The writer is Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences at Brown University, where he also directs the Center for Contemporary South Asia at the Watson Institute. He is a contributing editor for The Indian Express.

March 17, 2023 17:24 IST
Rahul Gandhi's description of India as a union of states requires a Gandhian amendment. India is also a nation, but in a non-European sense.
Sat, Mar 18, 2023
February 28, 2023 07:10 IST
Its communal harmony suggests a belief structure that has a mass base, a deep sentiment that polarising political organisations may not be able to undermine
Tue, Feb 28, 2023
February 13, 2023 16:00 IST
Unlike 'national champions' of South Korea, Adani group is in sectors which are not internationally competitive. There is little it can sell on the world market without the help of New Delhi
Thu, Feb 16, 2023
December 29, 2022 07:20 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: As India debates the latest border clashes with China, Delhi should keep in mind that China has moved to a security over economics mode, making a Chinese compromise less likely.
Wed, Jan 04, 2023
November 14, 2022 06:25 IST
The question now is whether the Republican Party will continue to back the former President, Donald Trump, after the midterm setback. If so, democracy has survived for now, but trouble lies ahead
Mon, Nov 14, 2022
October 18, 2022 17:53 IST
The horror of watching young men being beaten by police, the glee of the audience is part of a disturbing pattern that echoes post-Civil War white supremacy in the US.
Wed, Oct 19, 2022
August 19, 2022 17:10 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: Two foundational projects in India – national integration and commitment to democracy – have been weakening
Sat, Aug 20, 2022
June 27, 2022 04:00 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: Arc of rights must broaden further, instead of retreating. Overturning of Roe v Wade outlines democratic challenge
Mon, Jun 27, 2022
June 26, 2022 19:13 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: Now, democratic renewal not only means fighting for more easily accessible voting procedures but also a push for a legislative codification of the right to abortion
Sun, Jun 26, 2022
May 23, 2022 18:43 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: Attempt to reclaim mosque for Hindu religious purposes flatly contradicts the Constitution.
Tue, May 24, 2022
April 23, 2022 03:39 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: Processions rarely connected to riots are now being used for creating them. The religious neutrality of the government in several states is rapidly eroding
Sun, Apr 24, 2022
March 12, 2022 03:30 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: Though minority rights are enshrined in India’s Constitution, election victories can now be used to create laws, or government policies that begin to attack precisely those rights.
Sat, Mar 12, 2022
March 05, 2022 03:30 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: What we are witnessing today is a full-blown national rebellion against a mighty neighbour bent upon bullying and subjugating
Sat, Mar 05, 2022
December 04, 2021 11:00 IST
Writer Salman Rushdie on locating himself through his novels, Pakistan’s strategic importance to the Taliban and why the religious imagination is unappealing to him
Sun, Dec 05, 2021
October 19, 2021 03:15 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: The politics of Hindu nationalists is threatening to create a Jim Crow India in BJP-ruled territories. What race was to the American South, ethnicised religion is to Hindu nationalists
Wed, Oct 20, 2021
September 06, 2021 03:53 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: Democracy and human rights will continue to be key drivers, but economic tools and diplomacy will be the main methods for achieving these goals, not military power.
Tue, Sep 07, 2021
July 26, 2021 03:40 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: A definition centred on being Hindu and Hindi-speaking threatens to override a superordinate civic identity underlined by the Constitution.
Mon, Jul 26, 2021
June 24, 2021 03:40 IST
Ashutosh Varshney, Amit Ahuja write: Whether or not a democratic government can bring joy and happiness, one of its key responsibilities is to prevent mass suffering, or alleviate its severity.
Thu, Jun 24, 2021
May 06, 2021 03:05 IST
Mao was unmoved by the mass suffering caused by The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution because, for him, it was superseded by national glory. Something similar is playing out in India
Thu, May 06, 2021
February 23, 2021 03:50 IST
A democracy which speaks with one voice, which elevates citizen duties over citizen rights, which privileges obedience over freedom, which uses fear to instil ideological uniformity, which weakens checks on executive power, is a contradiction in terms.
Tue, Feb 23, 2021
January 09, 2021 03:30 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: When the history of this period is written, America’s courts might be singled out as the institution that protected the nation’s election integrity.
Sat, Jan 09, 2021
December 16, 2020 01:10 IST
While the economics of the three reforms is not faultless, let us note that some of the proposed steps go in the right direction.
Wed, Dec 16, 2020
November 06, 2020 03:49 IST
Ashutosh Varshney writes: Donald Trump's rise was a negation of egalitarian trends of five decades. He has 48 per cent of popular vote.
Fri, Nov 06, 2020
October 30, 2020 03:00 IST
If Trump is ahead on November 3, legal and political manoeuvres are quite possible. Only a Biden victory that night, not one after the full count, can preempt such possibilities.
Fri, Oct 30, 2020
October 05, 2020 03:55 IST
In Trump’s America, dog whistles have become bull horns. Those groups that wish to preempt a dystopia have a huge task ahead of them. How Trump’s illness will affect the emerging lines of the political battle is unpredictable at this stage.
Mon, Oct 05, 2020




