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National Interest

A ‘jai jawan, jai kisan’ trap awaits Modi. In a 5-year Test match with revived Opposition

Modi govt will need to address massive challenges without the total power it got used to, in the face of relentless electoral challenges, one after another.

Modi’s new universe: the normal irritants of democracy & awkward chai with Rahul Gandhi

Changed reality for Modi govt in its 3rd innings is by no means rise of a new phenomenon. It's a return to old normal where even majorities had to routinely wrestle with storied million mutinies.

Sangh wants BJP to know it’s not dispensable. It’s a rap on the knuckles, nothing more

Occasional lovers’ tiffs have marked history of RSS-BJP relations. To think that Nagpur will bring about any change in leadership is a misreading of both its intent and its power.

Muslims made their vote count. This time Hindus built a coalition with them

Muslim vote is BJP’s biggest worry. Knives are already out and probing its most critical fault line. Without recovering UP, BJP’s decline threatens to become chronic, and progressive.

Modi interviews, gaffe-free Rahul, Amit Shah’s rise — 10 hot takes from 44-day elections

2024 was a one-candidate election. Modi was the only candidate for whom BJP sought votes, and he was the only opponent most of its rivals wanted defeated.

Abki baar 90 paar for Congress? Why even 30 more seats will ruffle BJP

Discussion about outcome of Lok Sabha polls continues to boil in cauldron of expectations only from BJP. Now reverse this equation, what if we asked about the performance of the 'loser'?

What’s common between Netflix Chamkila and Trudeau’s trouble-infested Canada? They don’t get Punjab

Even in the weeks leading up to Chamkila’s assassination there were massacres every other day. To airbrush all of this is sheer intellectual cowardice if not a crime.

Frontrunner is letting the challenger define this poll campaign. Modi still hasn’t found a big theme

A theme has not yet emerged for BJP & people see lack of a contest, which makes it unexciting. For all these reasons, 2024 is turning out to be an unexpectedly theme-less election.

These 6 states are key for Modi’s ‘400 paar’ target. They’re also where Opposition can stop him

While this contest looks so predictable in large swathes of our political landscape, it is also more keenly contested than 2019 in some states.

44 years on, two things that have changed in Modi’s BJP, and one that hasn’t

As the BJP heads for a likely third successive term in power, it's fascinating to debate how true it looks to the original proposition: a party with a difference.

On Camera

With MGNREGA dismantled, Modi govt now has to prepare for upheaval in rural economy

That the Modi government would actually dismantle the architecture of one of the UPA era’s most significant rural welfare programmes, and remove MK Gandhi’s name, took the Opposition by surprise.

China is taking India to WTO over subsidies, again. Here’s what it’s arguing before trade body

Dispute will now move to consultative process, which allows the two sides to come to an amicable agreement within 60 days.

Israel has ‘realised who its real friend is’, eyes defence expansion in India amid arms curbs by others

It is argued that India-Israel ties are moving from buyer–seller dynamic to one focused on joint development & manufacturing partnership, a shift 'more durable' than traditional arms sales.

Dhurandhar shows hard cinema is soft power and Pakistan is unapologetically the target

If Pathaan gave both conservatives and liberals room to hide, Dhurandhar extends no such courtesy. Aditya Dhar ripped open that tent of hypocrisy and turned the knife.