Aakash Joshi
Aakash Joshi is Senior Assistant Editor, Editorial and Opinion, for The Indian Express. He writes on politics, ethics and popular culture and can be reached at aakash.joshi@expressindia.com. Twitter: @Joshi_Uncle
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More From Aakash Joshi
AAP’s opposition to Rohingya settlement shows a parochial party, unfit to be a national alternative
The demonisation of destitute and desperate refugees — all of them Muslim — is only the latest instance of the AAP trying to 'out-Hindutva' the BJP. It is tarnished by an outlook that looks at refugees as rioters, and demolitions as sacred
Thu, Aug 18, 2022
Arrest of a minister, a lesson for Mamata Banerjee
Aakash Joshi writes: TMC chief does not hold all the cards in fight against BJP, needs to build bridges with the rest of the Opposition.
Sat, Jul 30, 2022
Explained: Inside the minds of bees, and what we can learn from their intelligence
Bees possess not only a remarkable level of cognitive intelligence, but also a high degree sentience or “consciousness”, which make them thinking and feeling beings.
Thu, Jul 28, 2022
The Agniveer’s journey
Aakash Joshi writes: There is need for a deeper conversation about potential social fallout of Agnipath
Mon, Jul 18, 2022
The underappreciated honesty of Karan Johar
KJo is 50. It's easy to think his cinema is just cliche wrapped in consumerism that hasn't evolved. But there's skill and honesty in his work
Thu, May 26, 2022
The pandemic’s unusual epiphany: it’s only the daily hustle that makes us enjoy our inadequate holidays
For those wedded to the rat race, the pandemic hasn't changed the way we take a vacation
Sat, May 21, 2022
Why BJP needs Rahul Gandhi
Aakash Joshi writes: A wedding function to a party adrift, shrinking him suits its politics
Mon, May 09, 2022
When Inder Bhan Madan’s cartoons took on the Indian government and society
From unbiased political satires to a dig at scientific temper, a late self-taught cartoonist’s biting and unselfconscious works are on display at a Delhi exhibition
Sun, May 08, 2022
French Ambassador looks at India, Raghu Rai at France, in black, white and grey
Despite the lack of colour, or perhaps because of it, Lenain’s shots of India during the pandemic’s devastating second wave, his celebration of the country as a living thing, even its chaos, manage to capture the sheer scale of its diversity.
Sun, May 01, 2022
GN Devy’s latest book, The Mahabharata, yields the kind of confident scholarship about Indian thought that is becoming increasingly rare
It gives the reader perspective and insight, novelty in the familiar and unpacks the complexity of the epic.
Sat, Apr 23, 2022
‘It’s really important the BBC doesn’t just have a perspective from one country…we are not just a company broadcasting from London’: Tim Davie
The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on competing in a crowded space, finding a hold in the Indian market and its coverage of the war in Ukraine
Sun, Apr 03, 2022
Uttarakhand polls: ‘Outsider’ takes many shades in Kumaon hills
But with all three major contenders in Uttarakhand – the BJP, Congress and AAP – focusing on “outsiders” and promising to reserve “jobs for locals”, the issues of the small but diverse Muslim population don't figure anywhere.
Fri, Feb 11, 2022
BJP faces many questions in Uttarakhand, but Congress falters with the answers
The failure of the Congress to provide a genuine alternative, to voice the distress and disenchantment, is a recurring complaint across Kumaon.
Thu, Feb 03, 2022
Namaz controversy: Gurgaon’s corporate offices and condominiums, and a widening gap
As the controversy over Friday namaz takes the sheen off, the Sunday Express finds a sense of fear, foreboding and alienation in the Gurgaon’s corporate offices and condominiums, and a widening gap which few seem to be trying to bridge.
Sun, Jan 02, 2022
Should we be worried about how technology is changing the human condition?
Aakash Joshi writes: Fears about algorithms designed for addiction, advances in AI are grounded in recent revelations about corporate greed and government surveillance.
Thu, Oct 14, 2021
What does an electoral victory in India mean today?
Elections are increasingly seen as referendums on policies and ideologies. It is not as simple as that.
Sat, May 01, 2021
Why ‘Darklands’ fulfils the basic task of sci-fi genre but falls short of making a landing
A bracing reimagining of a dystopian world in Arnav Das Sharma's debut novel loses its punch because of lacklustre editing
Sun, Mar 28, 2021
When gods could take a joke on screen
With every case of “hurt sentiments”, works of popular art that can resonate across decades become a little less likely to emerge.
Mon, Mar 08, 2021
Lessons that India, Pakistan can learn from each other
For Pakistan, India’s past must serve as a guide. For India, Pakistan’s present could be an example and a warning
Wed, Feb 10, 2021
A lesson on tolerance, from John Le Carre for France
With a new law to monitor Islamic separatism, France betrays an idea of citizenship and republican values that is deeply insular.
Fri, Dec 25, 2020
Our reaction speaks of the nature of the animal, the best and worst instincts in humanity
Initially, the elephant’s death seemed like an act of wanton cruelty, another injustice in a country where callousness seemed to have become the norm. The real problem, though, runs deeper and is cause for much more despair.
Mon, Jun 08, 2020
Can we have a ration of relief?
Why Covid warriors -- all citizens, really -- should not have been denied their indulgences
Sat, May 02, 2020
WhatsApp Uncle discovers the downside of social distancing
The only good thing that has happened is concern for vulnerable, old people, he says.
Fri, Mar 27, 2020
Why the Shaheen Bagh dadis remind me of my grandmothers
My grandmothers, Dida and Thakuma, were pushed to be great women, in different ways. Today, the women at Shaheen Bagh face, in some ways, as grim a political circumstance that Thakuma did. But they are heroes also because they are, each of them, an incarnation of my Dida.
Fri, Mar 20, 2020
A collection of essays re-locates historical rupture of 1989 that affected Kashmir’s political trajectory
The central theme, across the essays by journalists, writers, poets and academics from Kashmir is that the popular Indian imagination is wrong.
Sun, Mar 15, 2020