WHEN THE YOUTH say that they hate politics or will have nothing to do with politics, I feel sad for them. As a child, I was forever teased by my family for plonking myself in the living room whenever politicians came to visit my father. Somehow, even at a young age I felt attracted to what these men had to say. Each one had a unique view of society, and that worldview shaped the lives of millions of citizens. Hence my grief when some youth refuse to engage with the political landscape.
Bertolt Brecht, the German theatre practitioner, playwright and poet said it best: “The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of beans, of fish, of flour, of the rent, of shoes and of medicine, all depends on political decisions.”
For this issue of your favourite newsweekly, Resident Editor R. Prasannan, Deputy Chief of Bureau Namrata Biji Ahuja and Senior Special Correspondent Pratul Sharma interviewed Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the three new laws brought in to replace the British-era criminal laws. The conversation went further though, about the internal security situation, and of course, the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. I was most interested in what the minister had to say about the laws, because, as I said above, they would impact every citizen in India, in varying degrees.
Shah is known for not pulling punches while speaking to the media and the same comes through in this interview. He explains clearly what prompted the need to change the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Penal Code. On your behalf, dear reader, I would like to thank the home minister for speaking exclusively to THE WEEK on the laws and other matters.
This issue is a bouquet, as usual. One article that will tug at your heartstrings is the one on neurodivergent children getting a second chance. When Correspondent Nirmal Jovial filed the article, I had to look up the word again to confirm that neurodivergent does not mean autistic alone. The article is about how Inclusys Org Foundation, a non-profit organisation, has been training neurodivergent youth in skills needed in the IT sector.
Another interesting article is set against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine-Russia conflicts. Special Correspondent Anjuly Mathai writes about the war writers she met at the Jaipur Literature Festival. American journalist Charles Glass told her that one’s senses are sharpened when one is in captivity. He was kidnapped by the Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1987. “[In captivity] your impotence is complete,” he says. “Except over your thoughts.”
Roger Cohen, Paris bureau chief of The New York Times, sketched compelling images when he said that, at the height of the conflict there, the children in Beirut could not sleep when there was no shelling. “Silence was terrifying to them,” he says. And, after 9/11, he saw many flyers about missing people. One stood out. It was an ultrasound image put up by a woman, with one line under it: “Looking for the father of this baby.”
Beyond the clamour of war, what moved me were the intangibles. The heightened senses. The feeling of impotence. The terrifying silence. And, the man missing from that family photo.