Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Test’ Now
For four years and a bit, every time there has been a major state election, the dominant narrative is to call it a ‘test’ for prime minister Narendra Modi...
Is Modi government being unnerved by Rafale ‘war’?
Politics in the media age is increasingly about perception management which in turn is about shaping the narrative to your advantage. The UPA 2 government lost the plot when...
Kaamdar vs Naamdar: is Cong falling into a BJP trap?
One of the more persistent criticisms against the Narendra Modi government has been that far too many of its ministers seem to have very little work to do and...
Will Rafale 2019 be Bofors 1989?
Rahul Gandhi was just seventeen years old when the Bofors gun payoff scandal first exploded, a corruption charge that would tar his father Rajiv Gandhi’s reputation and eventually push...
Tracking India in the Modi era – The-Ken Interview
“When sensation has replaced sense or noise has replaced news, you know, you feel—I don’t want to say that, but I feel almost an anachronism. Ancient, wrestling with self-doubt.”...
Vajpayee was the torchbearer of a gentler political era
Of the many stories of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s remarkable ability to win friends and influence people, there is one that stays in the mind. The prime minister was in...
The Chemistry of the Modi Cult
One of the biggest mistakes political journalists make is to often assess election trends based on talking to politicians. When Narendra Modi was Gujarat chief minister, any reporter who...
Imran Khan: A Man of Many Parts
In December 2013, cricketer turned politician Imran Khan was in India for the Hindustan Times leadership summit. The Delhi election results had just been announced and Arvind Kejriwal had...
Five Things we learnt in a No-Confidence Motion
1. Pappu can Hug Saala: this was never so much a No Confidence Motion (NCM) against the NDA (the ruling alliance always had the numbers) as much as a...
The social media election is here!
Amit Shah is often credited as the BJP president who has converted Indian elections from routine local fights into an all-out life and death ‘war’. Little surprise then when...