Best of BS Opinion: Ambition under pressure in economics, politics and war

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

In the first column today, Kenneth Rogoff takes apart Donald Trump’s 2026 economic pitch, which promises rapid growth through fiscal stimulus, deregulation and pressure on the Federal Reserve. Rogoff argues that hopes of 4-6 per cent growth with falling inflation ignore labour shortages and inflationary demand. Even with gains from AI, such policies risk keeping inflation elevated and long-term rates higher, trading short-term growth for medium-term instability. The warning is that markets may tolerate this briefly, but not without demanding a higher price. 

Closer home, Aditi Phadnis tracks the Nationalist Congress Party’s uncertainty after Ajit Pawar’s death and Sharad Pawar’s reluctant return to centre stage. With leadership questions unresolved, the party faces hard choices: Align with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti, merge into the BJP, or drift towards the Congress. Ministerial vacancies and Budget timing sharpen incentives, even as family rivalries and Sharad Pawar’s own future complicate any clean resolution. What looks like manoeuvring is, at heart, a struggle for relevance and survival. 

Meanwhile, Sandeep Goyal turns to the Republic Day parade, arguing that its tableaux, once innovative, now feel repetitive. He suggests learning from Japan’s historically grounded Jidai Matsuri to rethink India’s approach. By organising future parades around successive historical eras rather than abstract themes, India could build a clearer narrative of its civilisational past and refresh a spectacle that risks visual fatigue. The idea is less about nostalgia and more about disciplined storytelling. 

Shekhar Gupta reflects on Operation Sindoor to argue that the hardest decision in war is knowing when to stop. He notes that India achieved its limited objective – the destruction of terror infrastructure – and established escalation dominance before accepting a ceasefire. Drawing contrasts with past conflicts, Gupta contends that ending the operation on time showed strategic clarity, not restraint born of weakness. Victory, he suggests, lies as much in political judgement as in battlefield success. 

Finally, in today’s Eye Culture, Atanu Biswas revisits To Kill a Mockingbird in Harper Lee’s centenary year, noting how repeated attempts to ban the novel only reaffirm its force. The discomfort provoked by its language and themes, he argues, is precisely the point. Censorship avoids history rather than confronting it, and in an open world, silencing a book often ensures it is read more widely. The novel endures because its questions remain unresolved. 

Stay tuned!