All stories by SHEKHAR GUPTA
Why AAP's Rise Worries Modi-Shah-Nadda
Rediff.com25 May 2022The BJP can't be sure if it should celebrate that the old rival is fading or worry that new ones are rising. Because the last thing the BJP wants to see is alternatives rising, if only to the Congress, observes Shekhar Gupta.
How Non-BJP States Are Paying Back Modi-Shah
Rediff.com13 May 2022Non-BJP chief ministers are retaliating. If the Centre can use its agencies to threaten, intimidate and jail its rivals, so can they. The fightback will get more intense, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Can India Be A 'Vishwaguru'?
Rediff.com4 May 2022Many of the stories, the pictures going out of India worldwide lately with these provocative processions, taunting of Muslims, bulldozers targeting mostly their properties, the sweeping 'othering' of a community of 200 million are painting the front pages and TV screens in the democratic world. That is where most of the friends we covet lie. Soon enough, these will also make our vital friends among the Muslim nations, from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, uneasy. The best time for course correction is now, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Why Only The Kashmir Files?
Rediff.com16 Apr 2022From the many large communal riots across decades to the six-hour mass cull of Muslims in Nellie, 1983; Sikhs in Delhi and elsewhere, 1984; Kashmiri Pandits, 1990; selective massacres of Hindus in Punjab, 1983-93; and Gujarat, 2002, we have failed to bring perpetrators of our biggest tragedies to account, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
An Ill Wind Blowing Over Karnataka
Rediff.com13 Apr 2022This divisiveness is upsetting social cohesion and can throw the bright young people thronging to Bengaluru with billion dollar ideas in their creative minds off balance, warns Shekhar Gupta.
Why We Don't Vote Against Russia At The UN
Rediff.com8 Apr 2022Any Indian government at this juncture would have voted and spoken exactly this way. It isn't just about the vast Indian dependence on Russian-origin military equipment. It is also about trust, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
How Modi-Shah Can Be Beaten
Rediff.com22 Mar 2022To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Yogi Is BJP's Second Most Popular Leader
Rediff.com11 Mar 2022The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Would Putin Have Attacked Had Ukraine Kept Its N-Bombs?
Rediff.com9 Mar 2022Would Ukraine be such a pushover if it had that nuclear stockpile?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
No Party Can Solve Punjab's Problems!
Rediff.com15 Feb 2022Punjab faces many mortal threats. For most of these the people of Punjab are themselves responsible. And unless they take a brutal hard look within, their future generations have to be resigned to continue living with this constant slide, warns Shekhar Gupta.
An Election Budget, Not For 2022, But For 2024
Rediff.com9 Feb 2022This is not an election Budget in the sense that I might target the voter in the coming elections. But if you look beyond this round of state elections, and tilt the periscope to graze at the more distant horizon, see how the Narendra Modi government wishes things looking by the summer of 2024, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Modi's Politics And India's Future
Rediff.com8 Feb 2022With the BJP continuing to be the constant combatant, centrifugal pressures will rise. Fractured relations between the Centre and the states as between BJP and non-BJP ruled states is a sizeable risk owing ahead, warns Shekhar Gupta.
Modinomics Ain't Right. It's Hindu-Left
Rediff.com31 Jan 2022It is in no way a government of the economic Right. The Right is limited to religion and nationalism. The rest is as Left as the Congress or any other party, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Security Breach: What Can Keep Modi Safe
Rediff.com20 Jan 2022In this event, it is the IAF that showed true professionalism, telling the boss they weren't going to fly in that weather. You can see what professionalism and moral courage it takes to say no to your prime minister. Only things like that can keep him safe, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Why Does All Of Nagaland Have To Be Under AFSPA?
Rediff.com31 Dec 2021AFSPA can be safely lifted from almost 90 per cent of Nagaland, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Why Did BCCI Mess With Kohli?
Rediff.com30 Dec 2021Now we do not know if the Board bugs the dressing room or employs Pegasus in players' phones. But nothing stopped them from speaking with Kohli, points out Shekhar Gupta.
India can't afford a Punjab in unrest
Rediff.com20 Dec 2021The Sikhs, especially in Punjab, are already angry and frustrated, cautions Shekhar Gupta.
Yes, Congress Does Matter!
Rediff.com17 Dec 2021It is wrong to say the Congress doesn't matter. Certainly one set of people who do not believe that for a minute is the BJP. That's why even in his speech in Parliament on Constitution Day, Mr Modi called dynastic politics a threat to democracy, observes Shekhar Gupta.
How can Hindutva be compared to ISIS?
Rediff.com6 Dec 2021Irrespective of their voting preferences, most voters would find this comparison with ISIS revolting. More specifically, would it persuade anybody who voted for Narendra Modi to change her or his mind? asks Shekhar Gupta.
Modi And The Arrogance Of Not Learning
Rediff.com3 Dec 2021The Modi government's defeat on farm laws underlines the perils of governing an entire continent-sized, diverse and federal nation like the chief minister of a state, observes Shekhar Gupta.