Forthright
The forthcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections—expected in 2026—may well turn into a referendum on a question long dismissed by the Dravidian establishment: is Hindu consolidation finally underway in Tamil Nadu? For decades, the state was portrayed as immune to religious polarisation. That assumption is now being stress-tested, largely due to the ruling DMK-led alliance’s own…
The Indian National Congress today is no longer driven by ideology, policy alternatives, or even electoral arithmetic. It is driven by a singular obsession: Narendra Modi. In that blind pursuit of political vendetta, the party appears willing to undermine India’s credibility, dignity, and global standing—careless of the fact that it is simultaneously eroding whatever little…
A republic cannot survive on selective respect for the Constitution. When elected lawmakers swear allegiance to the Constitution on one hand and openly glorify those accused of orchestrating communal violence on the other, the danger is no longer rhetorical—it becomes existential. The Supreme Court of India has, after careful consideration, denied bail to Umar Khalid…
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…
At a time when the world is exhausted by ideological violence and religious extremism, it is imperative—especially for Indian Muslims—to pause, introspect, and decisively reject the path of radicalisation that has brought nothing but ruin wherever it has been tried. This is not a plea born out of hostility, but one rooted in realism, lived…
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…
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…
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…
There is an adage in politics and warfare alike: success has many fathers, failure is always an orphan. The brief but decisive India–Pakistan military confrontation of May 7–10, 2025, has proven this saying truer than ever. Months after the dust has settled, global power centres are queueing up to claim credit for “stopping” a conflict…
The death of Anjel Chakma, a young student from Tripura studying in Dehradun, is not merely a criminal incident—it is a moral indictment of a society that continues to deny, normalise, and excuse its deep-seated prejudices against people from India’s North-East. Chakma succumbed to his injuries after being brutally assaulted by local goons, reportedly under…
