Opinions

  • Elections 2019: India at Cross roads

    By Ram Puniyani
    Mar 21, 2019

    Elections in a democracy can rightly be called as festival of the masses. They determine the course of the country in times to come. That is generally the case and Indian democracy has been steering this path, deepening the democratic process s...

  • The Return Of The Brahmin?

    By Saeed Naqvi
    Mar 18, 2019

    It must never be forgotten that, of the 72 years since independence, the Prime Ministerial seat has been occupied by Brahmins for almost 51 years.

  • Why minority politics in India?

    Mar 10, 2019

    India is a rainbow nation. The convergence of diversities is the very essence of this kaleidoscopic nation with continental dimensions. India is microcosm of the world. The Brokpa tribe, inhabited in the northernmost territory of India, Ladakh,...

  • Lynching is planned and premeditated

    By Humra Quraishi
    Mar 10, 2019

    Lynching is on in our country. Yet we aren’t in that mood to react fiercely enough for it to be halted. Why this eerie quiet? Why this thick hide on us?

  • Congress Dilemma: Neither Ekla Chalo, Nor Whole Heartedly In Coalition

    By Saeed Naqvi
    Mar 09, 2019

    Pulwama or no Pulwama, my impression is that the Congress was never in the fight full throttle. Basically the Congress is all at sea, balancing its self-interest against the larger interest – that of the coalition and the nation.

  • Don’t alienate Kashmiris, unka abhinandan karein!

    By Nilofar Suhrawardy
    Mar 09, 2019

    With due respect to Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) being very much of Indian territory, it is indeed paradoxical that little importance has been given to Kashmiris being citizens of this country. Why have they been targeted for terrorists’...

  • Kashmirs venturing out of the Valley must be protected

    By Humra Quraishi
    Mar 02, 2019

    This entire week I have been sitting and recollecting those words and phrases from prime minister Narendra Modi’s lengthy speeches where he had spoken of kashmiriyat, insaniyat, jamooriyat, in the context of the Kashmir crisis.

  • War Cry Only Cripples the Soul and Strengthens Imperialism

    Mar 02, 2019

    Occasional terrorist attacks and communal riots have been a fate of developing nations for a long time. The prime movers and beneficiary of these acts have been the imperialist powers, and now the corporate classes.

  • Why Modi will still lose 2019!

    By Amaresh Misra
    Feb 27, 2019

    This is the title of my new book, which will be out by March end. More about it later. For now, I am not going to ask Government of India to show '300' dead bodies of militants etc. This is no political slugfest. Our air-force h...

  • Post-Pulwama jingoism is dangerous

    By Humra Quraishi
    Feb 25, 2019

    Why do the rulers of the day go on those flying visits? Why don’t they spend days or weeks or months up there, along the border areas, and interact with them? Why that rush to fly back?

  • Uproot the killers of democracy through the weapons of democracy

    Feb 25, 2019

    The concept of ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ is self-contradicting. A vast population of Indian citizens (about 85-90%) are, on the one hand, claiming to be non-Hindus and, on the other, accepting the Hindus to be the majori...

  • Post Pulwama Strategies: A Journalist and Politician First to Speak Up

    By Saeed Naqvi
    Feb 25, 2019

    Prem Shankar Jha’s column in The Wire caused my mind to wander in an unlikely direction: Kanpur riots soon after the demolition of Babari Masjid. Jha’s piece headlined “In Pulwama, Narendra Modi has found the trigger he needed...

  • From Dantewada to Awantipor, from Uri to Sunjwa episodes same but attitudes different – A Kashmiri's lament

    Feb 25, 2019

    In 2010 a deadly attack was made on CRPF in Dantiwada of Chattisgarh in which 84 CRPF and policemen were killed by Naxalites and Maoists. Jawans from various states of the country were killed. In Chattisgarh and other Naxalite-infested areas, s...

  • What’s the Hitch in Congress Leading Post Poll Coalition Opposite BJP?

    By Saeed Naqvi
    Feb 16, 2019

    There are reasons to believe that the BJP will not be able to repeat its 2014 performance in 2019. The nation is therefore headed for two distinct coalitions, facing each other across the aisle.

  • Rise up to defend democracy, constitutional law, federalism in Bengal! Say no to Modi autocracy!

    By Amaresh Misra
    Feb 04, 2019

    Atal Behari Vajpayee, BJP's first Prime Minister, was very upfront on Centre-State relations. He was against New Delhi rough shodding States with the means at its disposable, especially without the consent of the State.  ...

  • George Fernandes—A man of many contradictions

    Jan 30, 2019

    George Mathew Fernandes was one of the firebrand Socialist leaders of his time. A priest for a short period, a trade unionist, agriculturist, political activist, human rights activist, parliamentarian and journalist all rolled into one. He led ...

  • How is the Electoral Game Shaping Up in Key States

    By Saeed Naqvi
    Jan 29, 2019

    The BJP in Kerala may have boosted its saffron image on the Sabrimala issue but is unlikely to gain much electoral advantage in 2019. That has been the pattern for decades: it has zero conversion rate even though it has a vote share of 10 perce...

  • Not Rahul Gandhi’s Masterstroke

    By M Ghazali Khan
    Jan 26, 2019

    Looking at Priyanka Gandhi’s political credentials—except being from the Gandhi family and having earlier campaigned for her brother in Amethi, she has none whatsoever—one fails to understand on what ground her appointment as ...

  • Priyanka Gandhi picks up the gauntelet

    By Amaresh Misra
    Jan 24, 2019

    People are shocked. No one expected Priyanka Gandhi to pick up the gauntelet and enter politics from UP, the home turf of her esteemed ancestors, and the State that creates, makes or breaks national Governments, grand ambitions, political grand...

  • Mamata Banerjee will be the 2019 kingmaker

    By Humra Quraishi
    Jan 23, 2019

    Mamata Banerjee is indeed a fighter. The latest political developments taking off from West Bengal, where she came up with that piercing shrill cry to halt the BJP-RSS in their tracks, is only a continuation of her determined effort to keep the...