War games in election season
War is not a cricket match and an air strike should not be reduced to a political spectacle. But we are in election season which might explain the well-choreographed...
The importance of being Nitin Gadkari in a big election year
In February 1994, as I was preparing to leave Mumbai for Delhi, a senior professional colleague had a word of caution: “Remember, Delhi is very different to our city....
Behenji Needed More than Behen
This is the season for opinion polls with hyper-ventilating TV anchors throwing a volley of numbers at dazed viewers with an authority that at times belies the spotty track...
Remembering George Fernandes, the original political rebel
We were on a flight to Patna in early 2005 and I was sitting next to George Fernandes. He was off to campaign in the Bihar elections: as Samata...
Mayawati for PM is a Clever Ploy
‘One day, she will fulfill Babasaheb Ambedkar’s dream!” claimed Bahujan Samaj Party founder, Kanshi Ram, with a hint of pride, pointing to the woman who had just served us...
Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri? Game on!
As the temperatures sharply dip in the national capital, the political heat is rising. The BJP’s defeat in three Hindi heartland states means that we enter a big general...
Why BJP should worry, not be in denial
In 2004, a few weeks before the general elections and a day after the Lucknow stampede in which 21 poor women were killed while collecting free saris, then prime...
The Five State Election: Ten Takeaways..
1) In electoral politics, no one is invincible, not even self styled Bahubalis and political Chanakyas. And yet, such has been the aura around the Modi-Shah duo that a...
Congress’s Make or Break Election
Defeat in sport can be dispiriting and contagious. In the 1980s, most teams lost to the great West Indian side even before they reached the pitch out of sheer...
No Ram or Rafale, the Rozi Roti election in MP
In the age of T-20 style elections — instant opinion, shoot and scoot polls and parachute reporting — it is increasingly difficult to confidently predict an Indian election outcome....