What do you do when students in your class greet you with 'Jai Shri Ram' or insist on telling you why India should be a Hindu rashtra?

The prime minister’s ability to say one thing and do another remains unparalleled. He has built and maintained an illusory world of stage-managed interviews and godi media ‘news’.

That song, incidentally, was written by George Harrison after his return from Rishikesh.

Whether or not one believes in the divinity of Jesus, the fact remains that the hunted child of a persecuted family grew up to become an itinerant preacher whose teachings of love, compassion, and social justice went on to find resonance throughout the known world of the time.

Whatever the outcome of this protest and attempted march to Delhi is, one thing is clear – the government of the day now stands completely exposed in its unwillingness and inability to keep any of its promises to India’s farmers.  

Jon Stewart puts it bluntly, 'If you’re a friend of a bigot, you’re a bigot.'

These usually surface in living rooms, workplaces, and social media debates when apologists for the current dispensation find themselves unable to defend instances of corruption, crony capitalism, or blatant communalism.

Veteran journalist and YouTuber Ravish Kumar has pointed out that the children in Modi’s anecdotes were all whiny cowards. It made him wonder what Modi actually thinks about children and all the things that constitute childhood. 

"They say that this is a small protest but we are not worried. We know that those who are willing to fight for truth and justice are always few,” a farmer said.

This is the collective win of millions. 

'...we wish to bring to your kind attention our apprehension about any eventuality of tampering with the counting process scheduled for June 4, 2024, to subvert the people’s verdict and help the present regime cling to power,' the Samyukta Kisan Morcha wrote to the poll body.

What leaders wielding an enormous amount of power need almost more than anything else is the “oxygen” of wise counsel, checks, balances, and most of all, genuine feedback. But who in the BJP or the Sangh parivar would dare to question or contradict a prime minister who has conferred divine status on himself?

"We have had enough of this government’s bullying. Our youth are unemployed, they need jobs desperately," said another resident of Rajasthan's Bandikui village.

Even more admirable than leaders of different parties speaking in the same voice at the INDIA rally was the support that followers of different parties showed to leaders other than their own. 

On Good Friday, we remember the words of one who was executed for speaking truth to the religious powers of his day.

Some students were holding up a poster that said: ‘Zulmi jab jab zulm karega satta ke galiyaaron se; chappa chappa goonj uthega inquilab ke naaron se.’ Roughly translated, "Whenever cruelty and oppression spill out of the corridors of powers, every corner of the land will echo with cries of revolution."

“My knees are damaged, this farmer’s legs hurt, this other farmer here can barely walk! None of us are sitting here because we are happy to, you know?”

David won because he changed the rules of engagement. And Goliath lost because he quite literally did not see David coming or anticipate his speed and agility.

Every December I remember the Tihar Theatre Troupe and give thanks for the memory of Christmas 1994. 

There is nothing subtle about Waters’ activism. Not only does the musician wear the Palestinian kheffiyeh when he performs, but the gigantic screens behind his performing stage also bear constant witness to his political beliefs.