Saam Daam Dand Bhed

Host: Saurabh Dwivedi Guests: Sheela Bhatt, P. Vaidyanathan Iyer, Vikas Pathak, Manoj C.G., Asad Rehman The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the youth collective that has brought students onto the streets over exam paper leaks, has called a protest for 10 October. The Congress is becoming more active on the streets, Rahul Gandhi is alleging "vote chori", or vote theft, and his sudden decision to join the CJP protest has some INDIA bloc leaders speaking openly. In this episode, Saurabh Dwivedi and the panel discuss why the Congress is turning to street politics now, how Rahul Gandhi's vote theft allegations should be understood, why some INDIA bloc leaders have spoken out about his decision to join the protest, and the political planning and strategy behind the protest. The second big story of the week: Narendra Modi's 25 years in public office. The panel looks back at his years as Chief Minister of Gujarat and the major political challenges he faced in that period, his journey from Chief Minister to Prime Minister, and the work and decisions of the Modi government. The discussion covers his economic policy and his major decisions on defense and finance, with a detailed and open conversation on his politics, governance and policy choices.

Host: Saurabh Dwivedi Guests: Prasenjit Bose, Pushkar Mishra, Shyamlal Yadav, Vikas Pathak, Manoj C. G., Lalmani Verma Student politics is back in the headlines, on campuses and on the streets. The ABVP and the SFI clashed at Jadavpur University in August and at Himachal Pradesh University in September, and on 25 September a planned screening of a documentary on Umar Khalid sparked a clash at Pondicherry University. On many campuses, student union elections have been stalled for years. Meanwhile, the Cockroach Janta Party, a satirical youth collective launched online in May, has brought tens of thousands of students onto the streets over exam paper leaks, outside traditional party structures. In this episode, Saurabh Dwivedi brings together a former SFI member, a former ABVP member and senior Indian Express journalists. They trace how student politics in India has evolved and discuss why state chief ministers do not want student unions, how the 1990s changed campus politics, why student unions have not made a comeback in the BJP era, the time the ABVP decided it would never contest elections, and what lies behind the violence on campuses. Shyamlal Yadav argues that had the NSUI and the ABVP done their job, the Cockroach Janta Party would never have been born. The second big story of the week: the INDIA bloc and the Rajya Sabha contest in Uttar Pradesh. Leaders of nearly 20 opposition parties met in New Delhi on 30 September and agreed on nationwide protests, a rally in Delhi on 1 November and a joint challenge in the Supreme Court to the 2023 law on appointing election commissioners. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav stayed away, his party citing Rajya Sabha election work amid friction with the Congress over seat-sharing for the 2027 Assembly election. Uttar Pradesh votes for 10 Rajya Sabha seats on 16 October, and the SP has said it will field a third candidate. Asked about the seat-sharing tussle, BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said everything felt empty without Akhilesh; Akhilesh replied that anyone who wanted to join the SP would be welcome. With Manoj C. G. and Shyamlal Yadav, the panel discusses why Akhilesh skipped the meeting, Mamata Banerjee's stance this time, what Kapil Sibal got the opposition to agree to on the election commissioners law, whether the Congress will replace its UP chief Ajay Rai, the sticking point between the SP and Brij Bhushan, and the arithmetic of the Rajya Sabha polls.

Saam Daam Dand Bhed | Episode 06 | Indian Express Hindi Host: Saurabh Dwivedi Guests: Ritika Chopra, S. Y. Quraishi, Deeptiman Tiwari, Santosh Singh, Pooja Sasikumar Pillai, Sukrita Baruah, For months, two members of India's Election Commission have been putting their dissent on paper. An Indian Express investigation shows that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded at least 14 formal objections over 10 months. They said decisions on voter registration, deletion and restoration of names, SIR appeals and oversight of voter-data systems were taken without their knowledge or against their written advice. The full Commission met on 9 September, its first full meeting in four months. In this episode, Saurabh Dwivedi speaks to the reporter behind the investigation and a former Chief Election Commissioner. They discuss how the story was reported, how the three-member Commission is meant to work, why the commissioners learnt of some decisions from the media, the constitutional questions around the SIR, and the questions CEC Gyanesh Kumar still has to answer. The second big story of the week: Jamui and Kalkaji. In Bihar's Jamui, a group of men stopped two Class 10 students returning from coaching, beat them, sexually harassed the girl and circulated the videos online. In Delhi's Kalkaji, three men posing as policemen separated a 17-year-old girl from her friend and allegedly gang-raped her; nearby Lady Shri Ram College briefly moved classes online. The panel discusses moral policing as a cover for sexual violence, why offenders film their crimes, why girls find it hard to speak about abuse at home, how such violence affects the victim, the family and society, and what NCRB data can and cannot tell us.

This week on Saam Daam Dand Bhed, Saurabh Dwivedi and the panel break down the biggest political and policy developments from 10–17 September. First, the Uniform Civil Code push gathers pace, not through Parliament, but state by state. With Amit Shah setting a 2029 deadline for all 21 NDA-ruled states, what could UCC mean for marriage, divorce, inheritance and live-in relationships? Then, the panel discusses the end of free UPI for larger merchant payments. With MDR now applicable on UPI payments above ₹2,000, who will really bear the cost: the shopkeeper, the customer, or the payment apps? Plus, the week’s political Jaayza from across India. Saam Daam Dand Bhed streams every Saturday, 9 AM on Indian Express Hindi. Follow for more.

In this bonus episode of Saam Daam Dand Bhed we look at the political developments inside the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the larger story of caste politics in India.Why did Mayawati remove Akash Anand and Ashok Siddhartha from the BSP? What led to the internal differences, and what does this episode reveal about the political dynamics within Mayawati’s party and her family? We speak to our reporter Lalmani Verma and delve deep into the politics of UP. In the second section of the episode, we speak with journalist and author Manoj Mitta and step back from the immediate political story to understand the history of caste politics in India. We trace how caste has shaped political mobilisation, with references to historical texts, political movements and the formation of parties that emerged around caste and social justice. From the evolution of Dalit politics to the rise of parties representing different caste groups, we explore how these political formations changed India’s electoral landscape and continue to influence contemporary politics.