M.S Shanker

Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Consensus Struggle: Why Democracies Argue, Drift, and Still Move Forward

One of the great myths sold to the public—especially by so-called opinion-makers in television studios and editorial rooms—is that national consensus is achievable on complex issues of statecraft. In reality, consensus has rarely existed, at least not in any meaningful or durable form, within functioning democracies. Not in my lifetime, and certainly not in any…

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Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Time Is Running Out: India Must Speak Before Silence Becomes Complicity

India today stands at a dangerous crossroads—externally challenged, internally tested, and geopolitically squeezed at a moment when hesitation could prove fatal. What is unfolding around us is not a series of disconnected events but a pattern—one that New Delhi can no longer afford to ignore or downplay. Reports emerging from Bangladesh over the past weeks…

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Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Litmus Test: The Thackerays’ Political Relevance in Maharashtra

The Thackeray surname, once synonymous with power in Maharashtra politics, is today facing its severest political test. What is increasingly being described as an “existential crisis” for the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is no exaggeration—it is a reflection of shrinking electoral space, eroding cadre loyalty, and diminishing public…

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Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Are Hindus Awakening in India?

The question of whether Hindus are “awakening from their slumber” has become a recurring theme in public discourse—often raised with emotion, sometimes with apprehension, and frequently with political overtones. Yet, beyond slogans and counter-slogans, this question deserves a calmer, more thoughtful examination rooted in history, demographics, and contemporary global developments. Hinduism—Sanatan Dharma—is not merely a…

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Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

When New York Mayor Forgets the Meaning of Sovereignty

New York’s new Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has projected himself as the face of a “new era” in American urban politics—audacious, ideological, and unrestrained. But audacity without responsibility quickly mutates into arrogance. That line appears to have been crossed when Mamdani openly declared solidarity with Umar Khalid, an accused conspirator in India’s anti-CAA violence cases, while…

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Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Time to Draw the Line: Why Bangladeshi Players Should Be Barred from IPL 2026

There comes a moment when neutrality stops being a virtue and begins to resemble complicity. Indian cricket—and by extension the Indian Premier League—has reached that moment with Bangladesh. The growing demand by Hindu religious leaders and civil society groups to bar Bangladeshi cricketers from IPL 2026 is not an eruption of irrational anger, as some…

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