Columnists

Coomi Kapoor

Coomi Kapoor has been a journalist for the last four decades. Her forte has been political reporting. She has witnessed the shifting power equations in the capital -- from Indira Gandhi’s regime to the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party. She is presently contributing editor to The Indian Express. Earlier, she worked for the newspaper as chief reporter, special correspondent and editor, Delhi. Coomi has worked in several publications in different capacities. She was principal correspondent, India Today, editor news, Sunday Mail, bureau chief, Indian Post and political editor, Illustrated Weekly. She has been writing a political diary in a lighter vein since 1985 and her syndicated column was carried by many newspapers. She was also stringer for The Times, London, and columnist for The Star, Malaysia.

Inside Track: What Amit Shah learnt from Narendra Modi in 1987

Mon, May 23, 2022

Coomi Kapoor writes: Shah traces the story of Modi’s success as a poll strategist not to the Gujarat chief ministerial or 2014 campaigns, but way back to 1987, when Modi was given charge of the BJP campaign in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation polls.

Inside track: Prashant Kishor’s culture shock

Sun, May 08, 2022

Coomi Kapoor writes: Despite warnings that the Congress is a quagmire, Kishor was willing to take a leap of faith because Priyanka Gandhi Vadra backed to the hilt his plan for revamping the party. But he discovered that the popular perception that the Gandhi family works as a single unit was incorrect.

Inside track: Useful Fall Guy

Sun, Apr 24, 2022

Coomi Kapoor writes: The Congress feels Prashant Kishor should first test his mettle by handling the difficult Gujarat Assembly elections due later this year. In fact, the Gujarat Congress leadership is still sitting idle, expecting Kishor to chalk out a plan.

When Arun Shourie joked about being the only editor to be sacked twice from an organisation

Sat, Apr 23, 2022

Arun Shourie’s new book offers vignettes of the idiosyncrasies that defined the political class and newsrooms of his time and his journey as an editor through it all

Inside Track: Virtual Meets

Sun, Apr 10, 2022

Coomi Kapoor writes: The BJP’s highest decision-making body is the parliamentary board, responsible for broad policy in Parliament and states. The elite 11-member panel there are four vacancies and despite speculations, UP CM Yogi Adityanath has still not found a seat at the prestigious body

Inside Track: Fear of EC

Sun, Mar 27, 2022

Legitimacy of leadership cannot be demonstrated merely by a show of hands, as is the Congress’s normal practice, the constitutional procedure would have to be strictly adhered to.

A David versus Goliath battle is set for 2024

Tue, Mar 15, 2022

Coomi Kapoor writes: The opposition has to take on a behemoth well-entrenched in government, bureaucracy, politics and the media

Inside Track: Who held the reins?

Sun, Mar 13, 2022

Conventional wisdom was that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be under pressure if he won Uttar Pradesh narrowly; if it was a grand victory, he was here to stay and emerge as a potential successor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But nothing is ever certain in politics. The UP victory was as much Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s as Yogi’s.

Tehemton Udwadia, father of laparoscopy in India, looks back at his life in this delightful memoir, More Than Just Surgery: Life Lessons Beyond the OT

Fri, Mar 04, 2022

On May 21, 1990, Dr Udwadia performed the first laparoscopic appendectomy in India, and it was only one of his many pioneering work

Inside Track: A David vs Goliath Battle in UP

Fri, Mar 18, 2022

Adityanath has the advantage of several top BJP leaders including central ministers and the PM campaigning on his behalf. The Yogi himself has been in campaign mode for the last three years.

Inside Track: Shah takes charge

Sun, Feb 13, 2022

Amit Shah realised early on that the real hurdle for the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh polls was not so much the farmer vote in western UP but that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav would mobilise his campaign on a backward vs forward projector.

Why PM Modi wasted no time in installing Netaji’s statue

Sun, Jan 30, 2022

Coomi Kapoor writes: Small wonder that when Narendra Modi took the decision to install Netaji Bose’s statue, he wasted no time in argument. He made the surprise announcement after the graphic model was already prepared by the Ministry of Culture.

In Goa, a season of defections

Thu, Jan 20, 2022

🔴 Coomi Kapoor writes: The Association for Democratic Reforms reckons that in the outgoing legislature’s five-year term, 67 per cent of the 40 members switched sides.

Inside Track: Star pavilion?

Sun, Jan 16, 2022

🔴 The sudden stepping down of Dilip Chenoy as Secretary General of FICCI in October last year appears to have been due to differences between him and the Commerce Ministry over the Indian pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2021.

Inside track: Defining Moments of 2021

Tue, Jan 04, 2022

🔴 The year will be remembered by the deadly impact of the coronavirus and the long-drawn-out, disruptive farmers’ agitation

Indira Gandhi’s role in Bangladesh’s creation cannot be downplayed

Thu, Dec 23, 2021

🔴 Coomi Kapoor writes: To do so betokens a politics, practised by the Gandhis as well, in which memorialisation is all about sycophancy.

The de-facto Congress president often acts spontaneously without consulting advisers

Sun, Dec 19, 2021

🔴 Coomi Kapoor writes: Rahul Gandhi's remarks were too philosophical for the average listener and he played into the BJP’s hands since the ruling party, fearing that it is on a weak wicket on prices, is keen to exploit the Hindutva card in UP.

Inside Track: Southern distress?

Mon, Dec 06, 2021

🔴 Coomi Kapoor writes: Southern politicians say they will not allow their states to be politically marginalised for better family planning.

Banerjee ka gussa

Mon, Nov 22, 2021

Coomi Kapoor writes: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is keen to pacify Mamata Banerjee, fearing the Trinamool Congress is nibbling into the Congress vote share outside West Bengal. But Banerjee is in no mood to respond.

Why BJP might remain in commanding position for next many decades

Fri, Nov 12, 2021

Coomi Kapoor writes: With Gandhis in charge of Congress, a credible alternative to campaign-savvy Modi seems unlikely to emerge for 2024 general elections

Inside Track: Transfer of Power?

Mon, Nov 08, 2021

The large and modern infrastructure of Keshav Kunj, the RSS’s northern India office under construction at Delhi’s Jhandewalan Extension, suggests it will overshadow the relatively modest buildings in Nagpur which have served as the Sangh’s headquarters for nearly a century.