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Ajaz Ashraf

Ajaz Ashraf

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Points judges don’t get about EVM

Concerns about opacity, discrepancies in polling data that tend to go unexplained and vulnerability of machines to manipulation give us reason to be...

monday 30

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Why our democracy is a charade

Only the wealthy can dream of contesting elections, an exercise that can be viewed as a means to control the masses and legitimise State policies...

15.04.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

The old man and democratic reforms

Jagdeep Singh Chhokar, 80, has been working tirelessly for 25 years to make Indian politics transparent. His patience bore fruit recently with the...

08.04.2024 20

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Imagining Modi out of power

Such a scenario, unlikely as it would seem, would pose an existential threat to the PM. To avoid any such surprises, he is producing nightmares for...

01.04.2024 30

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Electoral bond betrays BJP’s Ram Rajya

Data disclosure reinforces suspicion that State coercion fuelled donations from businesses in what is arguably the biggest scam in the history of...

18.03.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

No community like the Sikhs

The roots of the farmer movement lie in the Sikh cultural tradition, where acting politically and justly, even in the face of certain death, is an...

12.03.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Is there a jinni in the EVM?

The answer: No. But the deep suspicion about electronic voting can be quelled by only allowing voters to personally drop VVPAT slips into a box and...

04.03.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Time for caste quota in private sector

Public sector is shrinking rapidly, and the upper-caste leadership of companies that aren’t State-controlled is disinclined to voluntarily undertake...

26.02.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Revolution in Sakina’s Kiss

Subtle and profound, author Vivek Shanbhag’s book explores, through fiction, the meaning that the idea of revolution holds for those whose faith in...

19.02.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Emperor complex in Modi era

By seeking to heap humiliation on a community for political ends and ruthlessly clamping down on regional powers, the BJP seems to be modelling itself...

12.02.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Nitish Kumar: Potato of politics

Like the root vegetable, Bihar’s CM—who hasn’t been able to expand his base to come to power on his own—mixes well with any dish but is far...

05.02.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

After Ayodhya, battle for AMU

The BJP is seeking to usher in yet another moment of Hindutva triumphalism by arguing in the Supreme Court against the varsity’s minority status, in...

30.01.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Roop Rekha Verma on our abnormality

Feisty octogenarian fighter of unpopular causes explains how the rising tide of violence is a consequence of callousness on the part of a populace...

15.01.2024 20

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Sorrow’s shadow on Ram Temple gaiety

Amid celebrations of a grave injustice, many will be reminded of nights spent in terror and haunted by the knowledge that Ayodhya won’t be the last...

08.01.2024 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Wish for 2024: Freedom without fear

There is a sense that the judiciary will not intercede on behalf of those arrayed against the powers that be; liberty can be truly secured only if a...

01.01.2024 30

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Pardon sprayers of gas in Lok Sabha

Intent matters, Bhagat Singh and B K Dutt told the court that tried them for dropping bombs in Central Assembly... This principle applies to also...

25.12.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Are SC judges false gods?

This question is being asked by those whose faith in judiciary has been shaken by judgment on Article 370 and complaints regarding politically...

18.12.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Can EVM kill our democracy?

One sure way of addressing the disquiet over the EVM is to count VVPAT slips in each constituency until the winner can be announced with high...

11.12.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

2024: Defeatism will dog Opposition

Sunday’s results show that the electorate does not really worry about BJP ordering raids on political rivals or jailing civil rights activists;...

05.12.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

What Shami means under Hindutva

The BJP may want to appropriate the top World Cup peformer in the hope of giving itself a facelift, but Muslims will not b forgiving of the party that...

27.11.2023 20

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Amit Shah and a newspaper

The top BJP leader unfailingly predicting a win for the party before every assembly poll is par for the course; what’s baffling, however, is a top...

20.11.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

BJP’s doublespeak on caste

At a rally in MP, the PM hailed his government for appointing the first Dalit chief information commissioner. Yet, days before, the BJP gave a poll...

13.11.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Mahua Moitra and the system’s men

Amid talk of nari shakti, the powers that be are seeking to silence, discredit and malign the outspoken Trinamool Congress for daring to raise the...

06.11.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Mystery of India’s first Birdwoman

Jamal Ara was a fascinating personality beset by tragedy: she overcame her lack of education to publish scientific papers on birds in top journals,...

30.10.2023 30

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

From Bhima Koregaon to NewsClick

From arrests based on complaints citing ‘secret inputs’ to the seizure of electronic devices without securing them, both cases reveal the malice...

23.10.2023 9

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

A guide for TV anchors on Palestine

Our news presenters, who insist on labelling Palestinian fighters as terrorists, must study history and nuance their coverage of the West Asian...

16.10.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Deja vu: National Struggle 2.0

Targeting of news platform calls to mind fake cases filed by British against those engaged in the first battle to give tongue to India’s soul ...

09.10.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

The alliance against BJP’s hegemony

Congress’s vociferous demand for a caste Census ideologically aligns the party with OBC groups and enhances I.N.D.I.A’s capacity to take on the...

02.10.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

The Brahmin face of Social Justice

It was an experience involving a Dalit classmate that led RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha to transcend his caste identity and champion the cause of...

25.09.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Role of viewers in SRK’s subversion

The audience sees in Jawan a critique of the PM, in contrast to BJP supporters and the apolitical, who view it as just a thriller Shah Rukh Khan in...

18.09.2023 10

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

Do Dalit lives matter less than Muslims’?

We have been conditioned into accepting the violence against the Scheduled Castes as inevitable. This method of rationalisation is now slowly being...

11.09.2023 6

Midday

Ajaz Ashraf

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