TRAVEL TIPS FOR THE PRIME MINISTER, Hindustan Times
In seventeen years as Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru visited the United States on three separate occasions. Dr Manmohan Singh has been three times to the U. S. in the past [...]
A BRIEF HISTORY OF BIPARTISANSHIP, Hindustan Times
When the politician-social worker Nanaji Deshmukh died last month, none of the obituaries mentioned what may have been his finest moment. This occurred during a debate in the Rajya Sabha [...]
THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, Caravan
Not long ago, I found myself in a panel discussion on television with three politicians. One was a Congress Member of Parliament, a second an MP from the Bharatiya Janata [...]
RECONCILING THE MAOISTS, The Telegraph
Soon after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in January 1948, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) was banned. This was in part because Gandhi’s murderer, Nathuram Godse, had once been a [...]
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BILINGUAL INTELLECTUAL, Economic and Political Weekly
This essay is inspired by an argument between the scholar-libarian B. S. Kesavan and his son Mukul that I was once privy to. I forget what they were fighting about. [...]
HOW NOT TO CHOOSE A GOVERNOR, Hindustan Times
In the first weeks of December, I travelled through four states of the Union. In each state, I discussed the local political situation with a cross-section of the citizenry. We [...]