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.
Articles By Meghnad Desai
Out of My Mind: The new normal
Rahul has transformed the Congress into a Hindu nationalist party. In Gujarat, he made a tentative test drive. It worked wonders.
Out of my mind: Costly convergence
The problem with Indian politics is that despite the cacophony of insults and denunciations, there is a deathly consensus in the political system.
Out of my mind: Resolving a crisis
The idea that the UK should leave the EU was unthinkable just five years ago. Those demanding it were mainly on the Right-wing political fringe, but there was also a Left demand for quitting the “capitalist” Common Market.
Out of My Mind: Lanka Dahan
One of the problems of Sri Lanka is that while it has a high Human Development score, it is divided.
Out of my mind: Beware of friends
Even the destruction of the Babri Masjid happened 26 years ago. What is the urgency now? When the Supreme Court scheduled the hearing in January next year rather than November, why did this storm erupt?
Out of My Mind: The leadership principle
The successes in 1937 and 1946 elections established the hegemony of the Congress, which Jawaharlal Nehru was able to strengthen by winning the first three General Elections of independent India decisively. He became the undisputed Leader of India.
Out of my Mind: Lawless lawmen
The most encouraging aspect of the Khashoggi story is that a single honest journalist was seen as a threat by the Saudi regime.
The MeToo revolution
With #MeToo we are in a much more intense phase of the Revolution which is sweeping India.
Out of my mind: Maha convergence
There were hopes that Modi would fail to deliver a majority and a mild secular leader would emerge to lead the NDA coalition.
Out of my mind: The sole reformer
It is as if the only branch of government functioning to change society for better is the Judiciary.
Out of my mind: Rafale Recipe
HAL has never produced a fully domestically produced fighter plane. This was why India had MIGs prone to crashing.
Modi’s future?
Narendra Modi's life in four parts of 17 years each, and the prospects of BJP/NDA in 2019.
Out of my mind: A simple lesson
Factional splits are the norm rather than exceptions in Indian politics. This is not because there are deep ideological differences among the parties. The trouble is that they are all alike.
Out of my Mind: A grave danger
While the Supreme Court came through with flying colours with its verdict on Section 377, it did something in the week before which has hardly been remarked upon.
Out of my mind: Time running out
Being against Modi is not a Manifesto. If India has a low score on human development, if Muslims are a severely economically and socially deprived community, if violence against women and Dalits still persists, it is no good blaming a four-year-old BJP government.
Out of my Mind: Red Fort ready
When the Prime Minister spoke last year from the Red Fort, he seemed invincible. It was as if 2019 was in the bag. But the first rule of politics is: Never take an election for granted.
Out of my mind: The man who changed Indian politics
No one expected him to be so engaged in improving relations with Pakistan when he was foreign minister. As a Jana Sanghi, he was meant to breathe fire and brimstone in any dealings with Pakistan.
Out of my mind: A sense of priority
We only care about lynchings to blame the BJP. Child abuse in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh and wherever next matters only to disrupt parliamentary proceedings. It is a strange sense of priority.
Out of my mind: Imran’s opportunity
Imran may get lucky. Most prime ministers have been from either Punjab or Sindh. He is the first from the frontier region.
Out of my Mind: Lynch State
I think the Honourable Supreme Court has got it wrong about lynching. It is not the lack of laws but a lack of will to enforce the law which is the issue.
