Political Analysis

The scene in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, after an Aug. 10, 2021, grenade attack by militants that wounded at least nine civilians. Kashmir has experienced sporadic violence for more than seven decades, including three wars. Yawar Nazir/Getty Images Bulbul Ahmed, Bangladesh University of Professionals An armed conflict in Kashmir has thwarted all attempts to solve it for three quarters of ...

[By Narendra Kaushik] New Delhi: Let me come straight to the point. To say that Bihar election results are a resounding negation of Political forces which are out to monger hate in the society and thus, create communal divisions is, to put it succinctly, only a half truth. I agree Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit ...

[By Shashi Tharoor] NEW DELHI – The headlines out of India in recent weeks have often made sickening reading. Startlingly, the central protagonist in most of these stories is that most peaceable and innocent of animals, the cow. A Muslim man was beaten to death by a mob in a small town an hour from New Delhi in response to ...

[By Narendra Kaushik] New Delhi: When Bal Keshav Thackeray nee Bal Thackeray launched Shiv Sena in 1966 through a massive rally in Shivaji Park he had several things going for him. There was anger simmering against what Thackeray then called ‘Yandugunduwalas and lungiwalas’ (read South Indians) who dominated in white collar jobs over ‘Marathi manoos’ in the megalopolis. Thackeray himself had built ...

[By Narendra Kaushik] It was sometime in February 1998. A pale orange sun was going down behind the white clouds opposite Barauni Oil Refinery.  Our ambassador car driver had just returned after unsuccessfully scouting for a mechanic in nearby cities to fix the vehicle’s broken axle. We, four journalists, were haggling with the driver on the roadside for the return ...

[By Shashi Tharoor] NEW DELHI – On July 30, Yakub Memon, a chartered accountant and the brother of a notorious gangster now living in self-imposed exile, was hanged for complicity in the planning and execution of serial bomb blasts that killed 257 people in Mumbai in 1993. The hanging, India’s first in three years, has prompted reactions ranging from dismay ...

[By Narendra Kaushik] New Delhi: When Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan says that expectations from Narendra Modi Government were ‘probably unrealistic’ he is stating only half the truth. In reality, the expectations were not just unrealistic they were – and are always – vested in the case of many people across the length and breadth of the ...

[By Shashi Tharoor] NEW DELHI – India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will mark its first anniversary in office this month. While it is too early to assess its overall performance, the overwhelming sentiment across India so far is one of disappointment. The BJP rode to power on a wave of expectations after a ...

[By Narendra Kaushik] New Delhi: The fight over Land Acquisition Act or The Right to Fare Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 is not about the farmer. And it is certainly not about whether the farmer will have right to fare compensation for his land acquired by the government. If that were the case, ...

|By Narendra Kaushik| New Delhi:  It was sometime in July 2013. I was doing a pre-election survey in Delhi and had gone to Timarpur to speak to husband of a Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.  After I was done with my questions, he asked me what feedback I was getting on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). I told him that ...