Shekhar Gupta

Dear Narendrabhai, can you again restore strategic stability to our east?

By next weekend, Bangladesh will have an elected government. This is India's moment to reboot broken ties by moderating the 'ghuspethiya' rhetoric in poll-bound West Bengal and Assam

Budget 2026: Confident yet anxious amid global and domestic uncertainty

The Budget has indeed woken up the sleeping markets, just not the way the government's fans would have expected

In modern war, stopping at the right moment matters as much as striking

The key to fighting a war successfully, or even launching it, is a clear objective. That's an entirely political call. It isn't emotional or purely military

Pakistan se azaadi: Why the gap with India will only keep widening

The hard fact is that the only area where Pakistan can narrow the gap with India is population. Its growth here is about twice as much as India's

Thank you, Mr Trump: Why India has changed its mind on trade deals

With the UK, EFTA deals already in the bag, EU on the way, almost every member of RCEP except China signed up, and even restrictions on China being lifted, India has changed its mind on trade

How 1985-95 still stands out as the most consequential decade in India

You'd think the decade of 1985-95 is long over. Not really. The issues that erupted in that decade are still shaping Indian conversations

Rethinking Islam, military power, and democracy: A year-end correction

Many of you might think I got something so wrong in National Interest pieces written this year. I might disagree! But some deserve a mea culpa. I'd deal with the most recent this week

Dhurandhar marks the arrival in Bollywood of a new-generation soft power

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

IndiGo's real crime is letting government act as private sector's saviour

Don't blame misfortune. This is colossal incompetence and insensitivity. So bad that heads would have rolled even in the old PSU-era Indian Airlines and Air India

The failed Marshal Doctrine: Pak's most 'creative' military dictatorship

In the exact period that Gen Munir has been consolidating power, his counterparts in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have eschewed it with remarkable dignity and professionalism

Time for selectors and coach to go as Indian cricket made to grovel at home

The India-South Africa series-defining fact is the catastrophic decline of Indian red ball cricket, where a visiting team can mock us with the 'grovel' word

Tejas crash highlights India's history of playing catch-up in air power

It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection

The BJP will now look to become a dominant force in a post-Nitish Bihar

The outcome marks the end of Lalu as a political force. While Nitish's phase is a matter of time, the BJP has a hawk's eye. If only they could find some serious local leadership

Congress must first try some humility if it wants to best the BJP

There can be no challenge to the BJP across India without a Congress revival. The Modi party is growing - almost entirely at the cost of the Congress

Bihar: The first republic, the lost republic, thanks to political obsession

Bihar is blessed with a land more fertile for revolutions than any in India. Why has it fallen so far behind then? Constant obsession with politics is at the root of its destruction

New currency of hard power: How Trump turned US imports into an asset

If China is an exporting superpower, America is an importing one. Mr Trump has turned what would usually be a liability into an asset

Deepfake on duty: How AI is taking fake news to an entirely new level

I told Grok to look at Op Sindoor-related gallantry award citations, and found that AI promises facts but can make them up. It's taking fake news to a different level, and it has been fully gamed

Caste, power, and pain: When even privilege can't guarantee dignity

Education, reservations, and govt jobs are meant to bring equality and dignity. That we are a long way from it is evident in the shoe thrown at the CJI and the suicide of Haryana IPS officer

How Pakistan thinks: Munir's outreach to Trump signals return to normal

The US never dropped Pakistan from the list of Major Non-Nato allies. India never got on to it, nor would it ever be an applicant for it

Engagement Farmers' Cup 2025: Rethinking cricket ties with Pakistan

Many really smart people now share the position that playing cricket with Pakistan is politically, strategically, and morally wrong. It is just a poor appreciation of competitive sport