Best of BS Opinion:The beats of politics, sports, and storytelling

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

Have you ever been to a party where the DJ’s equipment is busted? I mean he tries to make up, but the broken sound just can’t give you the holistic sound, and thus the experience. The beats stumble over one another, a melody barely holding itself together, the crowd swaying in confusion. That’s what the world feels like right now — a messy mix of rhythms clashing, some finding sync, others spiralling into noise. Let’s dive in. 

Take the deportation of shackled Indians from the US. Once, this would have set off political sirens. Today? Barely a ripple. Aditi Phadnis highlights that a few politicians — Nitin Patel, Mamata Banerjee — tried to find the beat, but most have moved on. Gujarat, instead of defending deportees, cracked down on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Many see those sent back as people who rejected India and stained its reputation. The government? Holding the tempo steady, possibly setting the stage for stricter immigration policies at home. 

 

Even as the beats of global trade try to sync, the turntables keep skipping. Daniel Moss draws our attention to the so-called ‘China+1’ strategy, saying it was never a clean break — just a remix of dependencies. But now, under a fresh Trump doctrine, the tempo is changing. If goods were once welcome as long as they played through a friendly DJ, the new mix demands they be produced within the club itself.  

Meanwhile, sports play to a different rhythm. Sandeep Goyal reminds us how Jannik Sinner, fresh off Grand Slam wins, gets a doping ban — but keeps his sponsorships. Unlike Sharapova or Armstrong, whose careers nosedived after scandal, Sinner gets a mere pause, a convenient excuse — “contaminated by my physio”— and the game goes on. Have we accepted a few off-notes in the soundtrack of modern sports? If sponsors aren’t leaving, maybe no one cares anymore. 

Then there’s the ultimate remix battle—Trump vs. Modi. Shekhar Gupta draws our attention to how Trump is the DJ who strips the song to its skeleton, cutting bureaucracy, and scattering government agencies. Modi, meanwhile, layers on more bass — more civil servants, more state control. His 8th Pay Commission notification signals a growing government, a system where bureaucracy isn’t dead weight but the backbone of governance. Two opposite tracks, two different crowds. 

And then, out of the noise, Vanita Kohli Khandekar brings us something fresh — India’s streaming platforms reshaping storytelling. No more generic sets; now we get Nagaland, Arunachal, Punjab in full color. Shows like Paatal Lok and Kohrra use real landscapes, languages, cultures — no longer background noise, but the song itself. 

Stay tuned — because the turntables are broken, but the music keeps playing. Are we still listening?