Tavleen Singh is a distinguished Indian journalist, political reporter, and author, currently serving as a leading columnist for The Indian Express. With a career spanning over four decades, she is widely recognized for her incisive commentary on Indian politics, public policy, and governance.
Professional Experience & Journey: Singh began her journalistic career in the United Kingdom with the Evening Mail in Slough, where she trained under the Westminster Press training scheme. She returned to India in 1974, joining The Statesman as a reporter. Her extensive fieldwork includes tenure as a Special Correspondent for The Telegraph in 1982 and as the South Asia Correspondent for the Sunday Times, London. Over the years, she has contributed to major publications including India Today and has played a pioneering role in Indian television journalism, heading the Delhi bureau for Plus Channel.
Expertise & Focus Areas: Renowned for her deep understanding of India's political landscape, Singh has covered some of the most critical events in the nation's history, including the Punjab insurgency and the conflict in Kashmir. Her writing often bridges the gap between the "Durbar" of Delhi’s political elite and the ground realities of rural India. She currently writes the popular weekly column "Fifth Column" for The Indian Express, appearing every Sunday, where she offers critical analysis of government policies and political shifts.
Authoritativeness & Recognition Singh is a celebrated author of several best-selling books that serve as important records of contemporary Indian history. Her notable works include:
Kashmir: A Tragedy of Errors (1995)
Lollipop Street: Why India Will Survive Her Politicians (1999)
Durbar (2012)
India's Broken Tryst (2016)
Messiah Modi: A Tale of Great Expectations (2020)
Her fearless reporting has earned her significant accolades, including the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Mediaperson (1988) and the Sanskriti Award (1985) for her comprehensive coverage of the Punjab crisis.
Trust & Credibility As a veteran voice in Indian media, Singh is known for her unyielding candor and independent perspective. Her long-standing association with The Indian Express, a publication known for its "Journalism of Courage," reinforces her standing as a...

February 05,2023 07:20:17 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: Modi is deeply sensitive to criticism in the western media but appears to have not discovered that if journalists, dissidents, and students spend months in jail without trial, he will inevitably be seen as an autocrat.
Sun, Feb 05, 2023
January 29,2023 07:20:11 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: A better strategy would have been for the Prime Minister’s office to ignore the documentary altogether or call a press conference and point out its flaws and falsehoods.
Sun, Jan 29, 2023
January 22,2023 07:10:18 AM
The message of this year’s World Economic Forum’s annual meeting is that times are bad and there are more bad times ahead. When the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, was asked if he had ever lived through a worse time for the world, he replied that he had not.
Sun, Jan 22, 2023
January 15,2023 07:20:14 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: There is a detail about developed countries that Modi appears not to have noticed. They do not plaster their streets, airports, and railway stations with pictures of political leaders.
Sun, Jan 15, 2023
January 08,2023 07:30:44 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: Could it be that there is growing concern in the highest echelons of the BJP about Rahul Gandhi emerging as a mature leader who can no longer be mocked and jeered at?
Sun, Jan 08, 2023
January 01,2023 07:33:42 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: From me on this first day of a New Year comes the prayer that 2023 becomes for India a year of healing. The battle is no longer between secularism and communalism but between hatred and harmony. India badly needs harmony right now.
Sun, Jan 01, 2023
December 25,2022 07:34:50 AM
For more than a hundred days, Rahul Gandhi has walked across the country with crowds following in his wake and without anyone noticing that he is violating Covid protocols. What suddenly changed last week?
Sun, Dec 25, 2022
December 18,2022 07:31:07 AM
Marching from Kanyakumari to Kashmir may not solve the problem but we must concede that Rahul Gandhi is trying to make an important point.
Wed, Dec 21, 2022
December 11,2022 07:34:46 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: If Rahul Gandhi indeed wants to wander about India spreading love and goodness, instead of winning elections, he must make way for a younger and better Congress President than the one backed by him and his family.
Sun, Dec 11, 2022
December 04,2022 07:50:49 AM
Words like unity and diversity have been tossed about in the past week, but something else was going on under the surface. Two BJP chief ministers popped up on TV to declare in different ways that Indian Muslims must learn to behave.
Sun, Dec 04, 2022
November 27,2022 08:04:22 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: "Other countries have dealt with the wounds of history, and we should too but this is not the purpose of those who rule India today. The purpose is to create more divisions and more hatred."
Sun, Nov 27, 2022
November 20,2022 07:39:36 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: Is PM Modi inspired by the model that has been created in China? Or is he inspired by democratic, western countries in which dissidence is applauded and not called treason?
Sun, Nov 20, 2022
November 13,2022 06:10:14 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: The Prime Minister spends so much time campaigning for regional elections that he has taken to allowing inexperienced subordinates to speak about serious national issues. This diminishes his dream of making India (via him) a Vishwaguru again.
Sun, Nov 13, 2022
November 06,2022 04:20:16 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: Why were people allowed onto a bridge that was not certified as safe? Why was the contract to repair the bridge given to a company that makes clocks and electrical fittings? Who were the officials responsible for oversight? Were they corrupt or blind? They must be publicly shamed and sacked.
Mon, Nov 07, 2022
October 30,2022 04:12:18 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: It is my considered opinion that had Dr Manmohan Singh been allowed to function properly as prime minister, it would have been much harder for Narendra Modi to win in 2014.
Sun, Oct 30, 2022
October 23,2022 04:25:48 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: In this season of festivals that celebrate the victory of good over evil, it is important to remember those who have made such a huge contribution to spreading evil. At the top of my list are the Hindu preachers who continue to routinely pop up to demand that all Muslims be killed.
Sun, Oct 23, 2022
October 16,2022 04:05:13 AM
In these Hindutva times, it is easy to understand why Muslims feel that their identity and religion are under attack. The hate speeches by BJP leaders and the bile vomited out on social media turns my stomach.
Sun, Oct 16, 2022
October 09,2022 04:00:27 AM
The public flogging sends many messages and all of them are disturbing. The most important of these messages is that too many Indians seem unaware that the foundational pillar of democracy is the rule of law.
Mon, Oct 10, 2022
October 02,2022 03:55:16 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: If the Congress Party could not defeat the BJP in Uttar Pradesh after fantastical untruths, ineptitude, and communal polarization, it was proof that the Dynasty had lost its magical allure.
Sun, Oct 02, 2022
September 25,2022 04:15:52 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: Hindutva fanatics are as despicable as Jihadi fanatics, but it is wrong to say that it is because Hindu fanatics tore down the Babri Masjid that we have seen the rise of political Islam.
Sun, Sep 25, 2022
September 18,2022 03:45:34 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: An excellent start for redeeming India’s image could be made by releasing Umar Khalid and Siddique Kappan on bail. Neither of these two men deserved to be in jail in the first place.
Sun, Sep 18, 2022
September 11,2022 03:53:20 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: The Congress party has failed to compete with Modi on the nationalism front because his nationalism is more aggressive and targeted at proving that Jawaharlal Nehru and his heirs were not nationalists but colonial leftovers.
Sun, Sep 11, 2022
September 04,2022 04:08:14 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: What really will be achieved by sending Congress leaders, old and young, on a long walk for the next five months? The answer is nothing that will bring it any closer to vanquishing the BJP juggernaut.
Mon, Sep 05, 2022
August 28,2022 04:05:34 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: The real problem has been created by BJP ‘intellectuals’ who appear not to notice how they demean India and the Indian idea of faith with their hysterical diatribes against Islam.
Sun, Aug 28, 2022
August 21,2022 04:10:56 AM
Tavleen Singh writes: It was when I met Bilkis and her husband, a year after the violence, and heard them tell their story, that I felt the deepest shame. It is deep shame that I feel this week and a sense of despair that her rapists can be granted this shortening of their life sentences.
Sun, Aug 21, 2022



