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Thursday, August 13, 2026
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National Interest

Satluj risks rekindling anger & distrust in Punjab. It’s not about the film, but the votes

Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj doesn’t blame any political party or individual politicians. We only know the demographic in Punjab it’s bound to trigger the most.

Congress is ceding ground to BJP on nationalism. It’s pushing India towards one-party system

The Congress party’s abandonment of nationalism is the most intriguing aspect of its post-2014 politics. The real Congress was never a party of bleeding heart pacifists.

Publisher ban on Sacco’s brilliant Muzaffarnagar riot comic is a cynical joke on India’s freedoms

Sacco’s ‘reporting’ is incredibly granular but there are areas where he can be faulted. Don’t let this undermine where his true focus is, in showing how local disputes led to riots.

Why many parties break up when out of power and some don’t

Ideology keeps parties together, or the glue of power. Without either, you face the ongoing defections at an industrial scale.

Five challenges await Modi. First, he must shake off the past and Nehru

It’s a perfectly reasonable presumption that Modi will be around for a significant enough time for us to reflect on the challenges that lie ahead. I will list five.

Three destroyers of Brand India. It’s all in our cities

The central curse of our urban governance isn’t that more voters live in these slummified villages. It’s that the political class panders to them instead of improving their quality of life.

2026 is like 1973 Indira-era oil shock plus youth anger. Modi has space, but not immunity

An oil shock, monsoon fears, rampant unemployment, and the seeming inevitability of inflation are common to both eras. Indira Gandhi’s self-destructive responses are instructive today.

Pakistan is tactically brilliant, strategically disastrous. It’s primed for repeated blunders

Pakistan has ended up losing every war against India but that hasn’t prevented it from claiming victory. We will go over the evidence to anticipate what to expect next.

Muslim voters no longer matter to BJP. Only a new Hindu-led coalition can challenge Modi-Shah

These elections mark completion of BJP-secular party divide purely on Hindu-Muslim basis. BJP’s rivals are increasingly looking like Muslim parties though their leaders are all Hindus.

Muslim vote, X factor & limitations of regional politics: Takeaways from Bengal, TN, Kerala elections

On counting day, this special edition of National Interest looks at key takeaways from verdicts in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam. You’d err if you credit or blame BJP’s success only on Hindutva. It’s more than that.

On Camera

Not just crude import bill, how US’ Russia sanctions law could raise costs for Indian exporters

If the US law is eventually enforced, India could face higher crude costs and pressure on its exports to the US, but refiners are unlikely to abruptly stop buying Russian oil.

India seeks 60 new transport aircraft for IAF, invites bids for a $10 billion deal

It is reliably learnt that Airbus, which had initially offered its A400M, is likely to sit it out since its aircraft outweighs requirements with payload capacity of 37 tonnes.

Guru RSS is cautioning shishya Modi govt. Bhagwat’s endorsement of Gen Z has an Indira lesson

It’s evident Bhagwat was watching from a distance and was worried about youth’s anger towards Modi govt. The first thing he did was to demolish any criticism of Gen Z protesters as anti-national.