Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Brand BJP Wins

The verdict from Maharashtra’s civic polls is not merely a tally of seats—it is a political statement, loud and unambiguous. The Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the dominant force, not just in Mumbai’s prestigious Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), but across the state’s urban landscape. Exit polls projected it, ground reports confirmed it, and the…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Disgrace Mamata

If there was any lingering doubt about who stands for constitutional order and who thrives on political anarchy, the Supreme Court put it to rest on Thursday—firmly, unequivocally, and publicly. By staying the petitions filed against Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, the apex court delivered a stinging rebuke to West…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Trump vs Sovereignty

Donald Trump’s politics have never been subtle. It is coercive, transactional, and unapologetically destabilising. When he threatens Iran today with military action, sanctions, and economic strangulation under the familiar pretext of “regime behaviour,” the world would be naïve to see it as an isolated episode. Iran is merely the current theatre. The method—pressure, humiliation, internal…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Diplomacy with Dignity

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s first official visit to India isn’t just another diplomatic pageant — it is a milestone in the evolving India-Germany relationship, setting the tone for a pragmatic, future-focused partnership that spans economic dynamism, security cooperation, people-to-people mobility, and shared global priorities. What’s more, Chancellor Merz’s engagement — including the humane lifting of…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Washington’s Mixed Signals

When the President of the United States speaks with reckless inconsistency and his envoy rushes in to apply diplomatic balm, the question is unavoidable: whom should India believe—Donald Trump or Sergio Gor? US ambassador-designate and Special Envoy to South and Central Asia Sergio Gor wants New Delhi to trust Washington. He urges India to look…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Civilisational Reclamation

The claim that Bharat is “rewriting history” is both dishonest and revealing. Dishonest, because history in India was never neutrally written to begin with. Revealing, because those raising this alarm have thrived for decades on distortion, suppression, and selective amnesia. What is unfolding today is not erasure, but recovery. Not revisionism, but reclamation. For nearly…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Modi Shows Spine

The latest outbursts from U.S. President Donald Trump—particularly his threats of imposing punitive tariffs of an almost absurd scale on India—expose not strength but frustration. The trigger appears to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s refusal to approach Washington before an arbitrary deadline set by the U.S. administration. That expectation itself reveals a dangerous misreading of…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Didi Unhinged

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is no longer merely rattled—she appears unhinged. Her latest public meltdown over the Enforcement Directorate’s raid on the residence and office of I-PAC co-founder Rishi Jain has exposed not just political insecurity, but a dangerous contempt for constitutional limits and institutional authority. What unfolded in Kolkata was unprecedented. A…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Shami’s SIR Test

The recent notice issued to Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami to appear for a Special Intensive Review (SIR) hearing in Kolkata has predictably triggered a political and emotional storm. Predictable, because in West Bengal today, even routine constitutional processes are immediately framed as persecution—or worse, communal targeting. Yet stripped of noise and motivated outrage, the episode…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Hindu Rights Restored

The Madras High Court’s emphatic verdict upholding the lighting of Karthigai Deepam atop the Thiruparankundram hillock is not merely a legal win—it is a moral, constitutional, and civilisational assertion. It delivers a stinging rebuke to the ruling DMK’s persistent attempt to trivialise Hindu faith while weaponising minority appeasement for narrow political gains. By affirming the…

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