Tavleen Singh is a distinguished Indian journalist, political reporter, and author, currently serving as a leading columnist for The Indian Express. With a career spanning over four decades, she is widely recognized for her incisive commentary on Indian politics, public policy, and governance.
Professional Experience & Journey: Singh began her journalistic career in the United Kingdom with the Evening Mail in Slough, where she trained under the Westminster Press training scheme. She returned to India in 1974, joining The Statesman as a reporter. Her extensive fieldwork includes tenure as a Special Correspondent for The Telegraph in 1982 and as the South Asia Correspondent for the Sunday Times, London. Over the years, she has contributed to major publications including India Today and has played a pioneering role in Indian television journalism, heading the Delhi bureau for Plus Channel.
Expertise & Focus Areas: Renowned for her deep understanding of India's political landscape, Singh has covered some of the most critical events in the nation's history, including the Punjab insurgency and the conflict in Kashmir. Her writing often bridges the gap between the "Durbar" of Delhi’s political elite and the ground realities of rural India. She currently writes the popular weekly column "Fifth Column" for The Indian Express, appearing every Sunday, where she offers critical analysis of government policies and political shifts.
Authoritativeness & Recognition Singh is a celebrated author of several best-selling books that serve as important records of contemporary Indian history. Her notable works include:
Kashmir: A Tragedy of Errors (1995)
Lollipop Street: Why India Will Survive Her Politicians (1999)
Durbar (2012)
India's Broken Tryst (2016)
Messiah Modi: A Tale of Great Expectations (2020)
Her fearless reporting has earned her significant accolades, including the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Mediaperson (1988) and the Sanskriti Award (1985) for her comprehensive coverage of the Punjab crisis.
Trust & Credibility As a veteran voice in Indian media, Singh is known for her unyielding candor and independent perspective. Her long-standing association with The Indian Express, a publication known for its "Journalism of Courage," reinforces her standing as a...

February 27, 2022 03:57 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: There must be geopolitical reasons why we cannot always stand firmly on the side of democracies, but as I have no understanding of them, I shall now write about what I intended to this week before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Sun, Feb 27, 2022
February 20, 2022 03:20 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: Karnataka’s BJP government has handled the protests so foolishly that the entire conversation has become about whether Muslim girls should be deprived of an education simply because they insist on wearing their ‘religious symbol’.
Sun, Feb 20, 2022
February 13, 2022 03:20 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: The protest is no longer about Muslim girls being denied access to education but Muslim girls becoming unwitting pawns of political forces whose ideology and ideas are the opposite of the ideas that define India in our Constitution.
Mon, Feb 14, 2022
February 06, 2022 03:10 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: There is a great deal that is dangerous and dishonest about Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. But, to listen to Rahul Gandhi’s long and rambling speech in the Lok Sabha was to realise that if he remains the only challenger that the Congress party produces, Modi will continue to look much, much better.
Sun, Feb 06, 2022
January 30, 2022 03:30 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: It should shame Indian politicians and policymakers that a government job remains the ultimate Indian dream in the year that we celebrate 75 years of independence.
Sun, Jan 30, 2022
January 23, 2022 04:15 IST
🔴 The tragic reality is that millions of Indians cannot afford even to go to court to seek justice when they are deprived of their rights. It is this that should worry our leaders.
Sun, Jan 23, 2022
January 16, 2022 03:50 IST
🔴 The tweets I read every day range from vicious, abusive and ugly, to idiotic, ignorant and insane. They come from both sides of the divide in these politically polarized times.
Sun, Jan 16, 2022
January 09, 2022 03:40 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: Had the Government of India taken the breach in the Prime Minister’s security perimeter seriously, it would cooperate with the Punjab government to investigate what went wrong.
Mon, Jan 10, 2022
January 02, 2022 03:33 IST
🔴 The year which ended was so filled with bad times that it is hard to mourn its passing
Tue, Jan 04, 2022
December 26, 2021 04:30 IST
🔴 Tavleen Singh writes: The consequences of mixing communal hatred, religiosity, and hyper-nationalism into the normal business of political life are now clear to see.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
December 19, 2021 03:11 IST
🔴 Tavleen Singh writes: The truth is that not much has changed in any real way in UP since the ‘double-engine government’ came into existence in 2017, and it is this reason why it is important to divide Hindus and Muslims for Yogi to win a second term.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
December 12, 2021 03:07 IST
🔴 Tavleen Singh writes: Ever since the horrific second Covid wave has waned, that same note of triumphalism has come back into the orchestrated cacophony that fooled Modi in the past.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
December 05, 2021 04:15 IST
🔴 Tavleen Singh writes: When things go badly for Modi, his spokesmen always invoke Rahul Gandhi to remind Indian voters that he is their only choice and that he is really no choice at all.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
November 28, 2021 03:00 IST
🔴 Tavleen Singh writes: It is time that the Prime Minister took personal charge of evolving a new strategy to deal with Pakistan’s covert, clandestine war with our own covert, clandestine war.
Mon, Nov 29, 2021
November 21, 2021 03:40 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: PM Modi showed that he was a bigger man than he has been given credit for. He showed that he was ready to acknowledge that the will of the people is greater than the will of the most powerful political leaders.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
November 14, 2021 03:16 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: On Nehru’s birthday this year, we should remember his immense contribution to this country and not berate him for his mistakes, no matter how big they were.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
November 07, 2021 03:15 IST
Denials, drama and massive publicity campaigns have become the weapons that the Prime Minister uses against all criticism of his governance, so why should his chief ministers not follow his lead?
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
October 31, 2021 04:15 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: The irony is that the real threat to national security now comes from those who believe they are protecting it. How will it help the cause of national security if ordinary people start to live in fear of their shadows and their cellphones?
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
October 24, 2021 04:30 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: In the past two years, the Prime Minister’s men have tried to create a new breed of ‘nationalistic’ Kashmiri politicians. This exercise has failed abysmally. Modi must come up with a better strategy.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
October 17, 2021 03:15 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: Human rights matter very much in India because the roots of democracy have deep roots and if Mr Modi is angry about the ‘bad image’ that India has got, he has himself to blame.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
October 10, 2021 03:45 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: When something horrible happens in some distant country, PM Narendra Modi nearly always offers commiseration and condolences. Why is it so hard for him to tweet when something horrible happens in India?
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
October 03, 2021 03:40 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: No political party is in greater danger of being destroyed by its ‘high command’ than the Congress, but it seems unable to save itself.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
September 26, 2021 04:16 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: The ‘new India’ that PM Narendra Modi speaks of with the pride of its creator, is being seen as an ‘illiberal democracy’ that punishes dissidence. Sometimes brutally.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
September 19, 2021 03:55 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: PM Modi approves of genuflection and sycophancy, or it would not happen. Especially not from the media, whose basic reason for being is to play watchdog and not poodle.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021
September 12, 2021 04:05 IST
Tavleen Singh writes: The message this campaign to ‘thank Modiji’ is likely to send is one of complacency and cult-making of the kind that the Kim family of North Korea is famous for.
Thu, Dec 30, 2021


