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Thursday, April 25, 2024
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National Interest

3 cheers for INS Vikrant & 3 questions for India’s leadership on naval doctrine

INS Vikrant is reason to celebrate. But does India need aircraft carriers? What kind & how many? What kind of firepower should India field & where will it come from?

Why Sonia-Rahul’s Congress began its race to the political bottom in 2004 & is now winning it

Indira Gandhi had begun returning Congress to the Centre after realising she’d pushed it too far to the Left. Rajiv, Rao & Manmohan stayed the course. Sonia & Rahul reversed it, became indistinguishable from CPI(M) & just as unelectable.

Remember a convicted ‘non-guilty’ IAS officer, HC Gupta, when fretting over stalled economic reforms

The 2010-13 season of scandal-mongering still casts a shadow on Indian politics, and the victims are those at the lowest end of the decision-making chain.

Tiranga vs Tiranga: Gloves are off as Kejriwal joins the ‘nationalism’ battle with Modi

Kejriwal’s maun vrat on Modi has ended. This is an important turn in Indian politics. In some ways rivalling the dramatic turn in Bihar.

In Kashmir 3 years on, 3 positive changes, 3 things that should’ve happened & 3 that got worse

Kashmir as a crisis has fallen off our headlines and from the top of our collective minds. Which is precisely the most important change for the better.

Can you beat Modi’s BJP? Not impossible, but only if you win back enough Hindu voters

The future challenger to Modi will be somebody who can bring the Hindus and Muslims together again. The Hindus as Hindus, not broken caste groups.

Sack of the Hindu caravan, and future of Indian secularism

For too long was the burden of protecting India’s secularism outsourced to its 14% Muslims. Why it's time it shifted to the Hindus.

‘Othered’ Muslim in Modi-BJP era: 3 essentials before mounting a political challenge to correct it

If the BJP has unchallenged power, as it seems now, do they want one in seven Indians alienated because of their faith? At the very least, this would make for a very imperfect Indian democracy.

Do I have a complaint with Mohd Zubair of Alt News? Here’s why I have 3 answers, No, No & Yes

If the first ‘no’ to whether I have a complaint with Zubair is principled, the second comes from the heart as a believer, a Hindu.

Moral, political & ideological questions on Maharashtra: 1st is simplest to answer, 3rd trickiest

What is Shiv Sena’s ideology? We might say it’s been a convenient mix of extreme ethnic chauvinism & unforgiving Hindutva. Within the second, the party retained space to manoeuvre.

On Camera

Rajkummar Rao must keep his chin up. Questions will be asked and he’s no victim

Rajkummar Rao now looks pretty much unrecognisable. It doesn’t take much to deduce that eyebrows will be raised, and questions will be asked about his face.

Kotak Mahindra Bank shares drop 10% after RBI bans it from taking new customers via digital channels

The private lender's shares tumbled to be top Nifty 50 loser after India's central bank barred it from taking on new customers through online and mobile banking channels.

Russia-Ukraine war a gold mine for US, British defence firms — sales rocket, stock prices soar

Such has been the growth in the defence sector that companies are spending billions of dollars on buying back their own shares with record number of orders in pipeline and counting.

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.