NB: Accepting an award in the name of a prime suspect in the Mahatma Gandhi murder case is but a logical step forward from playing to-ey to-ey with brazen Savarkarites and Godse-ites. Not all patriots are scoundrels; but all scoundrels are definitely patriots. Wit is no substitute for wisdom, Shashi. Your performance is becoming cringeworthy.… Read More Refusing Savarkar award exposes Shashi Tharoor’s dilemma
The Red Fort attack has punctured the Modi government’s claims of national security dominance, of instituting peace and progress after the revocation of Article 370 and counter-terrorism preparedness Bharat Bhushan It took the Union government 48 hours to describe the Red Fort bomb attack as ‘terrorism’. For two days, the Narendra Modi government was dancing… Read More Red Fort terror attack pokes holes in India’s security narrative
After he denounced armed struggle for good as the chief of J&K Liberation Front in 1994, successive Indian governments used Malik as a bridge with the Kashmiri separatists. He was granted bail in several militancy related cases (now revived after 35 years), issued an Indian passport and sent as an emissary to start a dialogue… Read More Bharat Bhushan on the fate of Yasin Malik
The RSS’ intellectual stagnation and myth-based narratives risk alienating it from India’s knowledge-driven society Bharat Bhushan One hundred years ago, on Vijayadashami Day, September 27, 1925, the men who gathered at the residence of Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in Nagpur could have hardly imagined how powerful the organisation they were founding would become. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a… Read More RSS’ success also has seeds of destruction
The Modi government’s insecurity is evident in its attempt to decode decades of protest as potential subversion. Those who used to accuse public protestors of using a ‘tool-kit’ now clearly want to develop a tool-kit of their own — an alternative official playbook, to deal with all future protests. Meanwhile Niti Aayog declines to furnish information about… Read More Policing Dissent – Amit Shah’s plans risk criminalising protest
Bharat Bhushan With its dream of reaching greatness by hanging on to the coattails of the United States going bust, India needs to radically rethink its foreign policy. Rather than the ongoing tentative recalibration, it needs to be redesigned from the ground up. Although Indian political leaders value loyalty to a fault, this cannot be… Read More India’s Foreign Policy Is In Need Of Fresh Stewardship Columnists
Personality politics will not make up for the Global South’s mistrust of India’s purely self-serving strategic autonomy. Bharat Bhushan United States President Donald Trump’s near-daily targeting of India in his second term has left Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government stunned. His description of the Indian economy as ‘dead’ and accusations that it funds the Russian ‘war machine’ in… Read More Nehru built institutions. Modi built a brand, and it is cracking
A pattern of post-attack ‘encounters’ raises serious questions about the credibility, accountability, and timing of India’s counterterrorism narrative Bharat Bhushan Would a group of terrorists on the run from Indian security forces for over three months still be carrying the weapons they used, their Pakistani voter ID cards, and branded Pakistani chocolates? It was a remarkable… Read More Operation Mahadev / Dead terrorists tell no tales
After Jagdeep Dhankhar’s high-profile exit, outsiders are likely to be kept away from sensitive assignments. Internal gate-keeping and stricter vetting of new entrants could be enforced. Bharat Bhushan The sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar as Vice President of India, on July 21, will trigger ripples across the political system. It will impact the fate of other… Read More Dhankhar’s resignation and BJP’s outsider syndrome
A result of the military operations against Pakistan is that India’s strategic vulnerabilities now stand exposed to the world…. While Indian youth has been diverted to detecting beef-eaters, cattle-traders, ‘anti-nationals’, and targeting the minorities, Chinese youth is achieving generational leaps in AI. Our educators have been ideologically brainwashed to the extent that some are trying… Read More Post-Operation Sindoor blues dog Modi government
After the truth-shower 