Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Bail Without Balance

There is a thin but vital line between safeguarding liberty and sanctifying lawlessness. When courts blur that line, even unintentionally, the consequences extend far beyond the four corners of a bail order. They seep into public confidence — the one currency the judiciary cannot afford to devalue. A magisterial court in Delhi on Monday granted…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Choose Restraint, India

The reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a coordinated U.S.–Iraq military operation marks a dangerous inflection point in West Asian geopolitics. Whether justified in Washington as pre-emptive security or regime-neutralisation, the elimination of the head of a sovereign state detonates a far larger question: what remains of the international order when…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Bluster Meets Steel

When a so-called nuclear-armed state declares “open war” on social media, it isn’t projecting strength. It is advertising instability. That is precisely what Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif did when he thundered that it was now “open war” between Pakistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The outburst followed renewed border clashes after Pakistani airstrikes in eastern Afghan…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Robed Realignment

India has never lacked for faith. What it increasingly lacks is accountability from those who monetize it. The latest controversy surrounding Avimukteshwaranand is not an isolated embarrassment—it is part of a recurring pattern. A self-styled spiritual authority lays claim to exalted lineage, courts attention through provocative declarations, faces allegations or scrutiny, and then—almost on cue—discovers…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Why Fear Kerala Story 2

The debate over The Kerala Story 2 is no longer just about a film. It is about who gets to define “freedom of expression” in India — and more importantly, who decides which stories are allowed to be told. When Pinarayi Vijayan calls the film “false propaganda” and “poisonous,” he is entitled to his political…

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