Page 8 - Shekhar Gupta

Manipur, Northeast, New Delhi

There are three things you never do in a small NE state: Undermine local leaders, divide and rule, push homogenisation

Unchecked Kashmir box

India has worked hard to earn a sweet spot on Kashmir. But full statehood remains to be restored as we approach the fourth anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370

No, we don't really care about Manipur

For most of us, the Manipur crisis is out of sight, out of mind. The story in a state so small and so far out is a 'Big Yawn' for many. I try to persuade you to wake up

Limits of Modi magic to perils of polarisation: 10 lessons from Karnataka

Modi-Shah BJP's inability to replicate the Lok Sabha success in state polls, the importance of strong state leaders for Congress, and the terminal decline of JD (S) are also among key lessons

Democracy vs Pakistan

The Imran Khan episode highlights the counterintuitive and unfortunate idea of perils of democracy in a country as large as Pakistan

Perils of new multilateralism

Nostalgia for the non-aligned years is back in India, multilateralism is in fashion, and only places where we seek refuge are the organisations China founded or dominates

Two-sided triangle

The SCO summit is a good moment to take stock of how the strategic situation has changed. While India's power has grown phenomenally in 10 years, it remains caught in the China-Pakistan pincer

Atiq, Ansari, Naroda

Total denial of justice, as in the cases of Naroda Gam, the Jaipur bombings and gangsters like Atiq Ahmed, is why faith in the system has fallen so low. It's what fuels vigilante culture

Unity in futility

The pitch for 'Opposition unity' is back in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. In the past, it has proven to be a bogus, defeatist idea, as elections are not just about arithmetic

The evolution of brand BJP

While the party's founders never had a majority and needed to keep a diverse coalition intact, today's BJP doesn't need any allies. Apart from Modi and Shah, they also need to thank the founders

Reformative to retributive justice

Two contradictory court judgments this week raise an uncomfortable question: Has the judiciary, from the trial court to the Supreme Court, moved from a reformative institution to a retributive one?

Why the Sikhs are hurting

The causes of anger are broadly four: Existential threat, incarceration of Bandi Singhs, those accused of sacrilege not being caught, and a rhetorical one, what's wrong with a Sikh Rashtra?

Conglomerates, cronyism, brandless growth

It's good that cronyism is being debated robustly. But the much bigger failure of incredibly powerful, rich and successful conglomerates - Adani, Ambani, Tata- lies in India's fully brand-free growth

India's jalebi of friend & foe

Modi govt finds itself in a contradiction of its own making. It has encouraged pro-Russian, Westophobic public sentiment while setting strategic policy that's exactly the opposite

BJP & the Northeast bell curve

Celebrating BJP's Northeast wins, Modi hailed the region's dramatic transformation. People will argue over who gets credit and how much, but it's a true Indian success story

In Punjab, a political vacuum and remote control bring back the K-word

An armed mob overran a big police station near the border, a suspect was freed, and then the State said 'sorry'. You have to be nuts to think there will be no consequences

Finding Nellie's smoking gun

How a policeman's wireless message that could have saved 3,000 lives, but was ignored and covered up, was uncovered

Bloodstained road to Nellie

In that awful fortnight, when Indira Gandhi decided to force an election nobody wanted in Assam, you didn't have to go looking for trouble to write about

Indian capitalism's stress test

The Adani crisis is the greatest stress test for Indian capitalism yet. So far, India has passed it, with almost 10/10

'Reward the rich' politics

With a 10% tax cut for the super-rich, has the Modi government lost it? If this is what we believe, we are still caught in oldthink in our political economy