1. As Assam goes to polls tomorrow, cash schemes are shaping voter mood. Himanta Biswa Sarma touts 45% growth—but on the ground, the story is more complex, even contradictory. Reporting from 6 constituencies for @frontline_india @vaishnaroy, here's what voters, data & experts revealed. 🧵

A very sad day indeed. A bill that should never have been passed bulldozed through parliament. Trans people and others are on the streets protesting, but the govt doesn’t care #RejectTransBill thehindu.com/news/national/t…

The proposed amendments to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 cannot be pushed through without listening to the very people whose rights and lives it will affect. When a law framed in the name of protection is being opposed by the community itself, it calls for reflection, not imposition. The Union BJP Government must pause, engage, and build a genuine consensus with transgender persons before moving forward.

Over the many years I've known Anand Teltumbde, I've always admired and carried with me his remarkable friendship, warmth, courage, and kindness. It gives me so much joy to announce his newest book - likely his most vulnerable and tender yet - his prison memoir, ‘The Cell and the Soul’ I will be eternally grateful to the incredible Arundhati Roy for making time to read advance proofs of Anand’s book and send her endorsement in the lead-up weeks to her own memoir on her mother. Also to @tmkrishna, @Ram_Guha and Shanta Tai, all of whom generously agreed to endorse this heartbreaking and powerful book. As most of us know, Anand Teltumbde entered the Taloja Central Prison as accused number 10 in the Bhima Koregaon case and spent 31 months as an undertrial until he was released on bail. As an intellectual who was stripped of his freedom, he lays bares the chilling realities of India’s prisons in his gut-wrenching prison memoir. Part memoir, part diary, The Cell and the Soul is a descent into the heart of India’s carceral state, ripping open the belly of the beast-the prison industrial complex-and exposing the brutal, pulsating injustice within. From the echoing silence of his cell, Teltumbde writes of a heartless state that criminalises dissent with political imprisonment, of the relentless grind of injustice, and the profound cost of speaking truth to power. His prison writing is but a synecdoche for thousands of nameless, faceless undertrials who languish in India’s jails. This is a raw, unvarnished testament of a man incarcerated for his convictions, a powerful indictment of a democracy devouring its own. Rare is writing so tender and searing it dares us to confront the darkness within each of us and seek our own freedoms. It has been a real privilege to collaborate with @siddheshgautam on this stunning cover. The book is out of pre-order now and you can get a copy here: amzn.in/d/8Zy3Wbx

How Omar Rashid abused me #MeToo (#wetoo) @thewire_in @svaradarajan @seemay @sangbarooahpish @khanumarfa

Books for our times.

The hate army abuses & resorts to the character assassination of Pahalgam victim Naval officer's wife. #PahalgamTerrorAttack

In today’s @the_hindu, my brilliant friend @nidahkaiser and I write about something to worry about. It’s not just interfaith marriage but even live-ins, and essentially all avenues for couples outside of religion/caste endogamy constructs are being closed off in the new India:

We are in An Era of Darkness: 'No Data' is Not a Side Issue, It Helps BJP’s Politics in Specific Ways. My piece thewire.in/government/an-era…

Cannot believe I'm defending Ranveer but claims of obscenity are so often misused that it will set a bad precedent for everyone. Imagine him ingratiating himself MORE to the powers to be, before his impressionable audience. His anti-science, Hindutva propaganda is bad enough.

How do you begin to write a tribute to a journalist, a friend, a brother? How do you describe him when nothing really contains him? The first time I met Mukesh Chandrakar was in December 2015, weeks after I had landed in Chhattisgarh as the Indian Express reporter there. (1/18)

My students are surprised how could their country elect a convicted felon to the office! I am like guys please sign up for Modern South Asia course I have some news.

The Wire’s @sukanyashantha's report exposing caste segregation in Indian prisons has led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling declaring caste-based practices unconstitutional. States/UTs ordered to revise prison rules and tackle broader discrimination. #Watch: