The twilight of Indian democracy

Protest and journalism are criminal acts, Parliament is irrelevant, duties supersede rights,and profanity flows from the ordinary.

Samar Halarnkar

· Oct 12, 2020 · 06:30 am

FIR 59/20 and the dark contours of India’s emerging, new republic

The Hindu-Rashtra strategy is leery of reason, hostile to minorities, benevolent to misinformation, manipulative of law and derisive of science.

Samar Halarnkar

· Sep 17, 2020 · 06:30 am

Narendra Modi is adopting the wrong lessons of history

All leaders lie and make mistakes. Great leaders use lies to build consensus, they learn from mistakes and they learn to compromise. Modi should too.

Samar Halarnkar

· Jun 07, 2020 · 06:30 am

Smoke, mirrors and Modi: A grand illusion of governance

Emotion and grand political statements may normally distract and attract voters. In a crisis, they are poor substitutes for governance.

Samar Halarnkar

· May 09, 2020 · 06:30 am

Why the slow drip of anti-Muslim poison in India is now a flood

For vast swathes of Hindu society, the pandemic is a convenient staging point on the route to the marginalisation of Muslim India.

Samar Halarnkar

· Apr 10, 2020 · 06:30 am

The privileges of being Hindu in new India

They will not make me prove my allegiance – and then refuse it, whether I fly the flag, recite the Constitution, sing the anthem or die for my country.

Samar Halarnkar

· Feb 24, 2020 · 06:30 am

The BJP’s perilous descent from Hindu appeasement to incitement

Ministers deliver hate speech, police take their cues and goons are empowered to transition from social-media rage to street violence.

Samar Halarnkar

· Feb 01, 2020 · 06:30 am

The growing radicalisation of Hindus threatens the Indian republic and the Constitution

Only Hindus can disprove the proposition of the Hindu nation. If they do not, we know what awaits

Samar Halarnkar

· Jan 09, 2020 · 07:30 am

Narendra Modi and the unsurprising politics of vendetta

The PM has a long memory and imposes meticulous retribution on dissenters. No slight is forgotten, no reprisal considered too petty or disproportionate.

Samar Halarnkar

· Nov 08, 2019 · 02:07 pm

In the time of Godse, a search for Hindus who will stand with Gandhi

The marginalisation of Indian Muslims and the indifference of Hindus can be stemmed by those who defy the tide.

Samar Halarnkar

· Sep 22, 2019 · 06:30 am

Policy by Whatsapp: A disregard of consequences in governing the new India

Democracy requires a national character that isn’t grounded in ignorance and government policy that is not a sophisticated version of Whatsapp.

Samar Halarnkar

· Aug 25, 2019 · 06:30 am

To the cheers of Indians, the lights dim in India’s democracy

The media, the opposition and vast swathes of the country approve of the political dismantling not of just J&K but the national democratic backbone.

Samar Halarnkar

· Aug 09, 2019 · 06:30 am