, in providing primary healthcare. Your Ayushman Bharat programme is a good example of that.

Despite so many reports and various engagements at all levels between non-governmental organisations and the government, India’s expenditure on healthcare remains one of the lowest. Where do you think things went wrong?

But it has reached 2.5% of the GDP and I think it is an increment in the right direction. As a matter of fact, according to the Economic Survey 2022-23, the actual expenditure figures are available for 2021-22. For that year, the central and state government’s combined expenditure on health was 1.6% only. The revised estimates for FY 22 stand at 2.2% but the actual expenditure would be available only next year. Since 2014, health expenditure has steadily risen, you see.

Why do you compare it with 2014?

Because there has been a steady rise [in health expenditure] from 2014. [According to the last Economic Survey, health expenditure as a percentage of the GDP in 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 was 1.3%, 1.4%. 1.4%, 1.4%, 1.4% and 1.6%, respectively. The actual expenditure figures are only available till 2020-21.]

The Indian government, and a few others, too, lay a lot of stress on insurance-based health financing models while some others feel that creating a health infrastructure is better. What is your opinion?  

I don’t think there can be a scenario of one versus the other.

One model is, for example, that of the UK, France, etc., where each and every citizen will have access to health services from the government. The other one is about health insurance, in which you talk about pooling resources from each individual, cross-subsidising from the rich to the poor, and helping the latter through insurance. That has worked well in countries like Germany and Thailand.

But Thailand spends a lot on healthcare. Unlike India, where only one-third of the health expenditure comes from the government, in Thailand, the government’s share is two-thirds.

The whole idea is to finance in a manner that people are not pushed into poverty due to expenses incurred on healthcare. Countries like Japan and Thailand also took 40 to 50 years to achieve the best of their health financing models.

You spoke about the Ayushman Bharat programme. But there is also a decent amount of criticism against it for not being able to cover a large chunk of the population. And recently, a CAG report highlighted large-scale corruption. Do you still believe it is the panacea for India’s health problems?

I mean, I do not want to say whether it’s a panacea or not, but what I’m saying is that covering 500 million people [under the programme] –  that we know is one of the largest –  is a great achievement. So, I’m sure India has a plan to cover more. Everyone gradually will be covered.

Though the government, so far, hasn’t made public any such intention of covering the entire population, the programme is also criticised for having diverted its attention from creating better health facilities to investing in insurance schemes as a proxy…

You are mixing two things here. Insurance is essential for providing income to health facilities. And once there is income, infrastructure and various issues can be improved. Infrastructure does not exist in isolation.

So, the government can still invest in infrastructure [while funding insurance-based programmes].

Representative image. Photo: Yaqut Ali/The Wire.

There is a lot of diversity within the SEAR, and therefore, every country has a health problem unique to its own. How can you bring synergy amidst all of this?

Yes, there exists a lot of diversity but the principles like universal health coverage are the same. So, while I don’t intend to implement a one-size-fits-all formula and stress for a tailored approach for each country, there is a lot that these countries can learn from each other depending on their specific challenges. For example, NCDs for India, climate change for Maldives, migration for Japan, etc.

The SEAR, in the coming decades, would be home to the most ageing populations. This is not only going to create a challenge in terms of access to health, again, but also, otherwise. What is your prescription to deal with that?

This is a very important question. Japan and Singapore are good examples to learn from, in this regard.

But firstly, we have to make sure that ageing is recognised and acknowledged as part of our health policymaking. Primary healthcare has to be strengthened for the elderly. Besides physical care, programmes for their [ageing population’s] psychological and emotional care have to be incorporated as part of the programmes for them.

Secondly, to see to it that the elderly age in a healthy manner, especially in a country like India, where the burden of NCDs is already high, we have to provide them an active lifestyle, and opportunities to work, if they are interested, even when they are not a part of workforce as such.

Lastly, I want to ask about a challenge that is somewhat unique to India, which is unbridled to a large extent, the unscientific use of various alternative systems of medicine products. How big a problem is this for you?

Traditional medicine is important but at the same time, it has to be based on very good, proven, and scientifically robust research with good evidence, definitely.

Are the governments doing enough to implement in practice what you just said?

There has to be the right kind of legislation in place, and more importantly, right and constant messaging – that anything [a drug or a supplement] has to be consumed only if it passes the scientific muster. Mass awareness programmes are urgently needed for this, and the youth has to be engaged.

But not everything can be done by the governments. If there is evidence saying something is not good to be consumed and if one is still hell-bent on doing that, then there is a problem. [It’s] a challenge in terms of behavioural science, dealing with which requires a lot of engagement with the community.

Excluding Opposition’s Voice from Parliament a Serious Matter, Says SC on Raghav Chadha’s Suspension

Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said indefinite suspension of an MP from the House undermines the right of people to be represented. 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that excluding an opposition party’s voice from the parliament is a serious matter while hearing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha’s petition challenging his indefinite suspension from the Rajya Sabha.

“Exclusion of members of the Opposition from the House is a very serious matter. He (Chadha) is a representative of a constituency. He is a representative of a viewpoint which may not be consistent with the views of the government. Care must be taken not to exclude such voices from the parliament,” the court said, according to The Hindu.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Mishra on Monday, October 30, said that indefinite suspension of an MP from the House undermines the right of people to be represented. They said the principle of proportionality should be kept in mind in such cases.

Chadha was suspended from the House starting August 11 for an indefinite period until the Privileges Committee, which is probing the matter, submits its report. His suspension came after five Rajya Sabha MPs accused Chadha of mentioning their names without their consent in the motion that sought a select committee to examine the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023. S. Phangnon Konyak, Narhari Amin, and Sudhanshu Trivedi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); M. Thambidurai of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK); and Sasmit Patra of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) levelled the allegation against the AAP MP.

The court said it doubted if Chadha’s conduct amounted to a breach of parliamentary privilege. Speaking for the Bench, the CJI said consent of fellow MPs is necessary at the stage of appointing them to a committee. While acknowledging the charge against Chadha, the CJI wondered if Chadha’s act of not informing fellow MPs whom he included in his proposal for the said committee amounted to a violation of the rules. He also pointed out that MPs are only suspended for the remainder of a particular session in the case of disruptions, wondering whether allegations against Chadha warrant an indefinite suspension.

“Is this worse than the disruption of proceedings? Is this really on a higher level? A person who disrupts the House is excluded for the rest of the session. In this case alleged infraction is that he didn’t verify. Some proportionality is now an invented part of our jurisprudence,” CJI told Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani, who represented the Rajya Sabha chairman and secretariat, according to Livelaw.

The CJI then goes on to say, “That we have lost our sense of humour in public life is a separate thing altogether… What he obviously meant by ‘sending birthday invitation cards’ is that the members could either come or not come… Does that really, really reduce the dignity of the House and cause a breach of privilege?”

Chadha’s counsel, Rakesh Dwivedi, told the court that the member had already tendered his apology and conveyed the same to the Rajya Sabha chairman. Therefore, Dwivedi said, the indefinite suspension is “patently illegal and violative of the law and constitution”.

He also informed the court that there have been 11 instances in the last 75 years where MPs included the names of their fellow MPs who were unwilling to be part of motions. And, he went on to add that those names were merely dropped without slapping a suspension order against the MPs in question.

The court asked whether the Rajya Sabha chairman would accept if Chadha was “ready and willing” to apologise. Venkataramani then said the Rajya Sabha chairperson had suspended Chadha pending the inquiry by the Privileges Committee following a resolution passed by the House itself. The matter will be next heard on November 3.

India’s Bowling Attack, Diverse and Deadly, Is Fuelling World Cup Run

Cricket, unlike many sports in India, has for long remained a preserve of the ruling elites. But that has changed.

‘Extra Cover’ is veteran journalist Pradeep Magazine’s column on the Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.

This piece is as much a celebration of India’s (so far) invincible World Cup cricket team, as it is of its diversity. Never has an Indian team in my living memory or beyond that, been so representative of what India as a nation is. Unity in diversity may sound a trite cliché, especially when we are living in divisive times, but it still best sums up a country which is a melting pot of different religions and castes.

India may be screaming ‘Rohit, Rohit’ and ‘Kohli, Kohli’, but it is the team’s lethal bowling and the variety it has to offer that is leading India’s unstoppable march and makes them easily the most favoured team to win the World Cup.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

The five warriors – a Ramgarhia Sikh, two Muslims, one from an OBC (Other Backward Classes) community and an upper caste person – are sending fear down the spine of the batsmen. They are, through their sheer skill and self-belief, entertaining thousands inside the stadium. The thunderous, cacophonic sounds that create a wave of support for the home team must sound like a death knell to the opposition teams.

In this united flavour of Indian national identities, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldip Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja make an impregnable shield, and, probably, hold a lesson for our nation.

There is something very strange and even intriguing about our nation, where caste and religion are the two most important markers of identity – yet we are shy to acknowledge it publicly. Those who control the levers of power would like us to believe caste does not matter but are proud of their upper caste lineage. Cricket, unlike many sports in India, has for long remained a preserve of the ruling elites. Most cricketers of the past may not have come from rich backgrounds, but were mostly city-bred middle-class Brahmins. Sure, Muslims and a few Sikhs or an odd Christian did break into the Indian team, but by and large, it has always been a struggle to find lower caste representation in the team.

With the 80s’ cricketing revolution, symbolised by India winning the 1983 World Cup and the emergence of the dynamic Kapil Dev, a change started taking place. Kapil himself was from a non-cricketing centre like Chandigarh. When he lifted the World Cup in the Lord’s balcony, Kapil ignited a billion dreams. For young kids in the lanes and bylanes of cities or village maidans it was no longer a fantasy to aspire to play for India.

By the late 90s and finally in the 21st century, boys from small towns were finding a place in the team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni being its best example and his 2011 World Cup winning six, played with imperious nonchalance, remains an image no Indian can forget. This mix of big-city boys and small-town aspirants, backed by an expanding base and infrastructure for the game, has today propelled India to the number one team position in the world.

The diversity we are talking about is obviously spreading and today an Indian cricket team no longer finds itself falling short of the religious/caste social matrix.

I would not be overstating the fact that Jasprit Bumrah is a phenomenal bowler, whose unusual skills and intuitive understanding of his craft make him almost unplayable at times.

Then there is Mohammed Shami, who follows the more conventional path. With the swerving ball, released after great dexterity from his cocked wrists, he creates magic to rattle the stumps.

Mohammad Siraj, the least experienced of the trio but never short of effort and enthusiasm, keeps surprising the batsmen with his pace and movement.

And if these three were not a handful, the batsmen now have to deal with a different challenge.

The foxy, wily, Kuldeep Yadav, aided by steely wrists, spins the ball both ways. His control of the pace, impeccable line and length leave the batsmen bewildered. Should he go forward or back? Will the ball turn away, come in or straighten? He is doomed in this web of confusion and uncertainty.

Ravindra Jadeja is exceptional. He is like a locomotive machine, which requires no greasing and can deliver ball after ball with variations, just minimum enough to fox the batsman. His control over his length, his athleticism and calm in nerve-wracking situations make him simply an indispensable member of the team.

A vital cog in India’s diversity is missing from the team: a Dalit. What does it speak of a nation when a community that constitutes about a fifth of the population has no representation in its most popular sport? If even today, we have to go decades back and cite Palwankar Baloo as an example of a Dalit having played for India, it goes to show that we have failed the community. There is not enough space, access and encouragement to break through a systemic malaise.

Let us for now celebrate the progress that has been made and hope that there is more in the future. As India inches closer towards its goal of winning the World Cup, it is for the Indian fans and the teeming crowds to realise diversity is a strength. It is to be celebrated and not drowned out by divisive slogans.

Pradeep Magazine is a cricket writer and the author of two books, Not Quite Cricket and the recently published Not Just Cricket, A Reporter’s Journey Through Modern India.

J&K PR Department ‘Bans’ Journalist Facing Trial, Then Holds Order in Abeyance

According to legal experts, there is no law or rule that can bar a journalist or any other professional from carrying out their duties if they are booked in a police case and when the case is in the trial stage.

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has withdrawn a restraining order against a Kishtwar-based journalist who was banned for his alleged involvement in a case and was facing trial, officials said.

The Kishtwar District Information Officer (DIO) Kuldeep Kumar, who had issued the ban order on Monday (October 30), issued a fresh order on Tuesday evening saying that the previous one would be kept in abeyance.

Kumar, a Kashmir Administrative Service officer, had on Monday ordered a blanket ban on the journalist, Anshuman Rathore, who works with The Alert, a web-portal registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India.

Citing a police case filed under sections 451 (house trespass) and 506 (criminal intimidation) in 2019 against Rathore at the Kishtwar police station, the DIO stated in his order that “a complete ban” has been imposed on the reporter.

In what seemed to be a case of official overreach, the ban order – a copy of which is with The Wire – said that the reporter, who has not yet been convicted in the case, will not be allowed to perform his professional duties “until such time as he receives exoneration from the Hon’ble court of law”.

In an order on October 27, 2023, the DIO of the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, the official PR wing of J&K’s administration, had asked The Alert to submit the reporters’ “character certificate” in three days.

The news organisation approached the J&K police for information on the reporter. According to a note signed by Kishtwar’s superintendent of police, the reporter was “found involved in the case FIR No. 256/2019 u/s 451/506 IPC (Indian Penal Code).”

“The challan of the case was produced in the Hon’ble court of law vide challan No 233/2019 Dated: 09-11-2020. However, the instant case is still under trial/subjudice before the Hon’ble court of law and is not convicted so far,” the note dated October 19, 2023, states.

Also Read | NewsClick: Lessons from the Kashmir Template

Earlier, an order issued by the Kishtwar district administration on August 28, 2023 had banned Azhar Ali Butt, a resident of Kijai in Kishtwar’s Padder tehsil, from working as a reporter, terming him a threat to “public peace and tranquility”.

Butt, who worked as a freelance reporter with local news outlets, was booked by the J&K police in a case filed for kidnapping and criminal conspiracy at the Kishtwar police station.

Citing the “serious adverse report” of the J&K police, the DC had issued a show-cause notice to Butt, asking “why he may not be banned from any media reporting in the district”.

Later, Butt’s reply to the notice was found “unsatisfactory, evasive and totally incomplete” by the administration.

Without naming Butt, the official order said that “some media persons” working in the district were “indulging… in peddling fake news and maligning the image of government as well as creating hindrance in the smooth run of government works.”

A senior district administration official said that Butt has been “designated as an overground worker” of militants by the J&K police. Invoking section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the DC had ordered Kishtwar’s senior superintendent of police to implement the ban on Butt for two months “in letter and spirit”.

“If the said tainted media person is allowed to operate unchecked, it may be detrimental to public peace and tranquility and this also vitiates the peaceful atmosphere in the district [sic]. Any deviation of this order shall invite punitive action under rules read with Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code against the violator,” the DC said in the order.

The ban on the journalist of The Alert, which has more than 87,000 followers on Facebook, has caused a fresh stir among local journalists in Kishtwar, who are questioning the administration’s alleged arbitrary use of rules and laws against members of their fraternity.

An official survey puts the number of registered journalists in Kishtwar at 47. According to sources, several journalists working in the hilly district, which falls in the Jammu division, have criminal cases filed against them.

However, barring Rathore and Butt, none of them have been stopped from carrying out their professional duties.

According to legal experts, there is no law or rule that can bar a journalist or any other professional from carrying out their duties if they are booked in a police case and when the case is in the trial stage.

Interestingly, the cases against Rathore and Butt too are also undergoing trial.

“The media owners should check the background of people before hiring them as reporters and photojournalists,” said Imran Shah, a senior journalist in Kishwar who freelances with local and national media organisations.

“The proliferation of social media journalists, who don’t have any professional degrees, has brought a bad name to journalism. It is also the duty of the administration to recognise only those journalists who come from [a] journalism background,” he added.

Since the reading down of Article 370 in August 2019, press freedom has suffered a blow in Jammu and Kashmir, with at least five journalists incarcerated in the Union Territory on terrorism and other charges. Several independent organisations that support press freedom across the globe have called upon the government of India to release these journalists unconditionally.

Free speech activists allege that press freedom has deteriorated over these years and the region has become a difficult place for journalists. Several journalists have been detained by security agencies in connection with their work while some Kashmiri journalists have been prevented from leaving the country.

Note: This article was first published before the order banning Anshuman Rathore was withdrawn. The headline and text were updated subsequently.

What Hindutva Politics and the Belief in ‘Evil Eye’ Have in Common

Many angles have been investigated to explain the BJP’s electoral success in the past decade. One aspect that has not been examined is the crucial role that the daily culture of the masses plays in helping certain political ideologies thrive.

The BJP-led NDA and the opposition bloc of INDIA are gearing up for general elections in 2024. One of the important factors both alliances will emphasise is economic growth. Even though NDA-I was considered by many to be a failure on the economic front, NDA-II won with an even greater majority, raising questions about whether the government’s economic performance is still relevant for voting choices.

However, as the BJP continues to win elections in many parts of the country despite economic mishaps, one must concede that there is more than meets the eye. Several arguments have been presented by scholars to decipher religious, caste and cultural angles that the BJP has used to garner votes – along with help from the “Godi Media” and a dedicated IT team, blended with the model of crony capitalism. 

But there is one aspect that has been ignored: the day-to-day culture of the masses that enables political ideologies such as the Sangh parivar to thrive and reap benefits. In India, this culture includes a strong belief in hierarchy, inequality, gender difference, notions of purity and pollution, stereotypes about ‘others’ and unscientific beliefs such as the evil eye and black magic. They are a normalised part of culture, which allows the continuation of these belief systems and practices. 

Speaking the political language of the masses

When the Congress party protested against the rising inflation and unemployment in India by wearing black clothes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi rebuked them by saying that people would not fall for this ‘black magic‘. This is not merely an analogy but a deliberate attempt to tap into the deep-rooted social beliefs of the masses.

The National Crime Records Bureau’s annual Crimes in India reports showed that between 2014-2021, 819 murders were committed where the victims were accused of witchcraft. These are only reported cases, so the actual number may be higher. Most often, the victims of this violence are women and people from marginalised communities.

The trio of jealousy, evil eye and black magic has to be understood in tandem to make sense of this particular aspect of the belief system. Jealousy is mild and common and often individualistic or personal. It is accepted that people are generally jealous of each other. However, women are stereotyped as being more jealous than men. It is a common belief that one’s own relatives and neighbours will be jealous if one does well.

Extreme jealousy leads to the belief in an evil eye, which is considered at times involuntary and at other times a deliberate act. The evil eye can also cause disturbances to others and is considered dangerous. The ultimate stage of jealousy is black magic, a voluntary action intending to cause damage to others. Apart from jealousy and black magic, the evil eye is so common in our practices it looks like we can’t escape from this belief system and determines our daily actions. 

Evil eye

Evil eye, called Drishti or Nara Drishti, is a belief that someone else’s jealousy-induced gaze or bad intentions could bring misfortune. If one is at the receiving end of the evil eye, a person (mostly children) may get a stomach ache or indigestion; a newly married couple may quarrel; and the beautiful bride may get a headache. People in a beautiful house might face problems. A business may not prosper. A for-hire vehicle might not find business.

Interestingly, this belief is found across all the religions and regions of Indian society; and the poorer the region, the stronger the belief seems to be. 

Naturally, there are countermeasures to tackle the impact of the evil eye or wade off the evil eye. 

  • Babies are smeared with kohl (katuka in Telugu, mai in Tamil and kajal in Hindi) on their cheeks, eyes, forehead, palms and feet. An armlet made of black beads is also tied.  
  • A portrait with a black face, horns, and a big moustache with its tongue out is placed in front of new and old houses. A large pumpkin, with the same face painted on it, is tied in front of a house. A white stone or a conch shell wrapped in a black thread may also be used.
  • A newly married couple or children who are doing well in life are welcomed into the house by making them go through the ritual of wading off the evil eye with the help of red liquid (aalam in Tamil). 
  • The places of businesses make it a habit to wade off the evil eye, especially on the day of no moon, with the help of coconuts, lemons or pumpkins. 
  • On the backs of vehicles, phrases like ‘Bura nazar wala tera mu kala’ (Blacken the face of those with an evil eye) or ‘Nannu choosi edavaku ra’ (Do not look at me and weep it) or ‘Nee edupe na edugudhala’ (The more you cry, the more I will prosper). Or a lemon with a few green mirchis is tied to the bonnet. 
  • Rituals with rock salt, eggs, red mirchi, an old broomstick and burning an old oil-dipped cloth are also conducted.

Various charms that are supposed to ward off the evil eye. Photo: thaths/Flickr CC BY NC 2.0

Social implications

Scholars of structural functionalism in anthropology believe that every cultural trait and institution has some significance within a community. Otherwise, they either wither away or transform into another cultural aspect. Similarly, the concept of the evil eye also has social implications. 

One could argue that the concept of evil eye can have some positive effects, like keeping a check on people who like to show off their wealth and success. From childhood, we are trained not to boast about anything but to be humble – to not attract any evil eyes. That is why we never say, “We are doing extremely well” in our life. Rather, we say ‘Aap ki dua’ (Your blessings) or ‘Chal raha hain‘ (It is going alright). Never be arrogant, show public affection, and never boast about your wealth, beauty, health or success. However, these beliefs are prevalent only among the poor and middle class. The neo-rich, fuelled by neoliberalism, do not hesitate to flaunt their wealth and privilege.

However, there are also downsides to this belief.  

  1. Sowing animosity: It develops distrust and animosity against one’s neighbours and relatives. Often, a woman in the neighbourhood is believed to have the power to place an evil eye on others. 
  2. Against scientific temper: Belief in the evil eye is contrary to the scientific temper that independent India’s founding leaders aspired to inculcate in the masses. Unfortunately, the normalisation of the belief and widespread practices to wade off the evil eye may see the continuation of the practice for many generations.   
  3. Escaping responsibility: We are culturally trained to dodge responsibility of our life events and instead base them on various cosmic (planets, stars and time) and non-cosmic (cats, sneezing, evil eye and omens) entities. 
  4. Good for religious business: The widespread belief in the evil eye acts helps the thriving business of modern-day godmen and babas, who suggest parihar poojas and remedies to protect oneself. 

The widespread belief in the evil eye resonates with the binaries that are socialised in culture. Though many Hindu religious scholars argue that Hinduism is beyond the binaries, we tend to inherently categorise our worldview in binaries. There is good and bad within all of us; similarly, there are good and bad people around us. Deities can protect us but also harm us when angered. Tapping into the sentiments of binaries, the prime minister portrayed himself as a saviour of the masses from the “black magic” of the Congress. 

It is interesting to note that the BJP and its politics share similarities with the downsides of the evil eye mentioned above. The party too seeks votes by sowing animosity between various groups. It has created and sustains a discourse against those who are rational, critical and believers in science. The BJP has not once owned the responsibility for its mishandling of state affairs and believes it is always right and others are wrong. Its politics has a symbiotic relationship with religion, which it immensely benefits from. 

Most importantly, both the belief in the evil eye and the BJP’s conception of an ‘enemy’ that could cause harm stem deeply from belief and manifest into their construct. All those who believe in the evil eye and the BJP consider the enemy real and act accordingly. Funnily enough, those who believe in the evil eye and BJP, do not consider themselves as the source of bad things but strongly believe that ‘others’ are placing the evil eye or harming the country. 

Riding the wave

Historically, the world and Indian politics have witnessed two kinds of leaders. The first rides the wave by speaking the political language that caters to the satisfaction of the primordial sentiments and beliefs of the masses. The second tells the masses that they were wrong (if they were) and intends to bring change in society. 

Hitler found it easy to kindle and sustain hatred by fueling stereotypes against Jews, rose to power and oversaw the Holocaust. On the contrary, we have Nelson Mandela, who, after becoming the president of post-apartheid South Africa, requested all his countrymen to work together to make their country a rainbow nation. 

In India, we have the example of Gandhi, who spoke against the practice of untouchability (but not against the caste system) and preached religious harmony when two communities were baying for each other’s blood. Tagore went toured Japan and the US, where he said their conception of ‘nationalism’ at the time of World War II was wrong. 

The BJP seems to have made the easy choice of riding the wave. It will do so until the tides are in its favour. 

Sipoy Sarveswar teaches anthropology at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. He tweets at @SSarveswar.