The writer taught political science at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, and is chief editor of 'Studies in Indian Politics'.
August 15, 2025 06:47 IST
If we are a free society, should the exercise of freedom be an act of bravado demanding that the citizen pays a heavy price for it?
Fri, Aug 15, 2025July 25, 2025 07:45 IST
While the law mentions LWE, these political acts are the common language of democratic mobilisation and as such practically any social worker can be booked for extending a verbal criticism of authorities.
Fri, Jul 25, 2025July 08, 2025 07:23 IST
The language question is central to the politics of Hindutva. In Maharashtra and elsewhere, protests rooted in regional pride may miss the bigger picture
Tue, Jul 08, 2025June 25, 2025 06:00 IST
Commemorating the dark period should go beyond criticism of past to introspection about present
Wed, Jun 25, 2025June 19, 2025 07:08 IST
It will not be a bad idea to build on the spirit of cooperation that the ruling party has adopted in the current instance and the virtue of cooperation that many Opposition MPs have discovered.
Thu, Jun 19, 2025May 31, 2025 06:58 IST
A spirited defence of Indian nationalism must also confront how it was undermined from the start. Belonging without othering was always under siege — today's phoney nationalism has only finished the job
Sat, May 31, 2025May 22, 2025 06:50 IST
That is the question when someone is arrested for what he says, or when we demand that someone be arrested for what he said
Thu, May 22, 2025May 17, 2025 06:22 IST
Given the public outbursts by Aiyar that apparently caused him his position within the Congress party, this autobiography also details the decline of the party he belongs to
Sat, May 17, 2025May 15, 2025 06:50 IST
When one has a convenient neighbour like Pakistan, war becomes the easy remedy for all your problems with the neighbour and with yourself
Thu, May 15, 2025May 10, 2025 07:10 IST
Government's announcement effectively postpones all serious discussion on the need to take the caste factor into consideration in policy making
Sat, May 10, 2025April 18, 2025 06:58 IST
Even after 10 years of being out of power, Congress has neither attempted to build an organisation nor evolved a cogent ideological position
Fri, Apr 18, 2025March 07, 2025 07:20 IST
The proposal to expand the size of Lok Sabha and to ensure that no state loses its current strength should be seen not only as a politically prudent step, but as a step to enrich the idea of democracy in the Indian context
Fri, Mar 07, 2025February 19, 2025 06:59 IST
It needs to ask whether it wants to fight on the BJP’s turf and for the BJP’s own strongholds or wishes to gain from a different register of social support
Wed, Feb 19, 2025February 09, 2025 15:58 IST
A representative section of 3,137 voters was interviewed across 28 constituencies and 140 polling stations.
Mon, Feb 10, 2025February 09, 2025 14:56 IST
According to Lokniti-CSDS Delhi Assembly election survey, more than half of the voters had made up their mind before the election campaign began, BJP built a strong coalition of upper castes and OBCs
Mon, Feb 10, 2025January 23, 2025 06:59 IST
The new one is long born and roams aggressively, the old one is not declared dead -- yet
Thu, Jan 23, 2025January 03, 2025 07:05 IST
Limits of the party’s electoral successes, the narrowness of its voter umbrella, resorting to high-handed tactics and suspicion of dissent point to a deficit.
Fri, Jan 03, 2025December 19, 2024 06:58 IST
The small difference is that while Congress argued that the Constitution was being violated today, for the ruling party, the violations of yesterday matter the most. Isn’t this both funny and tragic?
Sun, Dec 22, 2024November 29, 2024 04:20 IST
Victory of BJP, rout of its opponents, ensures that the deeper shift that slowed down after 2014 will pick up speed
Fri, Nov 29, 2024November 23, 2024 16:58 IST
Assembly election results in Maharashtra, and even in Jharkhand – where it lost but has likely retained its 2019 vote share — show how the BJP keeps building its electoral and ideological dominance.
Mon, Nov 25, 2024November 18, 2024 04:20 IST
Democracy is a delicate balance among foundational norms, procedural restraints and popular wishes. Such an idea of democracy is a hindrance to megalomaniac projects of reshaping norms, undermining procedures and hijacking popular sentiments
Mon, Nov 18, 2024October 29, 2024 04:10 IST
Maharashtra is set to witness a no-holds-barred campaign, in which neither the Mahayuti nor the Maha Vikas Aghadi addresses issues of a state in decline
Tue, Oct 29, 2024October 23, 2024 03:12 IST
With Hindutva the only game in town, it can now declare its version of Hinduism as the official one
Wed, Oct 23, 2024September 28, 2024 01:00 IST
It seems that there is a larger design to distort not just the election system, but the Constitution itself
Sat, Sep 28, 2024September 12, 2024 07:09 IST
Its continuing crisis is a reminder — dominant idea of state and nation has become a hurdle in evolving trust among communities.
Thu, Sep 12, 2024