Jayalalithaa: FIlm star politician number one!
As an MP, actor Govinda had one of the worst attendance records in Parliament: He attended less than 10% of the sittings in the Lok Sabha and spoke for...
Farewell Dileep
If there is one thing Dileep Padgaonkar probably enjoyed even more than a finely written book or article, it was crab curry rice and tisrya (clams) at Anant Ashram,...
Demonetisation: Modi risks winning battle, losing war
For those still surprised by prime minister Narendra Modi’s audacious demonetisation gamble, the past maybe a useful guide. In 2007, just ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections, Mr Modi...
Trump, Modi and the liberal media bias.
In the aftermath of Narendra Modi’s victory in the 2012 Gujarat assembly elections, a much-respected writer-activist known for his liberal views had accosted me at a dinner: “I heard...
Tele-democracy, Trump and Modi
The latest opinion polls in the US are suggesting a much tighter race for the country’s presidency but the debate in Washington DC, at least, has slowly shifted from...
Family first politics
In the build-up to the 2012 Uttar Pradesh elections, I was travelling with Akhilesh Yadav on a campaign tour. Our morning breakfast shoot was in a room where the...
Sarkar Raj
So Raj Thackeray has proven yet again that he is a true heir to his uncle’s legacy. Remember all those film stars, industrialists, cricketers who used to literally prostrate...
Stop the ‘marketing’ of surgical strikes
In the 1980s when Rajiv Gandhi had chosen to attack his opponents by warning that “hum apne virodhiyon ko unki naani yaad dila denge” (we will make our opponents...
Modi’s firm message but can war-mongers be kept at bay?
In the universe of the 24×7 media, there is literally no place to hide. Which is why it should come as no surprise that a video of Prime Minister...
AAP at the crossroads
Writing obituaries of political parties can be a hazardous business. In July 2014, an international publication invited me to write an article on the political demise of AAP. This...