A tale of two nationalisms: Anti-CAA-NRC protesters have broken BJP’s...
The BJP, especially after Narendra Modi became prime minister, has prided itself on a certain muscular nationalism, ‘distinct’ from other mainstream political parties which are seen as ‘soft’ on the...
View ArticleWhere Indian liberals err: We need liberal values badly, but liberals must...
The recent Delhi riots have shown that liberalism is under threat today. This is the case not only in India but in many countries of the world. The ultra-right is on the ascendant, stridently...
View ArticleIndia versus Bharat: They must come together in enlightened partnership, else...
The Great Indian Middle Class is a peculiar animal. At one level, it has remarkable qualities of entrepreneurship, resourcefulness, resilience, inventiveness and ingenuity. At another level, it can be...
View ArticleBack with a bang: Nanny state: What is being achieved with so many...
In moments of crisis, it is useful to sometimes visit the wisdom of the past. Some 2,300 years ago, Chanakya wrote this insightful nugget, strangely relevant to our current dilemma. “The root of wealth...
View ArticleDon’t defer to China: Galwan valley should finally compel us to make major...
The Rig Veda was composed around 1500 BCE, some thousand years before Confucius and Lao Tze ushered in structured thought into China. For conventional strategists, this would be an inconsequential...
View ArticleCongress’s great betrayal: The party that led the country to freedom, has...
In 1959, when Indira Gandhi was elected president of the Congress, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had to face criticism for promoting his daughter. Significantly, he was quick to deny this was his...
View ArticleA political maya jaal: The issues we discuss in India today have conjured up...
Hindu philosophy was remarkably perceptive about the relationship between the Real and the unreal. The powerful Advaita school asserts that the ultimate reality is Brahman, the niguna (attributeless),...
View ArticleAn informal emergency: State agencies have become adept at ‘investigating’...
Alexander the Great once encountered two Jain saints in India who were disinclined to show any deference to him. When he asked them why, they said (according to Arrian, Alexander’s biographer): ‘King...
View ArticleForego the self-righteousness: Both Indian liberals and the new right need to...
The US presidential polls are but one illustration of the fact that the world today is sharply divided between the liberals and conservatives, between entrenched past certainties and new challengers....
View ArticleHinduism’s Talibani distortion: FIR against Netflix film betrays not just...
In the rather lacklustre Netflix adaptation of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy the main protagonist, Lata, is shown kissing a Muslim boy with a temple in the background. Gaurav Tiwari, president of the...
View ArticleWarping a great faith: Both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ Hindutva are expedient uses of...
As we step into a new decade, Hinduism, and its interpretation and practice, will play an increasingly pivotal role. We have seen the manifestation of ‘hard’ political Hindutva, wedded to the goal of a...
View ArticleNo country for humour: Today’s India may have targeted even Adi...
My first posting as a diplomat was in Bulgaria in the late 1970s, when East Europe was under a dictatorial and failing Communist leadership. There was strict censorship, and no freedom of expression....
View ArticleA great intoxication: Tulsidas and Ghalib outline this ultimate truth about...
Sometimes, the greatest wisdoms lie embedded in the insights of the past. Tulsidas (1532-1623), uttered the ultimate verity about the alchemy of power: ‘Nahin kou asa janma jaga mahin, prabhuta pai...
View ArticleA flawed diplomacy: Vaccine Maitri has been well-intentioned but not...
Vaccine Maitri is based on a sound principle. The corona pandemic is global in its ferocity. No country can, therefore, choose to be entirely insular in its response. In a compressed and interconnected...
View ArticleWake up, grand old party: Regional parties do not add up to a pan-Indian...
Two myths about the Congress party need to be re-examined. The first is that, given its electoral reversals, it is of little consequence in political calculations. However, it is sobering to remember...
View ArticleHow we fail our culture: India is a great civilisation. But no government...
The late Ram Niwas Mirdha, aesthete and politician and former chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, once expressed his deep worry to me that the country is in serious danger of losing all its rasiks...
View ArticleYou can’t fool voters: Polarisation politics has its limits, people of India...
India is an overwhelmingly religious country, with many faiths coexisting cheek by jowl; Hindus constitute some 80% of the population, and Muslims, at over 14%, are the biggest minority. Expectedly, in...
View ArticleCreate a new Congress: Another party with many GOP personnel but not Gandhis...
A crisis has gripped the working of the world’s largest democracy: The absence of an effective opposition. Democracy works on the principle of accountability. There are many ways to ensure this,...
View ArticleUltra right and wrong: Women in India face a new threat to their freedom of...
When King Janak of Videha called an assembly of the learned, the most prominent sage-scholar present was Yajnavalkya. People were in awe of his deep knowledge, and yet there was a lady, Gargi, who had...
View ArticleBJP simply doesn’t respect the House: Parliament disruption has almost become...
Parliament must function. In its entire history, the House of Commons has not been adjourned for a single day. In our country, we are fast reaching the situation where not a single day passes when...
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