Achche Din are Over: Get Real India!
Dear Prime Minister, Since this is the season for open letters, I thought I would pen one too. At the very outset, let me congratulate you on the remarkable...
Goa, Gone with the Wind
We Goans are often unfairly lampooned as happy go lucky, alcohol swigging, siesta loving, beach bums. I use the word ‘we’ cautiously since I truly haven¹t spent enough time...
Opposition-Mukt parliament!
Walking slowly into the central hall of the 17th Lok Sabha after being sworn in as MP amidst ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants, an opposition MP lamented: “Looks like this...
TsuNamo Part 2: Politics as Reality TV
Confined to AC studios for months, tv anchors are let loose into the field at election time. Parachuted into hotspots in different parts of the country, we suddenly are...
Narendra Modi and Limits of Self-Marketing
In the age of 24 x 7 news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the master of political theatre, his every move designed to maximize eyeballs. Which is why a...
Ten Reasons why Mr Modi is in Pole Position to win 2019
The battle has well and truly begun, the election commission has sounded the bugle for elections 2019. Elections are both a marathon cum steeplechase with many crazy jumps and...
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....
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...
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...