Decoding internet culture in India with Anurag Minus Verma

Usually, manifestos exist on the sidelines of Indian politics – they are barely even read. But for this election, the Congress manifesto is creating waves for its programme of social and economic equity. Prime Minister Modi has accused the Congress of wanting to "redistribute" the wealth of Hindus to Muslim – a point that fact checkers have said is false. The Congress has also been criticised by many for being too aggressively "socialist" and attacking private property. To explain and unpack what the Congress says about equity and redistribution, for Scroll Ideas, Shoaib Daniyal talks to Praveen Chakravarty, a key member of the party's manifesto committee. Host: Shoaib DaniyalProducer: Rahat Touhid

Tales of love jihad, Muslim appeasement, population growth and forced conversions are made up – yet are incredibly popular throughout India. Social media, journalists and even the prime minister have spread them.In their new book "Love Jihad and Other Fictions", authors Sreenivasan Jain, Mariyam Alavi and Supriya Sharma apply the rules of journalism to bust some of the most damaging falsehoods.On Scroll Ideas, Shoaib Daniyal speaks to Jain and Alavi to unpack the danger this poses to Indian democracy.Producer: Karnika Kohli and Avinash KumarHost: Shoaib Daniyal

On this episode of Scroll Ideas, we discuss the vulnerabilities of the election process in India with Kannan Gopinathan. Kannan Gopinathan was a member of the IAS between 2012 and 2019 and is now an activist. He has earlier studied and worked as an electronics engineer with a background in Very Large-Scale Integration design of integrated circuits. Further reading: https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/...https://www.thehinducentre.com/the-ar... Host: Shoaib Daniyal Producer: Karnika Kohli

Anurag is a writer, filmmaker, satirist and the host of the Anurag Minus Verma Podcast. As a content creator, Anurag has a ringside view of the internet in India. He has also written and thought deeply about what this medium means for Indian culture and politics. And he shares all of that on this episode of Scroll Ideas. Host: Shoaib Daniyal

With 200 million Muslims, India has the third largest population of Muslims of any country on the planet. For nearly a millennium now, Muslims have been a part of India’s mainstream, contributing to its art, culture, politics and economy. However, of late, many Muslims feel a sense of alienation – even of siege – as a new majoritarianism grips India. In this new book, “Being Muslim in Hindu India”, veteran journalist and commentator, Ziya Us Salam details instances of Muslim marginalisation in India. Scroll Ideas speaks to Salam, currently an Associate Editor with the Hindu in Delhi, to understand how things got to such a stage and what young Muslims should do to navigate the current circumstances. Host: Shoaib DaniyalProducer: Avinash Kumar

This week on Scroll Ideas we have with us Ruchi Gupta. Ruchi is a former joint secretary of the Congress and national in-charge of its student wing. She is also a columnist and a deep thinker on the nuts and bolts of Indian politics. In this 70-minute episode we discuss why politics is so important for any country, why liberals have failed to make a mass impact and what ails the Congress. In case you want to read more of her, her substack: https://rgupta.substack.com/ Host: Shoaib Daniyal Producer: Avinash Kumar

Hindutva is India's most powerful and popular political ideology. Yet, there seems to be little study of how it works on the ground. Kunal Purohit's new book "H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars" fills that gap by looking at the popular culture of Hindu nationalism. We talk to Kunal to explore his research and understand how Hindutva became as widespread as it did. This is a special episode of "Scroll Ideas" recorded in The Bookshop in Delhi in front of a live audience. Host: Shoaib Daniyal Producer: Karnika Kohli Assistant Producer: Avinash Kumar

Forty one days into Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip has seen the Israeli Defence Forces inflict immense damage on Palestinian civilians. The death toll now stands at 14,000, meaning a staggering 1 out of 200 people in Gaza are now dead.For Scroll Ideas, Shoaib Daniyal spoke to the Palestinian ambassador to India, Adnan Abu Alhaijaa, at the Palestinian Embassy in Delhi to understand the scale of the destruction as well as the part he wanted India to play.The ambassador highlighted India’s historic role as a friend of Palestine. He also urged the Indian government to be a mediator between Israel and Palestine and put pressure on the Israeli government to declare a ceasefire. Host: Shoaib Daniyal Producer: Avinash Kumar

On this episode of Scroll Ideas, we are joined by journalist and author, Sugata Srinivasaraju, to discuss his latest book "Strange Burdens, The Politics and Predicaments of Rahul Gandhi". We unpack the persona and politics of Rahul Gandhi and ask: can the Congress leader take on Modi? Host: Shoaib Daniyal Producer: Karnika Kohli

It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that India's Supreme Court is in crisis. Immense backlogs plague the apex court, approaching it is too expensive for most Indians, judge appointments are shrouded in controversy and even something as simple as which judge hears which cases has been the subject of intense and often ugly debate. While anecdotal fixes to the problem are almost as numerous as the problems, for maybe the first time, a new book "Court on Trial" by Aparna Chandra, Sital Kalantry and William Hubbard trawls through large amounts of data to present policy solutions to the court's issues. On this episode of Scroll Ideas, Aparna and Willian join us to discuss their book. Host: Shoaib Daniyal Producer: Karnika Kohli