The AAP factor
If there was an award for the most successful political start up of the last decade, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would be the obvious front-runner (the YSRCP in...
The 80:20 election and what it means for India
Yogi Adityanath has never hidden his saffron robes in politics. Which is why it wasn’t a surprise when the Uttar Pradesh chief minister called the elections in India’s most...
Hindutva versus Hinduism: Rahul-Khurshid Line Divides and Distracts
In this age of social media outrage, prime time noise and WhatsApp forwards, every word spoken or written in the public domain travels across the universe in real time...
Crime-police-politics: Mumbai’s chickens have come home to roost
‘Tamasha’ is a great Maharashtra folk dance tradition that literally means ‘fun’ and ‘entertainment’. In the last few months, a political ‘tamasha’ is playing out in Maharashtra which would...
The Rahul versus Mamata versus Arvind battle
It is argued, often justifiably, that a large section of the news media, especially prime time tv, spends far more time and energy questioning the opposition than it does...
Marg – Darshak Mandal Politics: Getting Netas to Retire is not easy
“Retire when people ask why and not when they ask why not..” That memorable quote is attributed to cricketing great Vijay Merchant who called it a day after scoring...
Indian sport: The triumph, the challenge
Strongmen populist leaders have a penchant for aligning sporting achievement to their personality cult. Fidel Castro of Cuba is a great example: the ‘revolutionary’ Cuban leader used his country’s...
Dream for India@75
As India enters its 75th year of independence, it’s a fitting time to unveil a dream of a ‘better’ India. An India where harmony prevails over hate; where those...
No one hacked a phone: Why Modi government is in denial
Long before Narendra Modi held sway, there were the omnipotent Nehru-Gandhis. In his book, ‘Open secrets, India intelligence unveiled’, former Intelligence Bureau joint director MK Dhar writes of how...
10 Questions in Covid Times
Right through the extraordinarily gruelling pandemic period, one question remains unanswered: who is accountable for the many shortcomings in the Covid 19 fight? So as a crucial monsoon session...