Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Pratap Bhanu Mehta is vice-chancellor or Ashok University. He was earlier president, Centre Policy Research, New Delhi, one of India's top think tanks. Before he started engaging with contemporary affairs, he taught political theory at Harvard, and briefly at JNU. He has written extensively on intellectual history, political theory, law, India's social transformation and world affairs. He is the recipient of the Infosys Prize, the Adisheshiah Prize and the Amartya Sen Prize.

On liberty

Tue, Sep 11, 2018

Tomorrow’s India needs a new Charter of Freedom. Does Congress have the courage to sign on to it?

Where’s the Remote?

Sat, Sep 01, 2018

Democracy was supposed to give power to the people. Instead, it has conferred sweeping powers on the executive

Sinister homo sapiens

Fri, Aug 31, 2018

All Indian parties have construed Maoism as a threat and all of them, from the Congress to the Trinamool Congress, have been draconian in their own way. But what is different this time in not just that there are operations or arrests.

A blasphemous law

Sat, Aug 25, 2018

Using state power to enforce the sacred, Punjab’s sacrilege law defiles the sacred, messes with the secular.

Vajpayee: The man of heart

Fri, Aug 17, 2018

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was living testament to the fact that liberality of temperament has the power to transcend ideologies.

At Red Fort, PM Modi’s hope and fear

Thu, Aug 16, 2018

PM Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech mirrored both his offer of the fantasy of hope and refusal to acknowledge the republic of fear

The nuances of 35A

Thu, Aug 09, 2018

There is a powerful argument for not abrogating the Article. But we must also think beyond the binaries on it.

State and Capital

Sat, Jul 28, 2018

Modi government has added an insidious dimension to the nexus. It is hidden in plain sight

Mandela’s forgiveness

Fri, Jul 20, 2018

It seems alien in a world where resentment is not seen as imprisoning, freedom is freedom to hate.

Common minimum resolve

Sat, Jul 14, 2018

The opposition needs to reopen a political debate on institutions, sign on to a charter for institutional reform

Blame it on the liberals

Thu, Jun 28, 2018

Liberal-bashing is fun: You can say that they are not liberal enough and target them for being liberal too

A crisis in plain sight

Tue, Jun 19, 2018

Delhi saga showcases poison of recrimination, institutional subversion, pettiness at highest levels

Trump’s disruptions

Thu, Jun 14, 2018

In the end, what he is doing may have more significance than who he is

The Shangri-La moment

Wed, Jun 06, 2018

PM Modi’s speech framed continuities, nuance in foreign policy. It needs full force of India’s example behind it

Where anything goes

Tue, May 29, 2018

Message of Cobrapost sting: Media subservience to power, its contempt for the citizen.

The seething state

Wed, May 23, 2018

Amid increasing communalisation in Assam, anxieties are deepening over the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

In Defence of Progress

Sat, May 19, 2018

A vigorously written, widely-researched and powerful defence of the Enlightenment

Heroes & villains of old

Tue, May 08, 2018

Cow, namaz, historical monuments, Jinnah — we are back to cultural issues in the prelude to Partition

Judicial quicksand

Wed, Apr 25, 2018

We can endure neither Court’s loss of legitimacy nor all the attempts being made to overcome it

The Definitive Truth

Sat, Apr 14, 2018

Tridip Suhrud amps up Gandhi's original text by resuscitating some of its lost nuances and offering invaluable contextual pointers

Sep 19: Latest News

Fascism Book review: You Want It Darker

A well-compiled handbook that provides a warning about the deteriorating state of democracy across the the globe

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