MS Shanker Exit polls have once again done what they do best—generate heat without much light. A few projections suggesting a narrow escape route for Mamata Banerjee have been seized upon by her supporters as proof of resilience. But scratch beneath the surface, and the political behaviour of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) tells…
The din has finally settled. The rallies are over, the slogans have faded, and the relentless trading of accusations has come to a halt. What remains is the only voice that truly matters in a democracy—the voter. As Tamil Nadu heads into a single-phase election for all 234 seats and West Bengal continues its staggered…
As Tamil Nadu heads into a single-phase showdown and West Bengal advances through a crucial first phase, the spotlight has sharply turned to women voters—now being actively courted through competing narratives around the Women’s Reservation framework. While the legislation itself was passed in 2023, its delayed implementation—linked to the Census and delimitation—has been weaponised politically….
MS Shanker As West Bengal inches closer to a decisive electoral moment, the political temperature is rising—and so is the sense of inevitability around the outcome. With the first phase of polling fast approaching, the contours of this high-stakes battle are becoming clearer: what once appeared to be a formidable fortress of the ruling All…
MS Shanker Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge appears to have conceded defeat even before the first vote is cast in the first phase of Bihar’s assembly elections scheduled for Thursday. Instead of confidently projecting the prospects of the Mahagathbandhan — of which his party is a principal stakeholder — Kharge surprisingly chose to cast doubts over…
MS Shanker When the Opposition, particularly the Congress party, rages against the Adani Group, it’s not because it fears corruption—it fears competition. For decades, India’s industrial landscape was shaped to benefit a few favoured families and foreign lobbies, while real self-reliance remained a slogan, not strategy. The rise of a first-generation entrepreneur like Gautam Adani—who…
MS Shanker A former high-ranking bureaucrat recently asked me to write an article on what language could unite India—given, as he put it, the “widespread regional opposition” to Hindi. Frankly, I was puzzled. Opposition from whom, exactly? Beyond the entrenched, ideologically rigid Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu, who else is actively resisting Hindi as a…
The Pahalgam attack is not just a security lapse—it’s a national insult. And India must hit back, hard. Even if it means breaching ceasefire lines. Another set of bloodied pilgrims. Another cycle of condemnation. The same tired playbook. 28 tourists killed, many injured—at a site meant to symbolize devotion and peace. Victims of yet another…
The recent protests against the Waqf Amendment Act, spearheaded by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi alongside the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, raise serious questions—both about the motivations behind the resistance and the historic role of AIMIM in India’s socio-political landscape. Is this opposition a genuine defence of Muslim…
