Imperialist-globalisation — I love this term. I love it even more when I hear it on news TV, because news TV panel discussions sometimes operate on a beautiful and benign acceptance of, first, any old thing that’s been said and, second, any old thing said about the original any old thing.

When the intellectual from Andhra Pradesh on NDTV’s Big Fight on Naxalites explained that these chaps are fighting imperialist-globalisation, I instantly warmed to him. This was a good start to the show. There will be more of this for sure, I thought. And there was.

The young guest from the CPM said he broadly agrees that imperialist-globalisation is a big problem but what about 1967 (when Naxalites began their enterprise) — there was no imperialist-globalisation then, so what were these chaps fighting against? The anchor asked — he was querying another panelist on whether some people are being unfair to Naxalites and he was paraphrasing the Andhra intellectual — aren’t these chaps essentially fighting imperialist-globalisation. Great stuff, you know, all this. You go on TV, and you use a hugely contested concept and everyone talks about it as if it is as uncomplicated as, say, aloo matar. Indeed, I hope I can one day go on news TV and say the big problem with the world is aloo matar. And everyone will politely accept my thesis on my own terms. The anchor will ask another panelist, as Mr Chakrabarti was saying, the problem we are facing today is aloo matar, how do you think civil society should respond.

... contd.