"If China does not pull back, this will be the largest loss of Indian territory since 1962"
100 reasons why Sambit Patra should remember the name of Mohammad Zaid Hasan
1 by 9: Lingo leela
Five days after 20 Indian soldiers were killed by the Chinese in Ladakh on June 15, Narendra Modi stunned an all-party meeting by claiming, “no one has intruded on Indian soil, nor is any one sitting on Indian soil”.
Newspapers called the PM’s statement “Ambiguous. Beseiged. Confusing. Disappointing. Dismaying. Evasive. Frightening. Unpardonable. Unsatisfactory.”
When India announced “mutual disengagement” on July 7, newspapers were again nearly unanimous in calling the BJP-led government’s bluff.
To a man, most suggested “India has ceded territory to China” under Modi.
Now, a month after the killing—and two-and-a-half months after China entered Indian territory—defence minister Rajnath Singh continues to parrot the fiction that “not one inch of our land can be taken by any power in the world”.
Once again, Modi and his ministers and their minions cannot name China.
Once again, naked Chinese aggression is painted as a “border dispute”.
The strategic affairs analyst Brahma Chellaney says China is 18 km inside India and is playing hardball.
In a devastating interview, the defence journalist Ajai Shukla (below) says “if China doesn’t pull, this will be the single biggest loss of territory since the 1962 war”.
Also read: The two veterans who unmasked the Chinese incursions
2 by 9: Parts unknown
Here’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside the enigma that is India: which part of the country is not on your TV screen no matter what?
The seven step-sisters of the Northeast.
There is a massive flood in Assam but it’s barely on the media radar. Just like the massive fire preceding it.
BTS fans have raised funds.
Arsenal has joined hands.
Mumbai Indians, owned by Mukesh Ambani, have chipped in with a tweet.
But between Sachin Pilot’s revolt and Vikas Dubey’s killing, between Amitabh Bachchan’s affliction and fill-in-the-blank-here, the media has its distractions full.
3 by 9: Beg, buy or steal
Mukesh Ambani’s dramatic claim that Reliance has designed and developed a complete 5G solution from scratch, has warmed the cockles of many a Make-in-India patriot seething at China’s betrayal in Ladakh.
But the underlying assertion that the company will be ready for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available and ready for field deployment next year, has met with incredulity given that these things take time.
The French news agency AFP has an info graph of 5G patents (above). To no one’s surprise, Huawei has the most number of declared patents. India none. So where will Reliance pull out its rabbit from, unless it buys it or borrows it?
Then again, there’s also the reverse-engineering route preferred by Jio Meet.
On J-POD, the journalism podcast, the journalist and author Paranjoy Guha Thakurta discusses the implications of the Google and Facebook investments in Jio.
He says the Silicon Valley giants have tied up with RIL because, among other things, it will “open doors and shut rivals”.
Shivam Shankar Singh, the former BJP data analyst who authored How to win an election, has a fine thread of what the future looks like.
4 by 9: Remember the name
Pushing the stereotype that Urdu is the language of Muslims, Sambit Patra, the BJP doctor who couldn’t say COVID stands for, tweeted a picture showing the name of Dehradun written in Sanskrit – “Dehradunam” – replacing Urdu.
Fahad Ahmad has news for his ilk.
5 by 9: Swalpa don’t adjust maadi
Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s triumphalist visit to Bangalore’s iconic restaurant MTR for thindi on June 13 was clearly a tad premature.
A month on, the city is under lockdown once again, and a picture from the city corporation’s “war room” today shows COVID literally painting the town red.
To add to the irony and the agony, MTR’s packaged food unit too has been shut.
So, what can Bangaloreans do if idiots still do not wear a mask in such circumstances? Here’s some visual support.
6 by 9: Two-paced attack
Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid are two of the most unlikely cricketers to have met on a field. One with a song on his lips and the other all tense and studious. But both champions in their own ways against good “bowling”.
Like under.
7 by 9: Chinese checkers
Somebody has taken off the ‘C’ from China Bazaar somewhere. Mainland China is now Mainland Asia. What will desh bhakts do about “bone china”, which is made in Britain?
8 by 9: Bangtan boys
Since it’s Friday, it’s time for some K-pop, kyunki sauce bhi kabhi tamatar thi.
And, finally
PatanJali is an old PJ.
Today I learned
270 million—27 crore—Indians were lifted out of poverty between 2005-2015, according to Oxford Poverty and Human Development initiative.
And the number of Congress MLAs who have left the party and joined the BJP in seven states is 118.
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