It was the twenty-first day (since 28 June) of the hunger strike of noted environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk. On the morning of 18 July, the Delhi police forcibly, and against his will, admitted him to hospital, apparently due to his deteriorating health condition. Sonam, along with some other students, had been on a fast in support of the demands of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). For almost a month, led by Abhijeet Dipke, hundreds of youth had been protesting at Jantar Mantar. They were demanding the resignation of the Education Minister, after a key entrance exam for aspiring doctors, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG), was cancelled in early May following a paper leak. They said he must take moral responsibility for the leak and resign immediately. The protesters were also demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister. They plan to march to Parliament on 20 July, but the Government has still not relented or agreed to dialogue with the protesters. Horrible shame, indeed!
Education is in the doldrums. The regime should ask itself why hundreds of thousands of Indian youth are desperate to study in schools and universities abroad. First in this beeline are the children of ministers and other government officials. The National Education Policy (NEP) is exclusionary. It does not provide the much-needed holistic, inclusive, objective and contextual education. In the recently published Academic Freedom Index, India stands tenth among countries where academic freedom is being throttled and universities are not allowed to function independently. The Government has been attempting to cut the grants of the well-known national think tank the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), which has contributed immensely to the intellectual fibre and calibre of the country. Yogendra Yadav said, "Bulldozer justice reaches academia. No doubt, this is a demolition exercise." Teachers in schools today are caught up in government duties like SIR, census enumeration, or election work. Horrible shame, indeed!
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR), an exercise undertaken by the Election Commission of India to verify and revise electoral rolls, continues like a juggernaut, disenfranchising thousands of legitimate citizens all over the country. Those who are deleted from the electoral rolls are the poor and the vulnerable, the minorities (mainly Muslims), and other marginalised sections of society. Those who toe the regime's line have nothing to fear; their names will not be deleted. The ECI is guilty of a heinous crime against the citizens of India! Horrible shame, indeed!
Corruption is mainstreamed in the country. The regime in power is perhaps the most corrupt political dispensation in the world. They have amassed hoards of wealth through demonetisation, electoral bonds and the PM CARES Fund, besides the wholesale loot of temples like Ram Mandir (UP), Badrinath Temple (Uttarakhand), Sabarimala Temple (Kerala), Kedarnath Temple (Uttarakhand) and Ambaji Temple (Gujarat). The sacrifices of genuine devotees are plundered, in a manner that would easily put the colonialists of yesteryear to shame. Some of the regime's crony capitalist friends have had a field day looting the country and profiteering. One only has to look at the palatial RSS centre in Delhi or the plush BJP offices all over the country to ask, "Whose money is being used?" There is a total lack of transparency and accountability at every level. Horrible shame, indeed!
Look at the roster of elected representatives and officials who have left their own parties to join the BJP. Many of them have cases, FIRs, or criminal proceedings against them. Once they join the BJP, everything is forgiven and conveniently forgotten. Take, for example, the BJP Chief Minister of West Bengal: there is plenty of video evidence of the Prime Minister lambasting him, when he was in the TMC, as one of the most corrupt persons in the country. Yet there is the BJP washing machine, which can easily wash away all your crimes and even make you Chief Minister. Politicians with apparently no criminal cases are offered crores of rupees in black money, cajoled, and even threatened with dire consequences if they do not succumb. Horrible shame, indeed!
The Prime Minister has become the laughing stock of the world. Nobody takes him seriously, despite his foreign jaunts at the expense of the Indian taxpayer, mainly the poor and the middle class. True, he is given medals and awards, but these come at a huge cost. They are neither deserved nor are they freebies; the country has to make concessions or trade-offs to "buy" those recognitions. Any reasonable observer knows that heads of state or government are not normally given such awards during their visits. Even his public speeches have been a source of embarrassment: the "2+6" remark in Indonesia, or the "Melody" chocolates comment in Italy. The local media in these countries barely covers his visits. The crowds that gather to hear him are mainly the Indian diaspora. The Australian media has lampooned this. He is unable to even answer a single question from a journalist. Horrible shame, indeed!
India was ranked 157 out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index released recently, placed in the "very serious" category due to the criminalisation of journalism, the weaponisation of national security laws, and highly concentrated media ownership. On 16 July, a strongly worded statement said that the Editors Guild of India deplored attempts by a section of MEA officials to explain away Prime Minister Narendra Modi's unwillingness to address unscripted press conferences at home or abroad, by claiming that, as a successful politician, he prefers to communicate directly with his largely rural electorate. The Guild called this argument deeply flawed, noting that the Prime Minister must routinely answer both his urban and rural citizens on urgent political and economic issues, especially at a time when the world is mired in an unprecedented energy crisis in the wake of the war in West Asia. The truth, the statement said, is that he has been reluctant to share his views on this gargantuan crisis with any kind of media. What an embarrassment! Horrible shame, indeed!
Minorities in the country have continued to be on the receiving end. Thousands of Muslims have been disenfranchised, their homes demolished, their nationality and patriotism questioned. On 15 June, the Superintendent of Police in the Gujarat State Police Services (SPS) issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Gujarat's new Anti-Radicalisation Cell (ARC). The contents of the SOP clearly target Muslims and are blatantly anti-constitutional and communal. There has been a demand from several quarters that this terrible circular be withdrawn, unconditionally. Christians have also been systematically targeted. Bogeys of "forced conversion" are consistently raised, and there is documented evidence of hundreds of attacks on Christians. Recently, a Catholic school in Jabalpur was attacked by Hindutva goons on the false pretext of conversions; in West Bengal, a group of sisters were threatened by a mob seeking to stop the construction of a chapel and cemetery for which they hold the necessary permissions. There are official threats to take over lands and property belonging to Christians. The anti-conversion laws put in place in several BJP-ruled states are an attempt to divert attention from other realities the nation faces today. They violate Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion. Horrible shame, indeed!
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, is likely to be taken up in the coming session of Parliament. The Bill targets voluntary organisations and other civil society groups doing exemplary work for the all-round progress and development of the country. The poor will suffer the most if this bill is passed. Horrible shame, indeed!
There are several other raging issues plaguing the nation today: India is nowhere on the environmental index. The Great Nicobar project, the planned luxury hotel near Kaziranga National Park, and the unmitigated use of fossil fuels are clear examples. India ranks low on global indices compiled by impartial and credible international bodies. The poor in the country are becoming poorer, the rich richer. Constitutional and other independent bodies have lost their credibility and have become blatantly one-sided. There is no room for dissent in India: Umar Khalid and several others are still languishing in jail. The late Fr Stan Swamy has still not been given a clean chit. Constitutional bodies are used to victimise innocent citizens. Women are still denied their due numbers in Parliament. The Government is more interested in delimitation and delisting. Horrible shame, indeed!
What is at stake today is the soul of India: the right of every citizen to justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, the freedoms guaranteed in our sacred Constitution. This is not happening. Until we restore reality to its original goodness, we need to say: Horrible shame, indeed! And we must do all we can to overcome it.
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*Human rights, reconciliation and peace activist, trainer and writer
It is hindi heart land which is pushing India deep into darkness. Ignoring challenges of future and present it seeks happiness in living in past.
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