Does India have a new class of citizens called “anti-national”? On Saturday, six speakers will battle it out with words whether “In today’s India, dissent has been made anti-national”. The occasion is the Calcutta Club The Telegraph National Debate 2020, presented by Subhas Bose Institute of Hotel Management, powered by Calcutta Business School, a unit of Shikshayatan Foundation, in association with Pan Bahar
Abhijit Chakrabarti- Professor, electrical engineering, IIEST Shibpur; former vice-chancellor, Jadavpur University The Telegraph pictures
Chakrabarti loves dogs. He even loves militant dogs. The most militant of the 11 at his home is named Goeth, after Amon Leopold Goeth, the Nazi concentration camp commander whose practice of shooting inmates is depicted in the 1993 film Schindler’s List. “My Goeth used to be unpredictable like that one,” he had once told The Telegraph. Goeth is no more. His decision to call police to JU around midnight to break a student siege had triggered a series of events rarely seen before on a campus.
Abhishek Banerjee- Diamond Harbour MP, Trinamul youth wing chief
He is Trinamul’s Gen-Next. The Twitter-happy leader does not pull any punches. So, he tweeted:
@kunalkamra88 got a flying ban for Frankly Speaking with Arnab Goswami on board an @IndiGo6E Flight
@flyspicejet follows suit fearing a Pragya vs Pragya face-off
& @airindiain being on sale can’t even imagine a Chowkidar vs Chowkidar showdown.
Aap chronology samajh lijiye.
On Saturday, how frankly will the MP speak?
Aishe Ghosh- JNU Students’ Union president
The student leader had 16 stitches on her head after being beaten with iron rods during a January 5 assault on JNU by masked goons. The next day, she was back on the campus with a heavily bandaged head and arm. “Every iron rod with which you have beaten up students will be given back by our debate and discussion,” the Durgapur girl said. Saturday’s stage will give her another chance to debate.
Shishir Bajoria- BJP leader
Industrialist, once a friend of the Left and now a leader of the BJP, Shishir Bajoria knows obduracy is not a virtue in public life. When he made the switch in August 2014, Bajoria said: “The BJP is the new order that can bring about a change in Bengal. It’s Narendra Modi who will steer this change. That’s why I am joining the BJP…. Parivartan ka parivartan karna hai aur ab ek hi party hai.”
Sushil Pandit- Kashmir activist
A Kashmiri Pandit with roots in Srinagar and a vocal critic of the “injustice” meted out to his tribe during the mass exodus in the 90s. The co-founder of Roots-in-Kashmir, Sushil keeps the fire burning in TV studios during prime time debates on Kashmir. Sushil also publishes Praznath, a bilingual journal on the culture and identity of Kashmir. An alumnus of Delhi University and JNU, the man knows a thing or two about communication. He makes a living by managing communication for his corporate clients and also teaches strategic media planning at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication as an adjunct faculty.
Swara Bhaskar- Actor
“What do we do in a society when we are more bothered about the fact that a stand-up comic heckled someone in a flight than we are bothered by the fact that people are allowed to roam around with guns and shoot?” Swara asked an audience in Mumbai earlier this month. One of the few actors in Mumbai to raise her voice against the ruling dispensation, Swara is the target of choicest abuses from a troll army. But the alumnus of Delhi’s Miranda House and JNU is not the one to back down. Expect fireworks on Saturday.
Moderator: Kunal Sarkar
What: The Calcutta Club The Telegraph National Debate 2020, presented by Subhas Bose Institute of Hotel Management, powered by Calcutta Business School, a unit of Shikshayatan Foundation, in association with Pan Bahar
When: Saturday, 6pm
Where: Calcutta Club lawns
Motion: In today’s India, dissent has been made anti-national
