The transparency activist talks about the Election Commission’s partisan behaviour and allegations of it enabling voter fraud leading to questions of legitimacy of elections and governments
This week in Himal
This week, Anna M M Vetticad writes about the 1975 Hindu blockbuster Sholay and its enduring relevance, reflecting the degradation of India’s sociopolitical landscape even
Three new books demonstrate how India’s position on Israel–Palestine is determined by a careful calibration of geopolitical ties and its own image and interests
Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav’s biography of Lajpat Rai helps trace the Indian freedom fighter’s ideas on nationalism and caste – which, when compared to Gandhi’s, point to the often counterintuitive caste politics of India’s Hindu and “secular” nationalisms
Maharashtra’s politics has been pushed so far to the right that progressive voices are endorsing the Maha Vikas Aghadi – which includes Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of the Shiv Sena, with its history of Hindutva vigilantism
A retrospective in his native Kerala displays Abu Abraham’s many creative tensions – as cartoonist and parliamentarian, patriot and cosmopolitan – and reveals his humanist lens on Indian and global politics
Building on an inclusive Dravidian politics, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has provided leadership to the opposition alliance countering the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Tamil Nadu has shown a better path for India’s development
India’s ruling BJP claims to have overcome the “tyranny of distance” that has plagued the Northeast but its politics have created greater division within the region, as the Manipur crisis shows
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in India is suffering from a resounding crisis of credibility. Having been re-elected in 2009, with the Congress, the main partner, winning an unexpectedly
