When political events are worse than WhatsApp forwards!

This edition of #TweakTheWeek has an interesting format. Rather than discussing one happening news of the week, three topical events have been taken and laid bare by our hosts. And they kind of come up with a single strain of thought that binds the three different issues.

What has been happening to WhatsApp in India is pretty interesting. Last week, we had the Competition Commission of India taking suo motu cognisance of WhatsApp's new Privacy Policy and ordering a serious investigation into it. An Indian government organisation is cracking the whip on a big company like Facebook (which owns WhatsApp) makes for intriguing analysis.

Talking of WhatsApp you cannot but bring up election campaigns, as much of it these days happens over the instant messaging platform. Electioneering in places like West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu has plumbed new lows. For instance in Tamil Nadu, former Union Minister A Raja has questioned the parentage of the Chief Minister. Another DMK speaker had talked of women's hips. It is obscene and outrageous.

And talking of being outrageous, what is happening in Maharashtra over police and politics nexus is nothing less than it. The State's Home Minister is being accused of ordering a police officer to give Rs 100 crore in bribe money every month (hafta vasool). If it were not on papers, you would have thought the whole thing to be a fake WhatsApp forward. When actual events are worse than fake news, you know you are kind of living in a dystopian world.