This week on NL #Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Raman Kirpal are joined by Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of the Caravan magazine.

The discussion starts off with the farmers’ #TractorRally on Republic Day. Hartosh says, “I was not surprised that the route was broken on the morning of the rally. Anybody who was following the protests with a degree of closeness knew this was going to happen.”

Manisha says: “You have a situation where there are a bunch of young people, you see everyday how you’re being vilified by television media, you see that the government is not listening to you and you want to be heard. A pressure cooker kind of a situation is created, which is bound to burst.”

Mehraj says that part of the responsibility does lie with the farmer leaders because they built up expectations. “But what we shouldn’t lose sight of is that the primary responsibility for this lies with the government," he says. "This protest didn’t start on the 26th.”

Moving on to threats received by journalist Neha Dixit and bail being denied to comedian #MunawarFaruqui, Abhinandan says: “The whole fear psychosis has worked. Many people who could speak up have decided not to.”

Tune in to the full podcast: https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/01/30/hafta-313-republic-day-tractor-rally-rajdeep-sardesai-taken-off-air-and-munawar-faruquis-bail

To continue listening to your favorite Hafta, subscribe to Newslaundry: https://www.newslaundry.com/subscription?ref=hafta

NL Hafta is BEHIND THE PAYWALL. Here's all you need to know: https://youtu.be/xqgvvWnFTdw

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