March 2010
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 Party, the third the President [...]
February 2010
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 member of the RSS; and [...]
January 2010
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. But I recall that the [...]
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 spoke of the work of [...]
December 2009
OUR ATOM STATE, The Telegraph
The most secretive institution in India is the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Although its power plants profess to produce goods for the benefit of the public, they are not judged by the standards of profitablity [...]
November 2009
MANIPUR TRAGEDIES, Hindustan Times
Every Indian city has a road named after Mahatma Gandhi, each presenting in its own way a mocking thumbs-down to the Mahatma’s legacy. The M. G. Road of my home town, Bangalore, is a celebration [...]