Feet washing as a comedy
Prime minister Modi is doing exactly the same work that people when they sleep through their tenure and do not implement a single pro-people welfare programmes and spend time making massive speeches while forgetting his constitutional responsibility, and busy filling the coffers of rich friends. Making people forget the real problem and turn them into caste, community and other smaller stuff is the real character of communal politicians. Apart from doing this, Modi is also playing a new role of washing the feet of Pourakarmikas.
Modi had defended the work of manual scavengers by saying getting into the manhole must be a spiritual experience for the Pourakarmikas, and had even provided indirect approval to scavenging and Pourakarmikas carrying human excreta on their heads. Now all of a sudden on Sunday, he has met some of them at Prayagraj and washed their feet in the presence of cameras, praised them to heavens. The people are laughing at this, stating this is a comedy show made as part of the Lok Sabha preparations.
When people give an opportunity to provide better administration, such shows and gimmicks turn necessary when one whiles away time and the golden opportunity given by the people. If a politician serves people in real sense, such shows won’t be necessary when the elections draw close. Politicians who actually do some work, do not hesitate to face the people of their constituency. The best example for this is our former CM Siddaramaiah. He made schemes and plans to fill the stomachs of the poor through Anna Bhagya and others. This scheme satiated the hunger of poorest of the poor in many cities. Indira canteen has provided food at highly economical rates to poor immigrant labourers, poor students, auto drivers etc. Hence he didn’t have to wash the feet of someone owing to this confidence. A politician who does not do any work and spends time managing gimmicks is the one who needs such optics when elections draw close.
Without contributing to changing their lifestyle, or providing them with any incentives or increased salaries, just washing their feet is just an election time optics and nothing else. This is much like cheating people. Having danced to the tunes of extra constitutional bodies sitting in Nagpur, and like the string puppet of Ambani, Adani etc, Modi has suddenly remembered Pourakarmikas during the fag end of his term.
In the last four and half years, he could not fulfil any promise he had issued to the people of this country. No black money was recovered from abroad and never landed in anybody’s bank account. The promise of creating 2cr jobs wasn’t fulfilled. Forget fulfilling the manifesto promises, he didn’t allow anybody to live in peace. This party has encouraged lynching in the name of cow safety. Poor went through hell during demonetisation. GST left the traders on the edge. Thinkers and writers who spoke against this have been sent to jail in the name of ‘urban naxals’. Killers of Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgo, Gauri Lankesh and others have not been penalised yet.
If the PM Modi is really interested in the lives of Pourakarmikas, he should stop making a comedy out of all this and strive to improve their life conditions. Every five days since the last year-and-half, we are losing a sanitation worker to his trip down the manhole. The family of the dead aren’t even receiving compensation for their loss. The family members lost about what needs doing next. This act of washing feet won’t give them life. If you have any self-respect, Modi should offer martyr status to those who died getting down the manholes, and accord the status much better. If a dead Paurakarmika should be covered with national flag and the family should be rehabilitated.
This act of washing feet may not even last longer with polls fast approaching. Go to people with the list of your achievements. If you have failed, seek their excuse. Stop such dramas. This is democracy and citizens are the last word here. People choose their leaders and reprsentatives every once in five years. They are the supreme power. Those who are elected need to work according to the objectives of the constitution. They would have sworn to this. Have you acted accordingly Modiji? Question yourself. You have compromised upon RBI, CBI and UGC which were perfectly autonomous institutions till now. You tried arm twisting the high court. Your ministers speak about changing the constitution. Should one elect you who has kicked the very ladder he has climbed on, and does he have any moral right to oppose this?
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UK Professor Nitasha Kaul's Overseas Citizenship of India cancelled
Academician decries move as "transnational repression"
London/New Delhi: Professor Nitasha Kaul, a London-based academic, announced on May 18, 2025, via a social media post that her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card has been cancelled by the Indian government. She described the move as a "bad faith, vindictive, cruel example of transnational repression" intended to punish her for her scholarly work critical of the Modi government's policies concerning minorities and democracy.
The cancellation follows an incident in February 2024 when Professor Kaul, who holds a British passport and held an OCI card, was denied entry into India upon arrival at Bengaluru airport. She had been invited by the then Congress-led Karnataka state government to speak at a conference on "The Constitution and Unity in India."
According to an image of the letter shared by Professor Kaul, the Indian government stated that it had been "brought to the notice of the Government of India that you have been found indulging in anti-India activities, motivated by malice and complete disregard for facts or history." The letter further accused her of regularly targeting India and its institutions on matters of India's sovereignty through "numerous inimical writings, speeches and journalistic activities at various international forums and on social media platforms."
Professor Kaul, who is a Professor of Politics, International Relations, and Critical Interdisciplinary Studies and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at the University of Westminster, London, vehemently rejects these accusations. She stated she had provided a 20,000-word response to what she termed the government's "ridiculous inanity about ‘anti-India’," but the OCI was cancelled through a "rigged process."
In her social media posts, Professor Kaul lamented the decision, questioning how the "mother of democracy" could deny her access to her mother in India. She characterized the action as stemming from "thin-skinned, petty insecurity with no respect for well-intentioned dissent."
The February 2024 denial of entry had already sparked controversy. At the time, immigration officials reportedly cited "orders from Delhi" without providing formal reasons, though Professor Kaul mentioned informal references to her past criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Ministry of External Affairs had then responded by stating that the entry of foreign nationals into India is a "sovereign decision." Unofficial government sources had indicated that a "preventive lookout circular" was issued against her due to her alleged "pro-separatist" and "anti-India" stance on Kashmir.
The BJP in Karnataka had criticised the state government for inviting her, labelling her an "anti-India element." Conversely, the then-Karnataka government and various international human rights organizations and academic bodies had condemned the denial of entry.
Professor Kaul has been an outspoken commentator on Indian politics, including the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and has testified before international bodies such as the US Congress on human rights in the region. She maintains her work is academic and pro-democracy, not anti-India.
The cancellation of her OCI card effectively bars her from entering India, a country to which she has personal and academic ties. This incident adds to a growing list of academics, journalists, and activists of Indian origin whose OCI status has been revoked or who have been denied entry to India in recent years, raising concerns about freedom of speech and dissent. Reports indicate that over 100 OCI cards were cancelled by the Indian government between 2014 and May 2023. Furthermore, in 2021, new rules were introduced requiring OCI cardholders to obtain special permission for activities such as research and journalism.
