June links: Gyanvapi mosque, caste census, Quad updates and a GST federalism jolt

Jun 03, 2022

Thank you for reading India Inside Out.

Some weeks I’ll send by analytical notes, as I did the last time, on India’s choices between Russia and the West. Some weeks you will receive an interview, like the conversation I had with historian Priya Satia on the historical sensibility of the British Empire.

And some weeks I’ll send by all the interesting links that came my way over the last month or so. If there are interesting pieces on Indian politics, foreign policy, economy, history and beyond that you think ought to be highlighted, please send them to me by writing to rohan.venkat@gmail.com.

‘Some personal news’: In addition to full-time dad duties, I am now also an Editorial Consultant at the Centre for Policy Research, a leading Indian think tank, where I will continue working to make policy matters more accessible to a wider audience through interviews, newsletters and more. Expect more interesting reading material on India soon!

Linking Out

Indian politics

Liz Mathew on the thinking within the Bharatiya Janata Party on how to handle the questions of Muslim structures lying on sites that Hindu right-wing groups claim were originally temples in Kashi (Varanasi) and Mathura, following its Ayodhya campaign.
But Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, in a speech, signaled the organisation’s apparent reluctance to publicly own the issue, despite its wholehearted embrace by Hindu right-wing groups around the country, saying: “[Varanasi mosque] Gyanvapi has a history which we cannot change now. We did not create that history. Not today’s Hindus, not Muslims… Why escalate fights? On Gyanvapi, our faith has been there for generations. What we are doing is fine. But why look for a Shivling in every mosque?”
See also: Umang Poddar on the Hindutva legal strategy as well as the way courts have allowed these issues to fester, despite clear laws, and Aishwarya Iyer on the Hindutva groups demanding the demolition of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.
‘Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’ looks at the calls for a ‘Truth and Reconciliation Committee’ to address the actions of Muslim rules in India’s past, pointing out some rather basic flaws in the thinking.
“The more ‘respectable’ of Hindutva ideologues would tell you that all they want is an honest reckoning with history. That this has nothing to do with persecuting present-day Muslims, or furthering the ideological project of Hindu rashtra. Do not believe them,” writes Asim Ali.
Business Standard @bsindia
A new political headache is developing for the Union government with an all-party meeting convened by #Bihar CM #NitishKumar backing unanimously a census based on caste. Aditi Phadnis writes #Politics #Census #CasteCensus
mybs.in‘All parties are on board’, Nitish Kumar to go ahead with caste censusBihar will hold a census based on caste and a proposal to this effect will be sent to the cabinet, Kumar told reporters after the meeting
4:35 AM ∙ Jun 2, 2022
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Rasheed Kidwai says that the Congress, despite lots of high-flying rhetoric, failed to discuss any of the real questions of significance – leadership? how to take on Hindutva? – at its Chintan Shivir in May.
On a related note, Sobhana K Nair wonders why the Congress has been inexplicably lethargic on the upcoming Presidential elections, which it has no chance of winning but has traditionally been an opportunity for the Opposition to make a statement.

Sobhana K Nair @SobhanaNair

The Cong brand of politics has been reduced to deal making among the small club of power brokers without a support base. Any analysis that pins hope on the Cong to be a source of democratic revival in India must be tempered by a cold shower of sobriety.

thehindu.comShiver and seizure: On the list of Congress Rajya Sabha candidatesCongress leader

The BJP leadership saga in Karnataka continues. Aditi Phadnis explains how Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is struggling to fend off constant barbs from BJP Organising Secretary BL Santhosh.
Is Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, now in his second term, attempting a Modi-esque ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ makeover, asks Arunabh Saikia.
Sudipto Mondal interviews Muneer Katipalla, the main organizer of an upcoming Muslim conference run by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Karnataka, on why the organisation is looking at identity as a platform rather than labour or economic policy.
Despite multiple targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus in the valley over the last few months prompting a fresh exodus, Vijaita Singh reports that the Modi government will not accede to demands calling for relocation of the community to Jammu.

Indian foreign policy

Frédéric Grare has a policy brief for the European Council on Foreign Relations on New Delhi’s Ukraine war calculations, saying “it is all the more important for European policymakers to understand that India’s current position on the Ukraine crisis is not a deviation from its long-term trend of reducing its dependence on Russia.”
Also see: Aditi Malhotra on the challenges New Delhi faces in modernising its military in the aftermath of this war. Vasabjit Banerjee and Benjamin Tkach on the what the US can do to help India replace Russia as the global source of affordable arms, instead of China. A Bloomberg report that claims the US is readying a military aid package “of as much as $500 million, according to one person, which would make India one of the largest recipients of such aid behind Israel and Egypt.”
Rohan Mukherjee @rohan_mukh
This meme could teach my Indian foreign policy course.
1:10 AM ∙ May 27, 2022
23,977Likes5,938Retweets
Not everyone thinks India remains in its ‘diplomatic sweet spot’, as we discussed last week. Happymon Jacob insists that “the initial phase of diplomatic rush is over and its geopolitical options are shrinking as the war drags on.”
Sandra Destradi and Kira Huju discuss the question of how the Indian diplomatic corps has responded to the politicis of the Modi government.
“Without India, without Narendra Modi, Quad could not have flown. There was a degree of hesitancy among the elite community members of Delhi, about India joining a largely US-led camp. It took the courage and straightforwardness of Narendra Modi to have overcome the legacy of non-alignment,” says Tomohiko Taniguchi, former Special Advisor to the Cabinet of then Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Suhasini Haidar breaks down the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, unveiled by US President Joe Biden alongside the Quad summit in May, telling us what it might mean for India.
Though this is not about India per se, you ought to read Peter Hartcher’s two-part tick-tock on how the AUKUS deal came together.

Indian Economy

“What has changed in the eight years of Narendra Modi and his government have spent in power, is that reform, or lack of it, is not the central parameter on which this government is being judged anymore. The biggest economic question facing this government is whether or not it can reboot the Indian economy,” writes Roshan Kishore.
Kavitha Iyer on the many ways unemployment is disguised in India, meaning the distress is much more widespread than data suggests.
The Supreme Court held in May that the recommendations of the Goods and Services Tax Council – the body that sets the rates for GST, featuring representation from the Union and state finance ministers and veto power for the Centre – are not binding on governments, state or Centre. The decision brought up questions of a rejig in the federal equation, as well as concerns that this might be it for GST.
- Umang Poddar explains what the Supreme Court decided.
- “The Opposition-ruled states are elated with the decision not because they want discretion to change the [GST] structure, but because it increases their bargaining strength. The immediate impact of this will be bargaining by states for extending the period of compensation for the loss of revenue,” writes M Govinda Rao.
- Arvind Subramanian & Josh Felman say it is time to bring the ‘cooperative spirit’ back to GST, essentially by having the Centre act magnanimous retrospectively.
- Suhrith Parthasarathy on the legal questions decided by the Supreme Court and what it means for Indian federalism.
The Indian government decided in May to attack inflation on a number of fronts (even as the Reserve Bank of India decided on an out-of-turn interest rate hike, with clear indications that rates will continue to rise).
- After claiming India would help feed the world, the government suddenly banned wheat exports, leading to a few days of chaos and unhappy responses from other parts of the globe, despite some exemptions included in the ban. Wheat markets remain on edge. Vivek Kaul on the belated move.
- India then announced restrictions on sugar exports, again with an eye on domestic inflation.
- The Centre announced an excise duty cut on petrol and diesel, bringing prices down around the country, but potentially bringing down government revenues by as much as Rs 1 lakh crore. A K Bhattacharya on why the state are grumbling about Centre’s demands that they cut taxes too.
- Reuters reports that the government is also considering spending “an additional ₹2 lakh crore ($26 billion) in the 2022-23 fiscal year to cushion consumers from rising prices and fight multi-year high inflation.”