Columnists

Meghnad Desai

Meghnad Desai loves to cook, watch and write about old Bollywood movies and shuttles between London, Delhi and Goa. He pursues controversies on economics, history and anything else which catches his attention. He is also a British parliamentarian sitting in the House of Lords. He has written over 25 books, over 200 articles in learned journals and hundreds of newspaper columns in UK and India.

Donald Trump put on a good show for PM Narendra Modi

Wed, Feb 26, 2020

If India is to be one of the richest nations, it has to fashion trade deals. Modi may yet be the prime minister who liberates the Indian economy from its old shackles of protectionism and makes it as large and nearly as prosperous as the US economy. He can if he uses his friend Donald Trump well.

Meghnad Desai writes: India doesn’t need a single story of nationhood

Sun, Feb 23, 2020

India is a civilisation. It does not need a single story of its Nationhood. India is large enough to accommodate many stories of Nationhood. Indeed each linguistic region has its own story of Nationhood. That is its strength. The task is to weave these multiple regional stories into a rich garland that is India.

Meghnad Desai writes: Why Kejriwal win is a game changer

Sun, Feb 16, 2020

Arvind Kejriwal ran an astute campaign for Delhi elections which did not allow the BJP to distract voters from the solid achievements of the Aam Aadmi Party in delivering public services. He did not fight PM Narendra Modi on the CAA, and treated it as irrelevant for Delhi polls.

Government needs to talk to protesters

Sun, Feb 09, 2020

Lives would be lost needlessly to prove the point that the government is within its power to restrain those breaking the law. It never works, protests will continue.

Rhetoric over CAA bound to lose middle of the road voters

Sun, Feb 02, 2020

One can only guess that the ideologues of the BJP are not interested in winning Delhi but in cementing the core Hindu vote and then similarly across India to launch the Hindu Rashtra. Will it work?

Why has the 21st century become so blatantly anti-Muslim?

Sun, Jan 26, 2020

US President Donald Trump is hostile to Muslims worldwide and has just declared his displeasure against Iran. We could, though not very likely, yet end up with a world war in the second fifth of this century.

Centre can enforce its word on CAA

Sun, Jan 19, 2020

The opposition parties have been caught flat-footed. It was students who led the protest. Even the recent meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi showed a divided Opposition, and a strategy based on power of chief ministers to challenge CAA rather than any mass movement.

Out of my mind: Is it time for Uddhav to go national?

Sun, Jan 12, 2020

Whatever the current fortunes of the BJP and Shiv Sena, it was the Shiv Sena which succeeded politically in launching Hindutva (with a Marathi angle) as a viable political brand. It is this perhaps that Uddhav is now keen to reestablish.

Out of my mind: Now is the moment for Sabka Vishwas

Sun, Jan 05, 2020

On the day he won a second term, Modi reiterated his slogan of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. He added Sabka Vishwas. Now is the moment for Sabka Vishwas.

Out of my mind: Crack in the hard shell of singly-party majority government?

Sun, Dec 29, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was accommodative in his Ramlila Maidan speech last Sunday but since then has begun to hold the demonstrators responsible for police injuries and damage to property.

Out of my mind: Govt must clarify, or face chaos

Sun, Dec 22, 2019

Indian Muslims are a minority in India. Would the government conflate their religion with their being on a par with Muslim refugees from Bangladesh? Are they likely to be cast as infiltrators because they are Muslims?

Myanmar and Suu Kyi have ‘othered’ the Rohingya who have lived there for centuries

Sun, Dec 15, 2019

The astonishing thing is that the case has been brought by Gambia. Not by any neighbouring Asian nation. Not Malaysia nor Indonesia nor Pakistan.

Can UK bear more of Brexit debate?

Thu, Dec 12, 2019

The Conservative Party has been deeply divided over the Brexit question, but right now Johnson is asking for a large vote ‘to get Brexit done’. He has negotiated a deal and he needs a comfortable majority to get it through the House of Commons.

Modi 2.0 and Mumbai’s jugaad politics

Sun, Dec 01, 2019

There is a glaring lack of interest in the fortunes of the economy, which was the central focus in Modi 1.0. Has Modi 2.0 abandoned Sabka Vikas?

Out of my mind: Whither the Hindu Rashtra?

Sun, Nov 24, 2019

From the proceedings in Maharashtra, there are deeper conclusions to be drawn. If two Hindu nationalist parties cannot agree on a power-sharing coalition because of the Brahmin/non-Brahmin difference, what hope is there for a Hindu Rashtra?

Out of My Mind: What would reverberate is for the VHP to say sorry for destruction of Babri Masjid

Sun, Nov 17, 2019

The beauty of the present judgment is that it accommodates the realities of power with requirements of legality in a way which bequeaths a legitimacy which is conducive to public peace if not harmony.

Out of My Mind | Dilli Chhodo: Time for a new Capital

Sun, Nov 10, 2019

The Republic of India has the most extensive territory, larger than any previous Empire it has seen — Hindu, Afghan, Mughal or British.

Out of my mind: Govt’s dozen own goals on Kashmir

Sun, Nov 03, 2019

The episode involving the European Parliamentarians shows that the government does not believe in its own propaganda that all is well.

Recent elections show that Indian democracy is alive and well and kicking

Sun, Oct 27, 2019

Certain things are clear. Never take the voters for granted. Voters know not only how to use their vote but also how to lie to pollsters.

India and its politicians exist in a goldfish bowl acutely aware of Western gaze

Sun, Oct 20, 2019

A recent example of this sensitivity to Western opinion came when the British Labour Party passed a resolution on Kashmir. It was critical of the Modi government.