Forthright
For years, the Opposition has perfected a lazy political slogan: “BJP is stealing elections.” EVMs, institutions, democracy—everything is allegedly compromised. But as the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal progresses, an inconvenient question now demands an answer: who is actually stealing votes? Because what the SIR is unearthing is…
I walked into the theatre more out of curiosity than conviction. The reviews of Durandhar were already trending, social media was buzzing, and long queues of self-described nationalists and patriots were forming outside cinema halls. I wanted to see for myself whether the film was mere political propaganda—or whether it dared to revisit uncomfortable truths…
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s blunt assertion that “the ball is now in the US court” is not rhetorical bravado. It reflects a strategic recalibration in Washington—forced, not voluntary—after years of arm-twisting, veiled threats and tariff theatrics failed to extract concessions from New Delhi. The prolonged India–US trade negotiations have reached a moment where America’s…
Diplomacy, in the hands of seasoned practitioners, is a craft. In the hands of amateur showmen, it is often a ping-pong match—complete with theatrics, overacting, and unforced errors. In the last few months, the India–US equation has offered a strange combination of both, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump engaged in…
Tamil Nadu is once again at the centre of a religious confrontation — and not by coincidence. The escalating battle over the Karthigai Deepam ritual at Thiruparankundram Hill has turned into a direct clash between the Hindu majority’s centuries-old religious practices and a DMK government whose ideological hostility toward Sanatana Dharma is a matter of…
If Parliament ever needed a reminder of why the Congress continues to dig itself into deeper irrelevance, Rahul Gandhi kindly delivered it—live, unfiltered, and in prime-time clarity. The Leader of the Opposition, who often sounds more like a leader of confusion, opened the debate on SIR with the confidence of a man who had skimmed…
China has once again demonstrated that it remains tone-deaf to a changing geopolitical reality and blind to the fact that India of 2025 is not the India of 1962. Its latest provocation—the arbitrary detention of an Indian woman traveller at the Shanghai airport—may look like a routine immigration episode in Beijing’s telling. But New Delhi…
In a democracy that prides itself on periodic and peaceful elections, it is rather shocking that Booth Level Officers (BLOs)—the grassroots backbone of the electoral process—are now being portrayed as victims of unbearable institutional pressure. A recent report in a national media outlet, based on what it calls a “research study,” claims that some teachers…
Telangana is preparing for one of its most ambitious exercises in future planning: the Rising Telangana Global Conclave, where Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and his team will unveil the Telangana Rising Vision Document 2047 on December 9. It is a moment that deserves recognition. For a state still shaping its identity in the national…
The latest manufactured outrage over the Central government’s decision to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on new smartphones exposes the Opposition’s chronic habit of attacking first and understanding later. Congress, predictably leading the chorus, has rushed to label the app “intrusive” and “dictatorial,” as if the government were trying to plant surveillance tools inside every…
