Columnists

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

What does an electoral victory in India mean today?

Sat, May 01, 2021

Elections are increasingly seen as referendums on policies and ideologies. It is not as simple as that.

Why ‘Darklands’ fulfils the basic task of sci-fi genre but falls short of making a landing

Sun, Mar 28, 2021

A bracing reimagining of a dystopian world in Arnav Das Sharma's debut novel loses its punch because of lacklustre editing

When gods could take a joke on screen

Mon, Mar 08, 2021

With every case of “hurt sentiments”, works of popular art that can resonate across decades become a little less likely to emerge.

Lessons that India, Pakistan can learn from each other

Wed, Feb 10, 2021

For Pakistan, India’s past must serve as a guide. For India, Pakistan’s present could be an example and a warning

A lesson on tolerance, from John Le Carre for France

Fri, Dec 25, 2020

With a new law to monitor Islamic separatism, France betrays an idea of citizenship and republican values that is deeply insular.

Our reaction speaks of the nature of the animal, the best and worst instincts in humanity

Mon, Jun 08, 2020

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.

Can we have a ration of relief?

Sat, May 02, 2020

Why Covid warriors -- all citizens, really -- should not have been denied their indulgences

WhatsApp Uncle discovers the downside of social distancing

Fri, Mar 27, 2020

The only good thing that has happened is concern for vulnerable, old people, he says.

Why the Shaheen Bagh dadis remind me of my grandmothers

Fri, Mar 20, 2020

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.

A collection of essays re-locates historical rupture of 1989 that affected Kashmir’s political trajectory

Sun, Mar 15, 2020

The central theme, across the essays by journalists, writers, poets and academics from Kashmir is that the popular Indian imagination is wrong.

When a banking-sector crisis hits, even the most devoted patriots are hurt

Sun, Mar 15, 2020

Why do seva of Bharat Mata, when he can't even afford a holiday for his children's mata, asks WhatsApp Uncle

WhatsApp Uncle realises that hatred only breeds hatred

Fri, Feb 28, 2020

“When sleepless in siasat PM Modi received agni kesh President Trump, why were ppl of Dilli doing bad things?”

Forwarded as Received: Jolly over AAP winning Delhi? It’s a folly

Sat, Feb 15, 2020

WhatsApp uncle worries about the future of Bharat Mata after ‘Hindutva’s defeat’ in Delhi.

WhatsApp Uncle is lost looking for citizenship papers

Sun, Feb 02, 2020

He wants India to practise athiti daivo bhava, but fears being declared as an anti-national.

View From The Neighbourhood: Jingoism and talks

Mon, Jan 20, 2020

At the centre of these “core issues” are New Delhi’s actions on the constitutional status of Kashmir as well as the clampdown on communications, politics and alleged human rights violations in the state.

With the violence at JNU, citizens face a stark, binary moral choice

Tue, Jan 07, 2020

Something has changed in India over the last few months. In Delhi, those who watched the country change, lose its character have finally decided to show up for others. As with Jamia, so with JNU.

Forwarded as Received: Identity Crisis

Sat, Jan 04, 2020

Why should WhatsApp Uncle have to prove his citizenship to anyone?

View From The Neighbourhood: Unsecular India?

Mon, Dec 23, 2019

A weekly look at the public conversations shaping ideas beyond borders — in the Subcontinent.

Forwarded as Received: Let’s Spare the Rod

Sat, Dec 21, 2019

Why are students being beaten, when they should be talked to? A shaken WhatsApp Uncle asks

View From The Neighbourhood: India disappoints

Mon, Dec 16, 2019

The editorial in Dawn on December 11, understandably, grandstands rather eloquently on the end of secularism in India: “Under Narendra Modi’s watch, there is little doubt that the country is being transformed into a Hindu rashtra, where minority communities are relegated to the margins of society, if accepted at all.”

Kailaasa or New India? WhatsApp Uncle wonders how they are different

Sun, Dec 08, 2019

Could Kailaasa be the longed-for Hindu rashtra? WhatsApp Uncle wants to know.

Surviving a new world

Sun, Nov 24, 2019

In a time of global climate emergency, how can India balance her responsibilities to the environment and to her people? A new book tries to find answers.

Where it All Started

Sun, Nov 24, 2019

How subsidised public education made it possible for two debutant indie filmmakers to follow their passion and produce award-winning films.

WhatsApp Uncle on raising high fees in JNU and the Mahabharata

Sun, Nov 24, 2019

Could the agitating ‘commie’ students of JNU be in the right? WhatsApp Uncle answers.

View From The Neighbourhood: Sri Lanka polls

Mon, Nov 18, 2019

The Sri Lankan Press, of course, has been following the election closely, and almost exclusively. And, as is the case in India, it is likely that the drama and euphoria of the change of guard in Colombo will be the subject of editorials and opinion articles for some time to come.