Forthright
Arvind Kejriwal is at it again. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founder, once hailed as a crusader against corruption, has now been reduced to making irrelevant, attention-seeking statements that only expose his hypocrisy. Recently, he issued two “nationalist” demands: one, why the Modi government did not retaliate against the Trump administration’s 50% tariffs by slapping…
As leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) gather in Beijing on August 31, the mood across Eurasia will be one of consolidation. Once seen as a loose regional bloc, the SCO has matured into a serious geopolitical platform—China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Central Asian states, and now partners like Iran are redefining regional security and…
Former Planning Commission member and Congress loyalist Syeda Hamid has lit a firestorm with her astonishing defence of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Speaking in Guwahati, she declared, “What’s wrong if they are Bangladeshis? Bangladeshis are also humans. The world is so large. Bangladeshis can also be here. Not depriving anyone’s rights.” Such casual justification of…
As the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) marks a century of existence this year, it finds itself at a decisive crossroads in shaping both ideological narrative and political power. From its humble beginnings in 1925 as a cultural organization devoted to the Hindu renaissance, the Sangh has grown into a formidable socio-political force, influencing policies, institutions,…
The just-concluded winter session of Parliament—among the stormiest in recent years—produced little legislative work but plenty of political theatre. At the heart of the Opposition’s protests was the charge that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had allegedly deleted lakhs of voters in Bihar, a move they termed “vote chori.” The ruling side countered that…
The Indian Parliament this week sent out a strong message: playtime is over. By passing a bill to ban the operating, facilitating, and advertising of online games played with money, the Lok Sabha has drawn a hard line against what many parents, educators, and policymakers have long feared—gaming addiction spiraling into a full-blown social crisis….
There is a limit to how far political desperation can be dressed up as intellectual credibility. The Congress party, battered by successive electoral defeats and staring at another drubbing, has now latched on to dubious data from psephologist Sanjay Kumar, Co-Director of Lokniti-CSDS, to manufacture a fake scandal against the Election Commission of India (ECI)….
Every year on August 14, Pakistan gets one chance to reflect on its 79 years of existence—on its fractured democracy, its economy in tatters, and its reputation as a global sponsor of terror. Instead, Islamabad chose the familiar path this Independence Day: propaganda over truth, self-delusion over reality, and medals for failures masquerading as victories….
The much-hyped Alaska meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — packaged as “3+3 talks” and billed as a possible turning point for the Russia–Ukraine war — ended not with a ceasefire handshake but with a business handshake. If you blinked, you missed the peace part entirely. Officially, the summit aimed…
Donald Trump’s latest diplomatic outburst is a masterclass in how not to conduct international relations. Days before his planned meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the U.S. President issued a public threat — warning of “very severe consequences” if Russia did not agree to end the war in Ukraine during their discussions. Let’s be clear:…
