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@Evening: 🙂 Anil Antony Wakes Up To Congress Hypocrisy After BBC Row And Quits
1. What's 🆕: The Catch-up 📰
PM Narendra Modi has praised the achievement of 11 crore tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
MP Chief Minister inaugurated a centralised kitchen that will prepare mid-day meals for nearly 47,000 school children.
Construction of a new greenfield international airport for Visakhapatnam city in Andhra Pradesh will start in five months.
India and Egypt are elevating their ties to the level of strategic partnership.
India and Pakistan were on the brink of a nuclear war after the Balakot strikes in 2019, former US Secretary of State says in his new book.
2. 🤔 Tweet for thought: 💥 Anil Antony takes shots at Congress, quits
"Intolerant calls to retract a tweet" was why Anil K Antony, son of veteran Congress leader and former Kerala CM A K Antony, chose to quit Congress.
Junior Antony on 25 January stood down from all posts in the party after the response he got by speaking up against the BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots.
He announced his resignation (redacted) via a tweet, in which he said he was being asked to take back his tweet "by those fighting for free speech" — highlighting the long-standing hypocrisy of the Congress party.
Anil Antony was the convener of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee digital media and the national co-coordinator of the All India Congress Committee social media and digital communications cell.
>> ... I have been made well aware that you, your colleagues, and the coterie around the leadership are only keen to work with a bunch of sycophants and chamchas, who would unquestionably be at your beck and call. This has become the lone criterion of merit. — Anil K Antony
Anil Antony had tweeted yesterday that "despite (his) large differences with the BJP," he held the view that those in India giving precedence to the views of the BBC and of Jack Straw over Indian institutions were "setting a dangerous precedence."
He referred to the BBC as a UK state-sponsored channel "with a long history of prejudice" against India and Straw as "the brain behind the Iraq war."
"I feel that this is an immature stand," said Shashi Tharoor in response to Anil Antony's view that the documentary "will undermine our sovereignty."
The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said "the sovereignty of our country cannot be affected so easily..."
The two-part BBC documentary claims to have investigated aspects of the 2002 Gujarat riots, when PM Narendra Modi was the CM of that state. The External Affairs Ministry called the documentary a 'propaganda piece'.
3. 📚 Word-watching: 🔖 Life of an Industani by Shiv Kunal Verma
The autobiography is authored by writer, photographer, and filmmaker Shiv Kunal Verma.
It promises "an incredible ring-side view to critical events in the 1980s and 90s that shaped" India's destiny.
Verma's experience working on numerous films and books in connection with India's military is said to have made the book an engaging read.
"Kunal's experiences hold up a mirror that should not and cannot be ignored by all walks of society. It's simply brilliant," reads a quote by General (Dr) Vijay Kumar Singh on the book's back cover.
Life of an Industani: Six Degrees of Separation is 584 pages long and published by Occam, an imprint of BlueOne Ink.
Verma's other books include 1962: The War That Wasn't — The Definitive Account of the Clash Between India and China and 1965: A Western Sunrise — India's War With Pakistan.
And guess what? He's on a Swarajya audiobook talking about his book >>
🎧 Swarajya audiobook: 🗣️ Shiv Kunal Verma on India's contemporary history
"An autobiography, at one level, is an ego trip," Verma says in conversation with Swarajya's Sharan Setty.
But his "unusual" life and career, with his focus in recent years on Indian military history, made writing the book a good idea.
The book mainly covers Indian history in the 1980s and 1990s — a period when millennials were unborn or little, and therefore an excellent target audience for Life of an Industani.
On the audiobook, Verma explains his two reasons for writing the book and speaks freely and engagingly covering a vast terrain.
4. 📷 Photo speaks: ✈️ New A321neo for Air India
Pictured is the first A321neo to be delivered to Air India.
The photo was shared by an aviation enthusiast ("avgeek") who goes by the name of "VT-VLO" on Twitter.
The aircraft MSN 11183 is painted in full Air India livery. Plus, "The iconic Jharokha windows are back," VT-VLO noted.
Air India has acquired new aircraft. The airline had signed leases and letters of intent (September 2022) for 25 Airbus narrow-body and 5 Boeing wide-body aircraft to augment its existing fleet.
The aircraft being leased include 21 Airbus A320neos, four Airbus A321neos, and five Boeing B777-200LRs.
Later, in December, Air India announced the lease of six Boeing B777-300 ER widebody aircraft to further augment its existing fleet.
The new aircraft will lift up the airline's fleet by over 25 per cent.
The new aircraft mark the first major fleet expansion since Air India’s acquisition by the Tata Group last year.
Meanwhile, the Government of India is reportedly in talks with aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus to set up their final assembly lines in India.
Orders for about 2,000 aircraft are expected from India over the next decade or so.
5. 💡 Culture cutlet: 🎶 Naatu Naatu earns Oscar nom for best song
The superhit song from director S S Rajamouli's blockbuster film RRR is in contention for an Academy Award for best original song this year.
"WE CREATED HISTORY!!" came the proud tweet from the film's official Twitter account.
The song is nominated alongside Applause from Tell It Like a Woman, Hold My Hand from Top Gun: Maverick, Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and This Is a Life from Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Given its due. The song has already won a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice award, with the film also taking home the Critics Choice award in the foreign-language films category.
Credits for the song Naatu Naatu — music by M M Keeravaani, lyrics by Chandrabose, voice by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, and choreography by Prem Rakshith.
RRR follows the life of two Indian revolutionaries — Alluri Sitarama Raju (played by actor Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (played by Jr NTR) — in the 1920s.
The song Jai Ho, composed by A R Rehman and penned by Gulzar for the Danny Boyle directorial Slumdog Millionaire, previously won best original song at the Oscars (2009), besides a Grammy for best song written for a motion picture, TV, or other visual media.
The 95th Academy Awards. Nominations across 23 categories were announced on 24 January. The Oscars will take place on 12 March.
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