Some things to Reconsider

https://theprint.in/national-interest/zohran-mamdani-new-york-mayor-indian-socialism/2673153/  https://www.business-standard.com/opinion/columns/zohran-mamdani-socialist-agenda-could-actually-spur-faster-growth-in-nyc-125062701427_1.html Shekhar Gupta’s recent column on Zohran Mamdani reads like a man trying to play neutral referee in a rigged match—raising one eyebrow at the Sanghi mob baying for blood, while slyly tossing them a whistle and pretending not to notice. With the other, it slips the ideological brass knuckles to the crowd already frothing at the mouth. Mamdani, Gupta suggests, is a well-meaning radical caught in a swirl of impractical dreams. But scratch past the polish of editorial polite prose and one finds the familiar discomfort of India’s populists and the extended coterie It’s not that Mamdani’s ideas are too radical—it’s that they are delivered from a platform that can’t be easily dismissed. A brown man, Muslim by heritage, representing a diverse district in ...

  https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/dc-comment/dc-edit-work-closely-with-canada-to-tackle-khalistan-threat-1886553 The Deccan Chronicle editorial calling for closer cooperation between India and Canada to tackle the so-called “Khalistan threat” is a textbook example of "locking yourself in a burning house to escape a mosquito". It is an editorial soaked in security-state talking points, and utterly blind to the far more pressing threats confronting India’s foreign and domestic policy. And while we’re at it, it’s time someone called out the Modi government’s real failing: not in what it obsesses about, but in what it consciously chooses to ignore. Let’s begin with the most uncomfortable, but essential, truth: the ghost of Khalistan is more a product of political theatre than geopolitical reality. In this regard, Narendra Modi bears uncanny similarities to another strong-willed Indian leader Indira Gandhi,  men and women cut from different ideological cloths but sewn i...

https://www.business-standard.com/opinion/columns/operation-sindoor-india-needs-information-defence-not-just-rebuttals-125061201445_1.html Lets begin with a bitter truth, served neat : the great Modi revolution of 2014 was not built on reform, renaissance, or even righteous anger. It was built on a well-oiled machinery of misinformation and disinformation. Call it what you will—spin, distortion, propaganda—but it has served as the backbone of the new India that many chest-thump about and too few dare question. Remember the three scandals that brought down the UPA government like a house of damp cards? Commonwealth Games , 2G spectrum , and Coalgate . All were declared “historic scams” by our then-echoing newsrooms. Faces were red with rage, fists were raised in candlelight vigils, and an old man in a Gandhi cap threatened fasts unto death. The result? After all the commotion, not a single conviction . Courts dismissed the cases. No money trail, no fraud. Just the noise of a nation exp...

  https://theprint.in/national-interest/op-sindoor-is-the-first-battle-in-indias-two-front-war-a-vicious-pawn-in-a-kings-gambit/2650009/   Op Sindoor: More Chest-Thumping, Less Thinking Let me begin with categorical disagreement—not gentle dissent, but full-throated, Sumo wrestler style takedown—of the “received wisdom” that now saturates prime-time India: the punditry of “TV Generals” and the breathless prose of what I call “cookie-pusher editors,” more trained in literary flair than geopolitical nuance. Case in point: the recent article titled “Op Sindoor is the First Battle in India’s Two-Front War. A Vicious Pawn in a King’s Gambit.” Dramatic? Certainly. Factual? Barely. The idea that China’s aggressive calculus came into India’s view only after Op Sindoor is laughable. For decades, China has not merely operated in isolation—it has built a playbook around proxy warfare. This is not new. It is not even controversial. It’s doctrine. North Korea is the textbook ex...

    Indian Subcontinent has a remarkable feature, our memories are short and consequences are lasting. When one casts a weary, knowing eye back at India’s relentless tryst with terrorism over the past three decades, the narrative that emerges is as much about the thunderous clamor of firepower as it is about the quiet, often overlooked, virtue of foresight. A cursory internet search – a tool of convenience for those who prefer quick answers to deep dives – might point to a multitude of major terrorist incidents. But let's unpick the numbers, and read the postscript. Between 2014 and 2025, the years Narendra Modi presided as Prime Minister, India indeed faced a series of devastating attacks. We saw the audacious assault on Pathankot (2016) , the chilling Uri attack (2016) , and the gut-wrenching Pulwama suicide bombing (2019) , all largely attributed to Jaish-e-Mohammed. Then came the worrying resurgence in Jammu & Kashmir, with incidents like Poonch-Rajouri (multiple i...

  For a decade now, the oratory from India’s right-wing leadership has been less about neighbourly affection and more about fanning fears, feeding bigotry, and occasionally—just for sport. In today’s hyper-connected world, foreign policy is no longer defined solely by strategic alliances, trade deals, or ceremonial photo opportunities between heads of state. Modern diplomacy now unfolds not just in official channels but also across the vast, unruly terrain of social media. Among the most affected is our immediate neighbourhood, where we are deeply intertwined through geography, history, and shared cultural ties. Yet, despite these affinities, New Delhi's soft power diplomacy has come under strain, partly due to the unchecked and inflammatory rhetoric proliferating across social and televised media landscapes. Take Bangladesh for example. Over the last few years, Indian political leaders have made several controversial remarks that have not gone unnoticed across the eastern bord...

 https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/clear-cut-victory-military-historian-says-west-misread-the-conflict-says-india-decimated-pakistani-bases-475974-2025-05-12 The recent article titled  "Clear-cut victory: Military historian says West misread the conflict..."  is deeply troubling—both for its perspective, and for its framing. The headline itself lacks journalistic neutrality, using triumphalist language that enhances government talking points rather than offering a balanced or investigative lens. More concerning is the reliance on a military historian to frame an unfolding geopolitical conflict. Historians are invaluable in interpreting past wars, not in validating present-day statecraft or battlefield outcomes still mired in ambiguity. Their role of a historian is to analyse in hindsight, not to endorse real-time narratives. Using a historian to proclaim military victory undermines objectivity and risks reducing journalism to propaganda. Such editorial choices...

  Shobhaa De’s column “Sindoor Was Modi’s Finest Hour” reads like a Page 3 party report dressed in fatigues .   Her mention about a cordial exchange in a London café is heartening, but does little to reflect the deeper, unresolved tensions between the two nations. —as if war and diplomacy are settled over Earl Grey and polite nods. War is not a fashion show. It’s not a soap opera where symbolic Sindoor and gender-balanced briefings make for strategic brilliance. Two women officers giving press conferences may be a welcome sight—but let’s not pretend it changes the cost of conflict or the calculus of deterrence. And then—out of nowhere—She crowns a new trinity: Modi the statesman, Tharoor the global Indian, and Abdullah the reborn moderate. I’ve seen stranger combinations, but not many. This isn’t analysis. It’s narrative airbrushing. She skips over international reaction, the fragile regional balance, the blowback that may still come. Instead, she takes a swipe at Trump, calli...

https://www.business-standard.com/opinion/columns/asim-munir-tightens-grip-but-fifth-star-won-t-alter-ground-realities-125053001946_1.html  By all means, Shekhar Gupta’s column “The Weight of the Fifth Star” could have been a sober, strategic analysis of civil-military tensions in Pakistan. Instead, it reads like a warning flare fired in the dark—noisy, dramatic, but ultimately directionless. While the piece accurately captures Pakistan’s descent into hybrid authoritarianism, it ultimately leans too far into speculative geopolitics, bordering on the theatrical. Let us begin with what is beyond dispute. Pakistan remains a garrison state, where the military tail wags the civilian dog. The Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, is not a national leader but a ceremonial compère reading scripts drafted in Rawalpindi. The President, Asif Ali Zardari, continues to weave his intrigues—but these days mostly in the salons of Karachi rather than the corridors of power. The institutions that should...